How Iran ‘REALLY’ Lost to Arab Muslims (UNTOLD FULL HISTORY)

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:02][music] [singing] [singing] >> 632 AD, the Sasanian Empire is a glass cannon. To the outside world, it looks like a titan. It has golden palaces, war elephants, and the elite Savaran knights, or the cataphracts. But inside, it is fragile and on the brink of shattering.

[00:00:47]For 26 years, the Persians and Romans have been punching each other into [music] a coma. This wasn't just a war, it was the great war of antiquity. The result, both empires are bankrupt. Their walls and castles are destroyed, and their brave [music] and powerful warriors have perished. The plague of Shiruye, being the earliest historic record of the Black Death plague, has decimated the urban population of both empires, [music] and the commoners are tired of the debilitating tax for a war that never ends. While the two giants were bleeding out, a new power [music] was unifying in the yellow ocean of the desert, the Arab Bedouins.

[00:01:27]>> [music and singing] [singing] [music] [music] >> To understand why the empire fell, we have to talk about the Khosrau paradox.

[00:01:53]Historically, Persia, which was actually called Eranshahr by the Sasanian Empire, meaning expanse of the Aryans or Iranians, [music] was the partnership between the king and the seven great Parthian noble houses.

[00:02:06][music] The Suren, the Mehran, the Karen being three of those. They were the backbone, but Khosrow II wanted absolute power. He purged these noble houses, executed his own generals, and abolished the Lakhmid kingdom, his own desert security fence. He didn't realize he was tearing down the only walls that kept the desert at bay. These noble houses were of great and powerful Parthian families, the previous ruling dynasty in Iran before the Sassanids took over >> [music] >> in 3rd century AD. The Parthians were capable warriors and they retained power of self-governance until later periods.

[00:02:47]>> [music] >> By crushing the nobility, he destroyed the plan B. When the king was strong, the empire was a fist. When the king [music] was weak, the empire was a bag of marbles. This would mean the king had absolute power and only if the king was powerful and ruled with wisdom and care, [music] the empire would thrive and prosper. But if the king was weak and made mistakes, the entire empire would suffer [music] its consequences with no contingency to lean back on.

[00:03:25]>> [music] >> Then came the biggest blunder in military history. Khosrow II abolished the Lakhmid kingdom, the Arab buffer state that kept the desert tribes at bay. He essentially tore down his own security fence.

[00:03:42]>> [chanting] [music and singing] >> The fall didn't start with a holy war.

[00:03:54]It started with a personal insult.

[00:03:56]Historically, the Persian king Shapur II, one of the mightiest Sasanid kings who even defeated Romans, installed an Arab king to rule the Arab kingdom known as Lakhmids, which acted as a fully integrated Persian defense system and as a vassal state and buffer zone to defend Persian territories against Roman allied Ghassanids and other Arab tribes attacks and raids. This was done in early 4th century. Lakhmids had a close relationship with Persians and were close allies. Around 610 AD, three centuries later, the Battle of Zi Qar took place. Khosrow II, who had become paranoid of being usurped and betrayed within Iran and suspected Lakhmids loyalty wavering, he had executed the Arab Lakhmid king, Nu'man III, and demanded his suits of armor from the Banu Bakr tribe. The tribe refused citing the Arab code of honor. Khosrow sent a total of 5,000 warriors from the imperial army, within those numbers including hired Arab mercenaries to crush them. But at the watering hole of Zi Qar, the unthinkable happened. The light Arab cavalry annihilated the Persian core. The Persian Savaran or cataphracts were heavily armored and armed knights who were powerful but slow and couldn't deal in hot temperatures of the desert. The Arab tribe warriors lured the Savaran knights to the desert where the hired Arab mercenaries betrayed them and through navigating the scorching desert and the knights suffering from heat exhaustion, it was an easy victory for the Arabs. As the Islamic prophet Muhammad famously noted, [music] this was the first day that the Arabs got their due from the Persians.

