From the political imagination of ancient Iran to the political culture of Shiism, a theoretical attempt to analyze the identity of Iranians

By referring to the history and examining the stone inscriptions, inscriptions and works left from ancient Iran, the strong presence of religion in Iranian societies is evident. This means that the ancient Iranians, relying on religious and spiritual beliefs in search of transcendent goals and beyond reality, while accepting the concept of what is and forming a unique civilization, have always moved with a moderate approach in pursuit of the ideal of what should be. Therefore, relying on the theoretical framework of "formation and evolution of the national identity of Iranians" as well as the concept of political imagination in the theory of "political imagination in the life of the Iranian-Islamic world", with a comparative method and data collection in a documentary/library manner, an attempt has been made to find out the historical roots of identity. National Iranians should be explored and investigated in order to prove the hypothesis of the research According to the fact that "choosing Islam and then Shiism as the ideal perfection of the Zoroastrian religion in line with the spirit of seeking justice, seeking rights and anti-tyranny by Iranians was more than the imposition of Islam on Iranians after the defeat of the Sassanids from the Arabs. And taking into account that centuries before the advent of Islam, Iranians sought a justice-oriented society and the establishment of the rule of heavenly justice, while being familiar with the concept of the "Yazidi circle" of their kings, they accepted the mission of the Prophet of Islam, and faced with the behavior of the Bani Umayyad rulers that were contrary to Islamic values. And Bani Abbas saw the Shia religion as closer to their identity than Sunni Islam and chose it. This research, while investigating "Shia Islam" as "Political imagination of ancient Iranians" which reached the identity core of Iranians especially since the era of Safavid dynasty and rooting the personality and cultural characteristics of Iranians at the macro-historical level, comes to the assumption that "The antiquity of the Shiite element in the essence of the identity of Iranians should be known from ancient Iran and perhaps before Islam, even the Sassanid dynasty, as the only dynasty that attempted to formalize the Zoroastrian tradition, could not fulfill these ideals due to the deviation of its preceptors and guardians, and finally This idealistic collective imagination came to the fore after centuries of identity crisis of Iranians with the political culture of Shiism.