According to the CIA World Factbook, around 90–95% of Iranians associate themselves with the Shi'a branch of Islam.
According to the CIA World Factbook, around 90–95% of Iranians associate themselves with the Shi'a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 5–10% with the Sunni and Sufi branches of Islam. The remaining 0.6% associate themselves with non-Islamic religious minorities, including Bahá'ís, Mandeans, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians ,Jews, and Christians. Zoroastrianism was once the majority religion, though today Zoroastrians number only in the tens of thousands. Zoroastrians in Iran have had a long history reaching back thousands of years, and is the oldest religious community of Iran that has survived to the present-day. Prior to the Muslim Arab invasion of Persia (Iran), Zoroastrianism had been the primary religion of Iranian people. Iran is home to the second largest Jewish community in the Muslim World. Islam has been the official religion and part of the governments of Iran since the Islamic conquest of Iran circa 640 AD. It took another few hundred years for Shi'a Islam to gather and become a religious and political power in Iran. Sunni Muslims are the second largest religious group in Iran. Specifically, Sunni Islam came to rule in Iran after the period Sunni were distinguished from Shi'a through the Ghaznavids from 975 AD, followed by the Great Seljuq Empire and the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty until the Mongol invasion of Iran. Christianity in Iran has had a long history, dating back to the very early years of the faith. There are some very old churches in Iran – perhaps the oldest and largest is the St. Thaddeus Monastery, which is also called the Ghara Kelissa (the Black Monastery), south of Maku. By far the largest group of Christians in Iran is Armenians under the Armenian Apostolic Church which has between 110,000, 250,000, and 300,000 adherents. There are many hundreds of Christian churches in Iran, with at least 600 being active serving the nation its Christian population.
There are numerous pilgrimage sites in Iran for Muslims, Christians and Zoroastrians. Therefore Arasbaran Tour Company by holding pilgrimage tours throughout Iran offers you the most popular spiritual religious sites of Iran including Imam Reza Shrine, Fatima Masumeh Shrine, Jamkaran, Shāh Abdol Azīm Shrine, the Tomb of Daniel, Imāmzādeh Sāleh, Vank Cathedral, the St. Stepanos Monastery, the Saint Thaddeus Monastery, Zoroastrian Fire Temple in Yazd and so on. Our religious trips at Arasbaran grant the visitors a fascinating experience that they will remember for many, many years. Arasbaran tourism agency render the pilgrims with impeccable services to make your holy trip a comfortable one. In these pilgrimage itineraries our focus is on the shrines, cathedrals and monasteries. Travelling with us you'll explore all major pilgrimage destinations in Iran. Our Pilgrimage vacations offer a unique way to connect with your spirituality, reshape your religious perspectives and leave you with a renewed sense of faith. So we can proudly say we are the most comprehensive company for performing a pilgrimage tour in Iran.
Imam Reza Shrine a complex in Mashhad which contains the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shiites. It is the largest mosque in the world by dimension and the second largest by capacity. Also contained within the complex are the Goharshad Mosque, a museum, a library, four seminaries, a cemetery, the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, a dining hall for pilgrims, vast prayer halls, and other buildings. The complex is one of the tourism centers in Iran. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine and pay their tributes to Imam Reza.
The Fatima Masumeh Shrine in Qom, Iran contains the tomb of Fātimah bint Mūsā, sister of the eighth Shia Imam, Ali al-Rida Located in Qom, Iran, some consider the Fatima Masumeh Shrine to be the third holiest shrine in Shia Islam.The shrine has attracted to itself dozens of seminaries and religious schools. Shah Abbas I of Persia built the shrine complex in the early 17th century.
Jamkaran is a village in Qanavat Rural District, in the Central District of Qom Province. Jamkaran is the site of the Jamkaran Mosque, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims. Local belief has it that Muhammad al-Mahdi -- the Twelfth Imam, a messiah figure Shia believe will lead the world to an era of universal peace — once appeared and offered prayers at Jamkaran. On Tuesday evenings large crowds of thousands gather at Jamkaran to pray and to drop a note to the Imam in a well at the site, asking for help with some problem.
The Shāh Abdol Azīm Shrine located in Rey,Iran, contains the tomb of: ‘Abdul ‘Adhīm ibn ‘Abdillāh al-Hasanī (aka. Shah Abdol Azim). Shah Abdol Azim was a fifth generation descendant of Hasan ibn ‘Alī and a companion of Muhammad al-Taqī. He was entombed here after his death in the 9th century. Adjacent to the shrine, within the complex, include the mausolea ofImamzadeh Tahir (son of the fourth shia Imam Sajjad), and Imamzadeh Hamzeh (brother of the eighth Twelver Imām - Imām Reza).
Imāmzādeh Sāleh is one of many Imāmzadehmosques in Iran. The mosque is located at Tajrish Square in Tehran's northern Shemiran district. The mosque entombs the remains of Sāleh, a son of the Twelver Shī‘ah Imām, Mūsā al-Kādhim, and is one of the most popular Shī‘ah shrines in northern Tehran.
The Tomb of Daniel is the traditional burial place of the biblical prophet Daniel. Various locations have been named for the site, but the tomb in Susa, Iran, is the most widely accepted. Today the Tomb of Daniel in Susa is a popular attraction among local Muslims and Iran's Jewish community alike.
The St. Stepanos Monastery is an Armenian monastery about 15 km northwest of Jolfa city, East Azarbaijan Province northwest Iran. It is situated in a deep canyon on the Iranian side of the border between Nakhchivan and Iran. It was built in the 9th century and rebuilt in the Safavid era after several earthquakes damaged it.
The Saint Thaddeus Monastery ("The Black Church") is an ancient Armenian monastery located in the mountainous area of Iran's West Azerbaijan Province, about 20 kilometers from the town of Maku. The monastery is visible from a distance because of the massiveness of the church, strongly characterized by the polygonal drums and conical roofs of its two domes. There are several chapels nearby: three on the hills east of the stream, one approximately 3 km south of the monastery on the road to Bastam, and another that serves as the church for the village of Ghara-Kilise.