The Khurramites (Persian: خرمدینانKhurram-Dīnân,[a] meaning "those of the Joyful Religion") were an Iranian[1][2][3] religious and political movement with roots in the Zoroastrian movement of Mazdakism.[3] An alternative name for the movement is the Muhammira (Arabic: محمرة, "Red-Wearing Ones"; in Persian: سرخجامگانSurkh-Jâmagân), a reference to their symbolic red dress.[citation needed]
The Qizilbash ("Red-Heads"') of the 16th century – a religious and political movement in Iranian Azerbaijan that helped to establish the Safavid dynasty – have been described as "spiritual descendants of the Khurramites".[4]
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^Arthur Goldschmidt, Lawrence Davidson, “A concise history of the Middle East”, Westview Press; Eighth Edition (July 21, 2005). p. 81: “..a Persian named Babak whose rebellion lasted twenty years. These uprisings were inspired by Persia's pre-Islamic religions, such as Zoroastrianism (the faith of the Sassanid ruler) and a peasant movement called Mazdakism”
^Whittow (1996), "The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, 600–1025". New studies in medieval history, London: Macmillan, pp. 195, 203 & 215
Azerbaijan was the scene of frequent anti-caliphal and anti-Arab revolts during the eighth and ninth centuries, and Byzantine sources talk of Persian warriors seeking refuge in the 830s from the Caliph's armies by taking service under the Byzantine emperor Theophilos. [...] Azerbaijan had a Persian population and was a traditional centre of the Zoroastrian religion. [...] The Khurramites were a [...] Persian sect, influenced by Shiite doctrines, but with their roots in a pre-Islamic Persian religious movement.
^ abW. Madelung, "Khurrammiya" in Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianchi, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2009. Brill Online. Excerpt: "Khurrammiya or Khurramdiniyya refers in the Islamic sources to the religious movement founded by Mazdak in the late 5th century A.D. and to various anti-Arab sects which developed out of it under the impact of certain extremist Shi'i doctrines."
^Roger M. Savory (ref. Abdülbaki Gölpinarli), Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Kizil-Bash", Online Edition 2005