CONCLUSIONMagianism by Islam as the religion of the rulers, with the result that
the Magians' official relationship to the state was perpetuated among
Muslims. The Islamic qa(it, as administrator of religious law for the
Islamic community, was consciously compared to the Magian mobadh
or hirbadh, and the relationship between the qa(it and the ma;alim
court preserved conditions from the Sasanian period.
Reinforcement also assisted the adoption of certain social customs
by Muslims in Iraq. Tribal concepts of noble descent, encouraged by
the example of Arab notables at Hira, helped the new rulers approx-
imate themselves to the local landed aristocracy. The burial customs
practiced by Muslims in Iraq were a combination of Arab customs,
reinforced by Islam, and local pre-Islamic customs. Even the resistance
to local burial customs by some Muslims was a combination of their
preference for Arab ways and local Christian objections to ostentatious
funerals.
The transmission of religious influences through conversion was also
aided by reinforcement. Here it is important to note the consequences
of the rapid conversion of pagans to Nestorian Christianity in the sixth
and early seventh centuries, which meant the survival of pagan funeral
customs, demonology, and therapeutic magic among Christians, and
the appropriation of the sites of pagan shrines for churches and mon-
asteries. Not only were pagan ideas of redemptive healing reinforced
by the Bible, but the background pagan converts brought with them
left a permanent legacy among Nestorian Christians and ought to
provide an indication of the strength of religious ideas and practices
brought by converts to Islam. In fact, a great deal more reinforcement
existed in the case of Islam because Muslims arrived in Iraq with
affinities to local ritual, piety, and belief inherent in their own religion.
The extent of continuity through transmission where reinforcement
was available is also indicated by the fact that arguments associated
with details of belief and practice among non-Muslims appeared among
Muslims. The conflict between asceticism and this-worldly religious
practicality survived among Muslims. Muslims inherited the ancient
issue between royal absolutism and representative forms of govern-
ment in the form of the conflict between an infallible, charismatic,
Messianic leader, and an infallible community of religious scholars.
The argument over fatalism and human responsibility, complete with
the political uses and implications of both, also carried over into the
Islamic period and resurfaced among Muslims.