ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace to refer today to the awakening East, and more particularly the spectacular westernization of Turkey. Since the rise of Mohammed in the seventh century and the Arab invasion, one of the lasting results of which was the substitution of the Islamic for the ancient and indigenous religion of Zoroaster, Islam has made itself felt in every domain of Persian life. Islam in Persia became stereotyped in form and content, as well as in interpretation and application. Rules of conduct which were suitable enough for the desert nomads of Arabia in the seventh century became an anachronism in modern Persia. If the Shah has had the good fortune to be assisted in his program of reform by two such powerful ideological forces, credit is no less due him for the supreme gift of the statesman in reading history aright. His natural genius appears to have endowed him with this gift to a supreme degree.
