Also, I heard that some Zoroastrian groups converted to Islam to hide from the persecutions. They're still Zoroastrian, but claim to be a type of Islam for safety reasons.

well this lady i referred to seems to sincerely believe that mohammad was god's messenger, like all muslims do. she also believes that mohammad enlightened arabia by banishing paganism. she also reveres the koran along with the zend avesta and says both books actually have a parallel message.

I didn't know too much about this, so I asked my father about what you wrote.

Here's what he wrote:

"Our understanding is that Salman-e-Farsi (which means Salman the Persian) was a Zoroastrian priest, Dastur Dinyar, who happened to meet Mohammed during his travels. He educated Mohammed about the teachings of prophet Zarathushtra (Greek philosophers pronounced his name as Zoroaster). Mohammed had also learned about the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.

I do not know about the reference to Paradise as Persia, but we do know that the word Paradise is from the persian word "Paradis" which also was used to refer to Heaven.

I also do not know of Salman's intention to become king.

It is true that Mohammed was not a literate person. He got his knowledge from verbal communication with other people.

As far as new ideas being introduced into Zoroastrianism about 1500 years ago, I would say the following:

2006 - 1500 = 506 A.D. This would be during the last 100 years or so of the last Zoroastrian Persian empire under the Sassanian dynasty of rulers. Due to destruction of documents after the Arab conquest, it would be difficult to know factual data that could lead us to conclude if and what changes were made. As far as the Parsis understand, the religion was preserved in an authentic manner through the centuries. After Alexander's conquest when Zoroastrian scriptures were first destroyed, and after a couple of centuries of Greek rule, the Zoroastrian religion was revived by the Iranian dynasties of Parthians and later Sassanians, These persian rulers undertook the task of searching, gathering, and reconstituting the scattered surviving scriptures. A team of Zoroastrian scholar priests went through a careful analysis of the documents to create an authentic version of religious scriptures (somewhat similar to the process undertaken by the church of Rome in analyzing different documents and creating a standard approved version).

Some revisionists claim that changes may have been introduced, but traditional Zoroastrians, who are the overwhelming majority, believe that the religion passed down through the centuries is authentic. Legends tell the story of the Sassanian era high priest who was in charge of the analysis and selection of authentic scriptures, Dastur Adarbad Mahraspand, who was said to have undergone a test of having molten metal poured on his chest and not being harmed, as a proof that the authentic scriptures had been honestly compiled."

And there ya have it. Hope that helps. ;)

Naz