Comprehensive history of the Jews of Iran : the outset of the diaspora / by Habib Levy ; edited and abridged by Hooshang Ebrami ; translated from the Persian by George W. Maschke.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 555-564) and index.

Who are the Jews? -- Promised land, Jerusalem, Judea, and Israel -- First Jewish settlers in Iran -- Khorasan of yore : present-day Afghanistan -- Iran : pioneer of freedom among nations -- Cyrus, God's anointed -- Haman's conspiracy against the Jews -- Prophet Daniel's service in the court of Darius the Great -- Ties of two Jewish leaders, Ezra and Nehemiah, to Iran -- Iran's encounter with Greece and Rome -- Five-and-a-half centuries of obscurity -- Iranian-Roman alliance during the fall of the second temple -- Religious fever in Iran -- Beginnings of religious minority suffering -- Composition of the Talmud during the Sasanian period -- Ups and downs in the Jewish community -- Peak of Sasanian persecution of the Jews -- Iran in the new world of Islam -- Factious Jew -- Abu ʻIsa al-Isfahani and Yudghan Hamadani -- Worldwide Karaite movement -- Conversion of the Khazars to Judaism -- Key role of Jews in the advancement of the sciences in Islamic Iran -- Iran, battlefield of nationalists -- Silence in the storm of rebellion -- Transfer of the center of Judaism from Babylon to Spain -- Iran, abattoir of monotheists -- New ups and downs -- Benjamin of Tudela on the Jews of Iran -- Advent of David Alroy, "the Iranian Messiah," during the Crusades -- Profound influence of Jewish and Jewish-born statesmen on the Iranian state apparatus -- Shahin, Amina, and other prominent Jews in science, literature, and philosophy -- Jews during the Timurid period -- Iran, circus of European spies -- Climax of anti-semitism -- Foreign and domestic factors in the flood of anti-Semitism -- Climax of anti-semitism during the reign of Shah Abbas II -- Jewish poetry, literature, scholarship, and art during the Safavid period -- History of Babaʾi ibn Lutf -- Vengefulness of Mullah Mordecai Lari, who became known as "Abu al-Hasan" -- Abu al-Hasan Lari in Kashan -- Abu al-Hasan's trip to Shiraz -- Jews of Farahabad and Abu al-Hasan Lari -- ShahʾAbbas and the runaway gazelle -- Simantub follows in Abu al-Hasan's footsteps -- Intensification of anti-semitism during the reign of Shah ʻAbbas II -- Loss of the king's dagger and the riot against the Jews -- Exile of the Jews of Isfahan -- Forced conversion of the Jews of Kashan and Natanz to Islam -- Persecution of the Jews of Hamadan -- Khalil Khan Lor in Khansar and Golpayegan -- Plight of the Jews of Lar and Shiraz -- Advent of Obadiah -- Continuation of the story of the Jews of Isfahan -- Jews of Farahabad during the reign of Shah ʻAbbas II -- Plight of the Jews of Qom -- Continuation of the story of the Jews of Golpayegan and Khansar -- Unpleasant situation of the Jews of Yazd and Kerman -- Shah ʻAbbas II's travels to Kashan and his love for a Jewish youth -- Miserable plight of the Jews of Kashan -- End of Muhammad Beg's anti-semitic deeds -- Short-lived dynasties -- Unending storms -- Jewish life in Hamadan -- Fall of the cradle of freedom -- Fears and hopes -- Travel of Jewish envoys to Iran -- Revival of anti-Semitism during the Qajar period -- Mullah Agha Baba or Muhammad Reza, the new-Muslim -- Upright clerics' quest for justice -- Huntsmen of faith.