Thus, the Persians viewed Abu Muslim Al-Khorasani, the Persian leader who contributed to the overthrow of the Umayyad state and played an important role in governance at the beginning of the Abbasid state, as one of the figures of Persian nationalism. Some considered him as the successor of Zoroaster, and others considered him the savior who had some of the divine spirit.

The populist movement was characterized by an extremist religious character, especially those who were historically called as “extremists”. These are a Persian group that revived the Magian concepts and beliefs under an Islamic cover. They exploited the love of the family of the Prophet and the Alawite call as a religious cover to confront any existing Arab authority, especially the caliphate. There are many religious groups for the extremists, but they all base their beliefs on Zoroastrianism, Mazdakism, and Manichaeism. Some groups of extremists depend on one of the previous religions, and some depend on a mixture of the ideas of all these religions.

Populism was not satisfied with its religious dimension, but also extended to the fields of literature in an attempt to contest the Arab culture that had spread and prevailed in Persia. Supporters of populism worked on reviving the Persian language again, limiting the use of Arabic as a literary language and belittling its importance and the importance of the Arabs in general.

Among the most famous of these anti-Arab populist writings is what was written by the Persian populist Allan Al-Warraq. Although he was one of the scribes in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad during the time of Al-Rashid and Al-Ma’mun, he wrote the book “Al-Maydan Fi Al-Mthaalib”. Ibn Al-Nadim said that: “In this book, he insulted the Arabs and showed their defects”. He also wrote several books about the defects of Quraysh. Al-Jihani also went on to describe the Arabs as: “They eat jerboas, rats, and serpents, and they also gossip, fight and commit immorality”.

Populism took on a political dimension, especially with the success of the Persian Khorasani, Taher Ibn Al-Hussein, in forming the first Persian emirate after the Islamic conquest of Persia, which was known as the Tahirid state, which is a hereditary emirate. Some describe him as: “He is Khorasani who is enthusiastic about his Persian race and does not feel comfortable with the Arabs or with Al-Ma’mun, his master”.

We also find another leader, such as Al-Afshin. Although he is a Muslim, he keeps the ancient Persian religious books. It is said that he was not circumcised according to the custom of Muslim males and he hated the Arabs a lot.

The matter reached its climax in the era of the Samanid state, when a fatwa was issued authorizing prayer in Islam in the Persian language in an attempt to weaken the spread of Arabic.

Abdul Aziz Al-Douri ends his important study on populism in Islamic history with an interesting and important result about the persistence of populism until now. He says: “This does not mean the demise of populism, especially since its materials and components are still present and it is waiting for the right conditions to continue its activity”.