Mazdak (Persian: مزدک) (died c. 524 or 528) was a Zoroastrian prophet, Iranian reformer and religious activist who gained influence under the reign of the Sassanian Shahanshah Kavadh I. He claimed to be a prophet of Ahura Mazda, and instituted communal possessions and social welfare programs. He has been seen as a proto-socialist.[1]
Mazdakism[edit]
Mazdak was the chief representative of a religious and philosophical teaching called Mazdakism, which he viewed as a reformed and purified version of Zoroastrianism,[2][3] although his teaching has been argued to display influences from Manichaeism as well.[2] Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion of Sassanid Persia, and Mazdak himself was a Zoroastrian priest, or mobed, but most of the Zoroastrian clergy regarded his teaching as heresy. Information about it is scarce and details are sketchy, but some further details may be inferred from the later doctrine ofKhurramism, which has been seen as a continuation of Mazdakism.[2][4]
Origins[edit]
Some sources claim that the original founders of this sect lived earlier than Mazdak. These were another mobed named Zardusht (Zaradust-e Khuragen)[5] (with a similar name, but not the same person as, the founder of Zoroastrianism) and/or a Zoroastrian philosopher known as Mazdak the Elder, who taught a combination of altruism and hedonism: "he directed his followers to enjoy the pleasures of life and satisfy their appetite in the highest degree with regard to eating and drinking in the spirit of equality, to aim at good deeds; to abstain from shedding blood and inflicting harm on others; and to practice hospitality without reservation".[2] This doctrine was further developed by the best known Mazdak, Mazdak the Younger, son of Bāmdād. At later stages the conservative Zoroastrian opposition accused Mazdak's followers of heresy and with abhorrent practices such as the sharing of women, for which scholars have found no evidence. Mazdak's followers are considered to be the first real socialists in human history by their emphasis on community property and community work with benefits accruing to all.[1][6]
Theological tenets[edit]
Like both Zoroastrianism (at least as practiced at the time) and Manichaeism, Mazdakism had a dualistic cosmology and worldview.[3] This doctrine taught that there were two original principles of the universe: Light, the good one; and Darkness, the evil one. These two had been mixed by a cosmic accident, tainting everything except God. Light is characterized by knowledge and feeling, and acts by design and free will, whereas Darkness is ignorant and blind, and acts at random. Mankind's role in this life was, through good conduct, to release the parts of himself that belonged to Light. But where Manichaeism saw the mixture of good and bad as a cosmic tragedy, Mazdak viewed this in a more neutral, even optimistic way.
In addition, Mazdakism is reported, in one late work, to have distinguished three elements (Fire, Water, Earth), and four Powers (Discernment, Understanding, Preservation and Joy, corresponding to the four chief officials of the Sassanid state[7]), seven Viziers and twelve Spiritual Forces. When the Four, the Seven and the Twelve were united in a human being, he was no longer subject to religious duties. In addition, God was believed to rule the world through letters, which held the key to the Great Secret that should be learnt. This description suggests that Mazdakism was, in many ways, a typical Gnostic sect.[8]