The Arabs were in control, however. The new state religion, Islam, imposed its own system of beliefs, laws, and social mores. In regions that submitted peacefully to Muslim rule, landowners kept their land. But crown land, land abandoned by fleeing owners, and land taken by conquest passed into the hands of the new state. This included the rich lands of the Sawad, a rich, alluvial plain in central and southern Iraq. Arabic became the official language of the court in 696, although Persian continued to be widely used as the spoken language. The shuubiyya literary controversy of the ninth through the eleventh centuries, in which Arabs and Iranians each lauded their own and denigrated the other's cultural traits, suggests the survival of a certain sense of distinct Iranian identity. In the ninth century, the emergence of more purely Iranian ruling dynasties witnessed the revival of the Persian language, enriched by Arabic loanwords and using the Arabic script, and of Persian literature.

They said, “If the wolf ate him, and we are many, we would be good for nothing.” 15. So they went away with him, and agreed to put him at the bottom of the well. And We inspired him, “You will inform them of this deed of theirs when they are unaware.” 16. And they came to their father in the evening weeping. 17. They said, “O father, we went off racing one another, and left Joseph by our belongings; and the wolf ate him. But you will not believe us, even though we are being truthful.”

,W LV GLIÀFXOW WR GHWHUPLQH ZKHQ DQG KRZ WKH ÀUVWShiite passion-play and acts of self-laceration becamepart of mourning rituals dedicated Imam Hussain.One of the earliest attestations is from the Buyid pe-riod. Mu‘izz al-Dawla was instrumental in promoting6KLLWHSUDFWLFHVDQGIRUWKHÀUVWWLPHRQWKHth of Mu-harram in 963 CE a public mourning was performed.“The markets were closed and commerce ceased.Women, with loosened hair, blackened faces, and rentgarments, marched in procession, beating (and lacer-ating) their faces in lamentation” (Kraemer 1992, p.42). Historians categorize this type of mourning ritualas a Caspian region/Daylamite tradition, the regionbeing closely connected to Khorasan both geographi-cally and culturally (Ibid., p. 42).What is interesting to note is that not only Zoroas-trianism and Buddhism but also Islam disallow wail-ing and mourning. 11 It is in the Shiite tradition thatthe mourning ritual gains ground and becomes fullyaccepted. Because of their lamentation practices inline with those of the Greater Khorasanian or CentralAsian world, the Buyids seem to have been respon-sible for promoting such observances or at least lay-ing the basis for their broader dissemination. It is alsointeresting that the early Persian text which narratessuch practices of mourning, the 6KDKQDPHK, is contem-SRUDQHRXV ZLWK WKH ÀUVW $VKXUD SHUIRUPDQFHFHUH-mony held by the Buyids in Baghdad. Possibly thismarks an important step in the transmission of a ritualfrom Greater Khorasan across the entire Iranian pla-teau. Were not the Daylamite Buyids interjecting intothe minds of their subjects their own rituals and thoseof the east as performance of pain in commemorationof blameless heroes whose life was taken unjustly? Inthis way the death of Siavash in Khorasan and ImamHussain in Iraq came to be remembered in a similarfashion and their mourning rituals came together andintertwined in the larger Iranian world

"I counsel you, let Kay-Kavous decide between you." And they listened to the voice of the counsellor, and they took with them the Pari-faced, and led her before Kay-Kavous, and recounted to him all that was come about. But Kay-Kavous, when he beheld the beauty of the maid, longed after her for himself, and he said that she was worthy of the throne; and he took her and led her into the house of his women.                 Now after many days there was born to her a son, and he was of goodly mien, tall and strong, and the name that was given to him was Siawosh. And Kay-Kavous rejoiced in this son of his race, but he was grieved also because of the message of the stars concerning him. For it was written that the heavens were hostile unto this infant; neither would his virtues avail him aught, for these above all would lead him into destruction.

She said, 'Let us go, and let him see your face. I know very well where Gilgamesh is in greatUruk. O Enkidu, there all the people are dressed in their gorgeous robes, every day is holiday,the young men and the girls are wonderful to see. How sweet they smell! All the great onesare roused from their beds. O Enkidu, you who love life, I will show you Gilgamesh, a man ofmany moods; you shall look at him well in his radiant manhood. His body is perfect in strengthand maturity; he never rests by night or day. He is stronger than you, so leave your boasting.Shamash the glorious sun has given favours to Gilgamesh, and Anu of the heavens, and Enlil,and Ea the wise has given him deep understanding. I tell you, even before you have left thewilderness, Gilgamesh will know in his dreams that you are coming.