[00:05:34]The myth of Persian invincibility was dead. This displayed that the Arabs had harbored resentment against the Sasanids and had a very close relationship with them and used this victory as a motivator for later invasion to boost morale that the myth of invincibility of Sassanids is finally broken. This is especially during Khosrow II's rule as he had become a paranoid tyrant later in his life and effectively [music] tore Iran apart.

[00:06:03]>> [music and singing] [music] [singing] >> Persia wasn't just fighting Rome. In the East, the Hephthalites, the White Huns, and the Turks were a constant nightmare.

[00:06:20]The Sasanian treasury was being drained to pay peace money to these nomads.

[00:06:24][music] Persia's back was turned when the Arabs struck.

[00:06:29]>> [music] [singing] [singing] >> Then the house collapsed from within.

[00:06:52]After a debilitating war for 26 years with literally nothing being achieved and both Iran and Rome returning to their old borders, Kavad or Kobad II [music] murders his father, Khosrow II, for his mismanagement and crimes. To secure his throne, he executes all 18 of his brothers. [music] He then dies of the Shiruya plague or the Black Death plague months later, being one of the millions [music] of victims who died to this plague. The empire spent the next 4 years in a cannibalistic civil war. 10 different kings and queens and a bloody internal struggle for power decimated Iran forever. By the [music] time a boy king, Yazdegerd III, was crowned in 632 AD, he inherited an army that didn't trust its generals [music] and a treasury that was empty. The nobles and the generals realized the senseless game of thrones will only weaken Iran and they need to find a blood related descendant of Khosrow II to legitimize the coronation of the new king, which happened to be Yazdegerd III, who was hiding to escape the bloodshed carried out by Khawad II and the following generals and nobles.

[00:08:04]>> [singing] [music] [music] [music] >> The Arabs had an intelligence edge.

[00:08:45][music] They fully knew about the Persian instability. They also had Salman the Persian, with his original Persian name being Ruzbeh, a highborn defector from Dehqan class, who sought spiritual truth [music] with a complex story. Do not mistake this man with Ruzbeh or Ibn al-Muqaffa, the guy that I made a video about. Salman didn't just bring military tactics, like the trench war, the tactic that won Muhammad and his army a decisive victory over the Quraysh tribe. He brought an understanding of the Persian soul. He saw the Sasanian system as a gilded cage and believed Islam offered a radical equality that the rigid Persian class system lacked. Reports suggest when the Arabs surrounded Ctesiphon, [music] the capital city of Eranshahr in the modern-day Iraq, he acted as a negotiator rather than a brutal force and asked the Persians to join him as brothers or simply give up and pay Islamic tax known as jizya, [music] even lower than what Khosrow II was taking to fund his war. In his own way of distorted belief, [music] he thought that he is liberating Iran and Iranians from tyrannical Sassanid rulers. Despite being a close companion to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, he often clashed and argued with the subsequent Arab rulers such as Omar and Abu Bakr and advocated for a divine and righteous selection of a just ruler, not a tribal choice of seniority. After the Arab takeover, he seems to have been disappointed that the circle of hierarchy was being repeated and even worse through mass enslavement by the Arabs, brutality and an iron fist way of ruling. He was the primary defender of Persian dignity as after Muhammad died, majority of Arab leaders began to treat Persians and other non-Arabs as mawali, which I spoke about more in depth in one of my previous videos how they were second-class people who had converted to Islam. If you haven't watched that video already, you can do so by clicking on the link in the description.

