History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

cHap.1.] THE MAHOMEDAN PERSECUTI ON. 23

demanded of them, and one which is supposed to secure for them favour in the eyes of their Prophet and their God, and to take them by the shortest route to heaven. Thus on the conquest of Persia the Mahomedan soldiers of the khalifat of Bagdad traversed the length and breadth of the country, presenting the alternative of death or the Koran, and compelling the conquered nation to accept the one or the other. By these oppressive and cruel means a hundred thousand persons are said to have been forced daily to abjure the faith of their forefathers ; and the fire-temples and other sacred places were destroyed or converted into mosques. Under rulers carrying out this system without pity or remorse almost the whole Zoroastrian population of Persia embraced the faith of Islam, and nearly every trace of the religion of Zoroaster became obliterated.

Historians have observed that the effect of Mahomedan conquest (for to call it a religious conversion would be impossible) was always greatly demoralising to the people. The ancient Greeks have borne testimony to the truthful character of their Persian contemporaries, while modern writers have noticed as prominently the want of this essential trait in the character of the present Mahomedans of Persia. Such of the followers of Zoroaster as obeyed the dictates of their conscience, in preference to freeing themselves from the persecution of their new