Mahabad (prophet)

For other uses, see Mahabad (disambiguation).

Mahabad (Kurdish: مەهاباد Mehabad, Persian: مهاباد Mahābād) is believed to be a pre-Zoroastrian prophet. He is also called Azar Hooshang, the Fire of Wisdom. In some traditions he is believed to be the first human.

Section 3 of the Dabestan-e Mazaheb is dedicated to the Yazdanians (also called the Sahi Kesh or Sipasi), who held Mahabad to be the most exalted of prophets and the progenitor of the entire human race. The Dabestan briefly outlines the Yazdanians' beliefs and describes Mahabad's code of laws, the Paiman-i Farhang (Excellent Covenant).

According to the Dasatir-i-Asmani, a text written in the 16th or 17th century by the Zoroastrian mystic Azar Kayvan, he lived in an earlier cycle of time (before Gayomard) and was the first of sixteen successive prophets. The thirteenth of these prophets was Zoroaster and the last was Sasan V, the alleged author of the Dasatir.

In a similar vein, the 19th-century Zoroastrian Maneckji Limji Hataria referred to "the religion of Mahabad and Zoroaster" in his exchange of letters with Bahá'u'lláh. He described Zoroaster as a "Mahabadi prophet" and Mahabad as the "First Intellect", of whom "we are his descendants." Bahá'u'lláh's responses to Hataria, which include quotations of Hataria's questions to Bahá'u'lláh, are preserved today in the Tabernacle of Unity.

External links

• The Dabestan-e Madaheb, or 'School of religious doctrines' - Section III
• Zoroastrian Elements In The Qur'an And Traditions Of Islam
• M.N. Dhalla: History of Zoroastrianism (1938), part 6, Chapter L, MYSTICS AND MYSTICISM
• Encyclopedia Iranica: DASĀTĪR
• Tablet to Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Concerning the Questions of Manakji Limji Hataria: Baha'u'llah on Hinduism and Zoroastrianism