[00:10:44]>> [music] [music] >> Salman explicitly fought this and used [music] his authority and status as a governor and a close companion to Muhammad to shut down Arab leaders [music] who thought their blood was superior. Records report that several Arab tribe leaders from Banu Hashim, Banu [music] Tamim and some more were having a gathering and bragging about what noble tribe they belonged to. They asked Salman and he simply says that his lineage is from Islam and that he was nothing [music] without Muhammad and Islam. According to this, we can understand how he was fully devoted to religion and obsessed with finding a higher divine purpose, which he thought that he found. Responding to the Arab tribes as such, this acted as a protest against the arrogance of the new leaders, which he saw to be just like the arrogant Sasanian king, Khosrow II, if not worse. He was later installed as the governor of Ctesiphon, [music] but as a silent protest, he spent the rest of his life poor, weaving baskets to make a modest earning [music] to survive, to contradict and oppose the lavish way of life of the new Arab lords, who even took the luxurious villas of the previous Persian nobles, governors, dehkan, [music] and rulers. He even translated parts of the Islamic holy book, Quran, into Persian, so the Persian converts don't need to learn Arabic to pray, but that they can do it in their own language. He specifically valued Islam, and he thought that this religion would bring equality to the world. Somehow, this is similar to the story of Mazdak, who came more than three centuries before him, and his religion of Mazdakism, who wanted to change the social order in Persia, and his religion in a way acted as the first type of socialism, but more [music] on him on later videos. The role of Salman is argued. Many call him a traitor to the Persians. Many call him a lost character who fought for the freedom of people, but was deceived through thinking that he has found the light. Many think that he was a reformist. [music] Many treat him like a Persian hero. Many see him as a role model for Shia sect [music] of Islam. And many Sunni Muslims see him as a close companion to Muhammad [music] and a holy character. As I said, he is a complex character who needs his own video dedicated to him.

[00:13:11]>> [music] [music] [music] >> The Quran itself weighed in, which depending on the perspective you look through, could have different interpretations. To people who are not Muslims, they could interpret it that Muhammad and the Arabs had resentment against Persians, especially during Khosrow II's rule as he treated them with contempt. Muhammad would specially believe that after Khosrow killed the king of Lakhmids and tore his letter of invitation to Islam, which displayed a sense of arrogance and superiority. On the other perspective, as a Muslim, you could interpret the following verses as divine revelation that the time for a powerful empire has come to an end due to their hubris and arrogance. In Surah Ar-Rum, it famously predicted the Roman comeback against Persia. This gave the Muslims a sense of destiny. This verse acted as a prophecy by Muhammad through divine revelation that despite Khosrow II having a major victory, claiming [music] Jerusalem, he will soon lose in 3 to 9 years, which became true but not accurately based on the large margin of years even assumed, as it would take more than 15 years before Rome would hit back and reclaim full territories of Jerusalem and taking back the True Cross, a highly valuable Christian relic in 630. This verse is believed to have been revealed in 614 to 615 AD. Also, in Surah Al-Hajj 22:17, the verse lists several religious groups and states that God will judge between them on the day of resurrection. This displays a sense of religious superiority and intolerance from Muslims, which directly criticizes Zoroastrians, calling them Majusi, and how they will be judged alongside the other religions such as Jews, Christians, Sabeans, and more.

[00:15:10]Furthermore, while the Persians fought for divine stewardship of this beautiful world, the Quran taught that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and distraction. The Arabs brought the Shahada paradox. Khalid ibn al-Walid, a mighty and brutal general [music] and warrior who told the Persians, "We have come with men who love death as much as you love life."

[00:15:34]Zoroastrians believed that the world is a blessing from God and it should be preserved and developed. They believed in hard work and contribution to the world. Zoroastrianism advocates a family life, getting married, having a child, and working hard and building a prosperous life to be good for yourself, your family, and others. A good example could be seen through the Zoroastrian Parsi community who fled the Arab conquest to India and are amongst the most successful people in there who have contributed a lot to India despite their small population.

[00:16:08]>> [music and singing] [music] >> On the other hand, Muslims believed in Jihad and martyrdom, fighting and dying in the cause of God, and also valuing the afterlife more than this life. In Quran, we read how poverty and detachment from the worldly life and assets is glorified and how death is favored to life as this life is portrayed as a temporary passage to the next life. That is why some Persian poets and philosophers during the Islamic Golden Age wrote poems how we need to value this life alone as this is the only life that we have, such as Khayyam and some more. I have made another video going in depth about it, which you can watch by hitting on the link in the description. Here are the Quranic verses about valuing the afterlife compared to this life. So, imagine an army that views both winning the war and death as victory. Winning would mean taking the Persian paradise or Pardis gardens, walled up gardens with flowing pools, tall cypress trees, and plants, where death would mean the heavenly paradise. How could you fight an army who is willing and happy to die?

