Majūs (Arabic and Persian: مجوس, pl. majūsī) was originally a term meaning Zoroastrians (and specifically, Zoroastrian priests). It was a technical term, meaning magus, and like its synonym gabr (of uncertain etymology) originally had no pejorative implications.
In al-Andalus the pagan non-Christian population were called majus and could either have the status of mozarab or of muladi.
In the 1980s, majus was part of Iraqi propaganda vocabulary of the Iranâ€"Iraq War to refer to Iranians in general. "By referring to the Iranians in these documents as majus, the security apparatus [implied] that the Iranians [were] not sincere Muslims, but rather covertly practice their pre-Islamic beliefs. Thus, in their eyes, Iraq’s war took on the dimensions of not only a struggle for Arab nationalism, but also a campaign in the name of Islam."
The term majus is distinct from Arabic kafir "unbeliever". Persian gabr is no longer synonymous with majus.
References
See also
- ajam, "illiterate", non-Arab, Iranian
- ahl al-Kitab, "People of the Book"
- dhimmi, "protected"
- kafir, "unbeliever"
- Zoroastrians in Iran
- Irani
- Gabr, Gavre or Gabre (Zoroastrian)
- GabrÅni
- Magus
