Atheism in Ancient Iran

History of atheism in Iran (Persia), dates back to the pre-Zoroastrian era of Iran. It can be proven by use of the word "āshmoghs" by Zoroaster in Avesta (holy book of Zoroastrians), to refer to the enemies of Zoroaster and its religion, and in general the atheists of the time. For instance it occurs as "āshmoghān", "ashemaoghanāmcha" and "ashemaoghō". These words have all been translated to "heretic", "apostate", and as such (For example in the Hom Yasht 9.18, it is translated as "the profane apostates"). But lets have a deeper look to the etymology of these words.

Ashmogh can be assumed to be of the two parts, "Ash" and "Mogh", where "Ash" is related to "Aasi" (عاصی) and "Osyan" (عصیان) in Arabic and Persian, which means "disobey" and "Mogh" is related to make and mason (not to be confused with magus). So overall they were diobeyors of creator God, which can be assumed to mean "atheist". But in addition to this and as a complementary interpretation to the above, "Ashe" can be in relation with "Atheo", which is the constructor of the word atheism. Theo itself is in relation with deity and also the Persian word Izad. Therefore Ashemogh altogether means "Disbeliever to the creator God". Probably the Persian and Arabic word "Ahmagh" which means stupid, has also a relation with this word, because believers of the religions assumed disbelievers to be ignorant. The word "Aam" (عام) which means people in general, can have a relation with "Ashemogh", which can be a sign that before Islamic conquest of Persia, the people other than the high ranks were mostly atheist. Even when prophet of Islam, Mohammad, called people to follow Islam, some of those Arabs in Arabia, were atheists, which shows the possibility of a same practice in Iran at that time.

Another sign that ancient Iranians were atheists, can be found by focusing on the Persian words "Zand" and "Pazand", which are in relation to the word sonnat (سنت) in Arabic and Persian. If zand means tradition and pazand means modernity, then the reason that disbelievers in the past history of Iran were called as "Zandigh", can prove that in the past (or in tradition), Iranians were disbelievers in general.