[00:17:28]>> [music and singing] [music] >> 636 AD, during the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, the Persian commander, Rostam Farrokhzad, was a realist. He knew the empire was hollow. He faced [music] an Arab force that used desert power, treating the dunes like an ocean that they could retreat into. He was also of the noble house of Ispahbudan, with their powerhouse being located in Tabaristan, or current-day Mazandaran.

[00:18:09]His house was purged and its generals and seniors butchered by Khosrow II not long ago. Despite that, he was a patriot and wanted to defend Iran against any invaders. One unfortunate event follows another, and then another, being a series of unfortunate events and bad decisions. Rostam has a tragic tale, a brave warrior whose tale has been immortalized in the Shahnameh written by Ferdowsi, [music] not to be mistaken by the mythological character with the same name. He was a [music] seasoned veteran who didn't underestimate the danger of Arabs. He knew they navigate the desert like an ocean, and it is their territory where they are the strongest. He suggested to Yazdegerd III to fight a war of attrition, letting the Arabs exhaust themselves in the [music] desert heat, while the army stayed behind the fortification. But Yazdegerd III, being a boy king, commanded and forced them to fight the pitched battle at the al-Qadisiyyah in the [music] desert.

[00:19:14]>> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [music] >> According to records, a sandstorm [music] blinded the Persians when the Arabs breached the commanding tent of Rostam and slain him. Clearly, Yazdegerd III had no experience of the art of warfare and he was manipulated by the bureaucrats, sending the mighty soldiers [music] and commanders into a losing battle. He simply underestimated the Arab Bedouins [music] and was blinded by the name and prestige of Iran and their prowess, dismissing the elements of nature and tactics of war. Arab Bedouins had light cavalry, deadly in open space.

[00:20:12]Quick and accustomed to navigate the desert, they would be quickly heading the slow-moving Persian knights before they could even swing their swords or maces. A war of attrition would have arguably won them a victory. They had immense wealth and food supply within the walls even after all that happened previously, including the plague and the internal clashes. The Arabs were notoriously bad at sieges due to lack of heavy catapults and fortification breakers. They would lose patience and attack while the heavily fortified and armored Persians would use defensive tactics to destroy [music] them. In the battle, the Arabs targeted the war elephants' eyes, getting rid of the strongest elements, which were considered the tanks of the army.

[00:20:55][music] They sent out elite duelist and champions to kill the Persian officers.

[00:21:00]They would specifically go and call out for a duel against Persian officers who, as an The Sasanian code of honor, would never refuse a duel in a battle to save his men. A display of chivalry known as Javanmardi. The Dehqan and Asawaran Persians were bound by cultural code of honor to protect their people and stand up for them. So, they would never refuse a duel and offer themselves before their people. This had an immense psychological impact on the Persian army. Firstly, the commanding officers were targeted and fell who were amongst the fiercest warriors. They commanded their [music] troops and organized them.

[00:21:36]Seeing them fall from the Persian perspective, they had already lost the motive and heart. Also, communications were destroyed and they became disorganized. Secondly, the Arabs [music] were lightly armored having leather while the Persians were knights heavily armored. Seeing them fall to lightly armored Arab Bedouins [music] left a massive psychological impact.

[00:21:57]This can be said because of the 40° heat of the Iraq region that they fought in with the armored officers having restricted mobility, being slower, and getting heat exhaustion while the Arab duelists, known as Al-Mubarizun, elite warriors, would [music] have great mobility, would be better accustomed to the heat and the desert, and easily exhaust the Persian knights and take them out. One of the most debilitating psychological impact was the Arabs' lack of armor, displaying something unsettling. They showed that they do not fear death and are glad to be martyred.

