ISLAM IN IRAN. Although a large number of articles in this Encyclopaedia are devoted to specific aspects of Sunnite Islam in general and Shiʿite Islam in particular, the following series of articles provide an overview of some historical, contemporary, and especially political aspects of the topic that are of special interest and relevance in the world today. The series consists of the following three broad sections:

The Advent and Spread of Islam in Iran

The series of entries in this section provide a general survey of historical geography of the advent and spread of Islam in the lands of Iran and related territories from the early period to the present time, including the Iranian plateau, Central Asia and Afghanistan, and Mesopotamia.

i. The advent of Islam in Iran. See IRAN ix/2.1.

ii. Conversion to Islam. See CONVERSION iii.

iii. Late medieval period. See IRAN ix/2.2.

iv. Shiʿite states since the Safavids. See IRAN ix/2.3.

Messianism and Millenarianism in Islam

v. Messianic Islam in Iran: A general survey

vi. The concept of Mahdi in Sunni Islam

vii. The concept Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism

viii. The occultation of Mahdi. See ḠAYBA.

ix. The deputies of Mahdi

Islamic Political Movements

x. The roots of political Shiʿism in Iran

xi. Jihad in Islam.

xii. Martyrdom in Islam. Forthcoming online.

xiii. Islamic political movements in 20th-century Iran.

xiv. Islam and democracy. Forthcoming online.

xv. Islam and socialism. Forthcoming online.

xvi. Islam and fundamentalism. Forthcoming online.

xvii. Islamic Revolution of 1977–79. Forthcoming online.

xviii. Islamic Republic of Iran. Forthcoming online.