In an August 6, 1915, letter to American author Nathan Haskell Dole, the great American poet Robert Frost wrote:

“The Zend Avesta was an old story with me when I was a bad little boy in San Francisco.”

[pic CFDRM (France): A set of 18^th c. translation of ancient sacred Iranian text ZEND AVESTA by French orientalist Anquetil Duperron … for educational purposes only]

As in many previous postings, I question Mainstream’s concept of so-called “Islamic Arts and Sciences” when referring to achievements of medieval southern Spain, Asia, and North Africa … therefore, it was a breakthrough when Jon Crumiller noted the following in a beautiful 2016 book entitled MASTERWORKS published by Fuel on the occasion of the World Chess Championship in New York…

Regarding chess sets designated as “Muslim Sets,” Crumiller wrote:

“Despite its name, the origin of the pattern is not entirely clear, and its attribution to Muslim culture is being subjected to the scrutiny of modern scholarship. Sheda Vasseghi, an historian whose field of expertise is Ancient Persia, which was an early adopter of chess, has said that the earliest-known ‘Muslim’ pattern pieces and the ancient Persian chess texts were already in existence before any Islamic presence. She noted that Islam did not arrive in Persia until the 7^th century C.E., so the game of chess and the simple geometric design predates Islam, not vice versa.”

Although proper definitions and sources make it clear that Chess has nothing to do with Islam (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=chess), one may simply point to declarations by Islamic theologians and authority that Chess is forbidden under Islamic rules (http://www.inter-islam.org/Prohibitions/Chess.html). 

When Islamists took control of a secular Iran under an Iranian Constitutional Monarchy in 1979, playing Chess in public was banned as forbidden under Islam.  In 2016, Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority ruled playing Chess is forbidden in Islam since it falls under gambling and wasting of time (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/21/chess-forbidden-in-islam-rules-saudi-arabia-grand-mufti).

[pic crumiller.com: A 19^th c. chess set that is often labeled by Mainstream as “Islamic” or “Muslim” set…there is nothing about this game or fancy artwork that may be traced to the foundation of Islam in 6th c. Arabian Peninsula… for educational purposes only]

TITLE of doctorate dissertation:
The Positioning of Iran and Iranians in the Origins of Western Civilization

BY:
Sheda Vasseghi (April 2017)
 
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how a select sample of college-level history textbooks position Iran and Iranians in the origins of Western Civilization. Western Civilization history marginalizes, misrepresents, misappropriates, and/or omits Iran’s positioning (Kincheloe, 2004; Daryaee, 2005; Anvarinejad, 2007; Daragahi, 2010; Ahkami, 2014; Vahdati, 2014). Further, the mainstream approach to teaching Western Civilization history includes the Judeo-Christian-Greco-Roman narrative. The researcher used a multi-faceted theoretical approach—decolonization, critical pedagogy, and Western Civilization History dilemma—since this study transcended historical revisionism. This collective case study involved eleven Western Civilization history textbooks that, according to the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), are most popular among American college faculty. The researcher reviewed and collected expert opinion on the following five themes: (1) terminology and definition of Iran, Iranians, and Iranian languages; (2) roots and origins of Iranian peoples; (3) which Iranian peoples are noted in general; (4) which Iranian peoples in ancient Europe are specifically noted; and (5) Iranians in connection with six unique Western Civilization attributes. The researcher selected experts specializing in Iranian, Western Civilization, and Indo-European studies in formulating a consensus on each theme. The researcher then compared expert opinion to content in surveyed textbooks. This study found that the surveyed textbooks overwhelmingly omitted, ill-defined, misrepresented, or marginalized Iran and Iranians in the origins of Western Civilization.

LINK to full study:
http://dune.une.edu/theses/108/