[00:22:30]Their Islamic view was a contrast opposite to their Persian Zoroastrian religious view that they need to survive and to guard and preserve this world.

[00:22:39]>> [music] >> They must protect their families and they deeply valued this world. They believed in development and carrying the knowledge of the world to the next generations. Many would even prefer to surrender but to preserve the buildings, nature, and developments. This was something known as Herat. Losing knowledge for Zoroastrians was seen as victory for Ahriman, the evil spirit or the evil duality of humanity. Seeing how the Arab Bedouins are willingly offering their [music] lives, while the Persian knights wear heavily armored to save theirs, created a sharp contrast [music] and in a way psychologically troubled and left a toll on the Persian warriors.

[00:23:18]They had already lost the war without [music] it even starting. After the chaotic battle started, the Persian army already having lost the morale and the psyche, [music] when the officers were down and it was a disorganized chaos.

[00:23:31]After the dust settled, Rostam was dead.

[00:23:35]The Persian army was shattered and the road to the capital, Ctesiphon, [music] was wide open. The Sasanian heartland was lost. Yazdegerd III, alongside thousands of aristocrats, fled Ctesiphon to the Alborz Mountain, while the Arabs marched to the city, taking it and initially using it as a mosque, being awestruck by its grandiosity [music] and wealth, even though Yazdegerd III had already taken so much of the treasury. They say that the Arabs saw the silk carpet full of jewels. They couldn't take it as a whole, so they cut it into pieces and took it back to Arabia. After the paranoid tyranny and incompetence of Khosrow II killing and purging powerful noble houses, killing the king of Christian Arab Lakhmids, having started a [music] bloody and senseless three-decade-long war against Rome, hundreds of thousands of seasoned warriors dying and fortifications being destroyed, then heavily taxing his citizens that would debilitate them, then the black death plague of Shiroye and the mismanagement and stupidity of Kavad II killing all of his male relatives, leaving no heir behind, leading [music] to four years of internal chaos and Game of Thrones-level power struggle due to no heirs being left, shattering Iran, then the raids [music] and attacks from Turks and Hephthalites, incompetence of the boy king Yazdegerd III not listening to seasoned veterans, [music] the unsuitability of war tactics of Persians and their horses and heavy armor in desert that cooked the warriors within their metal cages against Arab Bedouins, and of course, the religious beliefs [music] between one group loving death and another loving life and wanting to preserve it created a perfect pathway for Persia to fall to Arab Muslim conquest.

[00:25:26]>> [music] [music] >> Shahnameh, the Persian epic, teaches us how time after time arrogance, ego, and hubris caused great kings and heroes fall to oblivion who dragged the world into darkness as well with them. Jamshid is an example that comes to [music] mind who brought the ancient Persian golden age thousands of years ago, but due to arrogance, he was exiled, killed, and then a tyrannical king by the name of Zahhak takes over who brings darkness over Iran. Ferdowsi, the greatest poet in Iran, writes in his Shahnameh with a sad full heart how Iran has fallen yet again and its identity will be wiped.

[00:26:22]Here's some of his poetry.

[00:26:29]When the sermon pulpit becomes equal to the throne, everyone will be named after Abu Bakr and Omar, the Arab caliphs.

[00:26:36]This is something he mentions to be from Rostam Farrokhzad, the war veteran who was sent to fight by Yazdegerd III against his advice for using a war of attrition. He laments how Iran has fallen after the hero Rostam Farrokhzad dies, one of the last remaining patriot warriors, and it will never be what it was ever again. Ferdowsi continues with his lamenting calls and [music] remarks.

[00:27:12]They will seek the loss of others for their own gain, and they will use religion as a front and others pain.

[00:27:18]They will spill blood for the sake of [music] wealth, and a wretched new era will be built [clears throat] through filth.

[00:27:36]No festivals, no joy, no noble essence, no legacy. [music] Through schemes, they will set traps of every kind with fallacy. The talentless will become the king. Lineage and greatness will bear nothing.

[00:28:00]Alas for that head, that crown, that throne, and that justice. Alas for that greatness, that divine glory, farr, and that race. [music] From now on, defeat comes from the Arabs, tazian. The stars turn only toward our ruin.

[00:28:21]>> [music] >> In this manner, 400 years passed, wherein no one, even amongst the new Arabs, took any [music] wisdom to last.

[00:28:29]Ferdowsi, who wrote Shahnameh almost 400 years after Arab conquest, still saw the damage it had caused even after centuries and had a strong sense of resentment. Of course, we cannot disregard Arab Bedouins war tactics, genius, and capability as well, as that played an important part and their adaptability and navigation through the desert. Also, battle IQ, exploiting Persian code of honor against them to take down their officers.

[00:28:56]>> [music] [singing] [singing] >> But, it is believed Salman Farsi, or Salman the Persian, had a role here, teaching [music] the Arab Bedouins not to be afraid of the giant Persian knights, as underneath [music] the armor, adornments, and the metal, they are just human. He taught them about [music] the weak points of the armor, the eye holes, the joints, and the neck. He also told them about the role of honor [music] in Persian culture, and that the officers are bound by a rigid code, which could be used against [music] them, the Javan Mardi code. He even told the Arabs to target Rostam Farrokhzad, as he was viewed as the peak of Persian noble code, and killing him would make the Sasanid military to completely collapse instantly, and win them the battle.

[00:30:02]>> [music] >> He would even teach them how to dismiss the Persian code of honor in battles, and instead fight differently to win, as fighting the heavily armored Persians head-on [music] would be a definite loss. Through Salman, the Arabs secured victory after [music] victory, and slowly, after few years, Iran fell.

[00:30:26]>> [singing] >> But, Persia did not disappear. It moved.

[00:30:35]While the plains fell, the province of Tabaristan remained a fortress, protected by the Alborz Mountains and dense jungles. The Tabari lords, remnants of Sasanian nobility, held out for 200 years. They maintained Zoroastrianism and Sasanian law long after the caliphate ruled the rest of the nation. This mountain resistance changed the DNA of Iran. When they finally converted to Islam in 9th century, three centuries after Persia fell to Arab conquest, they chose the rebel versions, Shiism, Ismailism, and Zaidism, to remain distinct from the Arab caliphs in Baghdad. There were many rebellions through Maziar, others in north such as Babak Khorramdin, and in general Tabaristan was a force to go against until 16th century Safavid dynasty united different sects of Shiism to unite Iran under one religion to resist against invaders, Ottomans and Uzbeks. Through creating a unique [music] sense of identity, he was brutal in his ways, but also someone who valued Persian identity. More on him in later videos. Going back to Tabaristan and their resistance, >> [music] >> this led directly to Hassan-i Sabbah and the Order of Assassins. Yes, that is the same story behind Assassin's Creed and their famous leap of faith from terrifying heights. They opposed both the caliphate, Arab and Turkic dominance, and even the Christian Crusaders, and were a Persian revolutionary movement [music] acting for a new world order defending their faith and identity using the same mountain fortress strategy that protected Tabaristan from the Arab conquest, the Assassins created a state that survived not through massive armies, but through psychological terror and impenetrable castles like Alamut. If only Yazdegerd III would not act incompetently from arrogance, >> [music] >> maybe they would have defeated Arabs in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah employing a war of attrition tactic. [music] The Sasanian Empire fell because of arrogance and many other contributing factors. It was exhausted by the Huns, broken by its own kings, and out-thought by a desert force that had nothing to lose. But, in the mountains of Tabaristan, the Persian soul [music] survived, waiting to reinvent itself for a new age.

[00:32:54]>> [music] >> Thanks for watching the video. If you want to watch more videos like this, make sure to stay tuned by [music] subscribing.