Conflict is the constant feature in Arab-Persian relations, given that the Persians were of the opinion that the elimination of Arabs is a prelude to the eradication of their culture and erasure of Islamic identity, paving the way to the empowerment of Persian beliefs, especially in their Zoroastrian dimension. Confrontations between the Arabs and the Persians remain one of the manifestations of Persian hostility. The outset of the Abbasid era witnessed confrontations of a special kind, in view of the cautious coexistence between the Arabs, who have power and authority, and the Persians, who are submissive for fear of the Arab hegemony.

In this context, and given the weak Persian state, they resorted to adopting new tactics in confronting the Arabs; tactics that have continued to this day, know in the literature of military confrontations as “Proxy War”. Here, it appears that current Iran did not invent the industry of military arms and mercenaries. It is rather a Persian tactic inherited since the first Abbasid era, when the Persians bet on ” Shu’ubiyya” to strike the Arabs and blow up the Arab-Islamic state from its center of gravity.

In connection with the historical context, some historians see that Shu’ubiyya is “anti-Arabs civilized cultural movement. Iraq was the stage on which it appeared… because it was the meeting place of the dominant Arab element with the defeated Persian element.. It remained hidden throughout the Umayyad era, until the Abbasids succeeded in establishing their state. They used the loyalists and put them in important positions… Nationalism then dominant the Shu’ubiyya, thus strengthened it, escalating its danger, as it turned into something like organizations supervised, planned, maintained and assisted by prime ministers, authors writers and poets from Persian loyalists”.

It can be said that the supremacy of Arab race in the Umayyad and Abbasid eras prompted the other “peoples” to try to prove themselves and show their national uniqueness by announcing their rejection of everything that is Arab. Thus, “The children of other peoples tried to prove to the Arabs their identities and existence, showing them that they are not better than all other nations”.

At this point, it is worth noting that Arab Muslims, being the first carriers of Islam to others, would not have triumphed favor the race, as the criterion for distinction, success and advancement in Islam is not race, language or color, but piety and adherence to the assets established in the religious text. Therefore, it is likely that the prevalence of ethnic passion made the Persians and Shu’ubis interpret that dimension among the Muslims, who wanted to melt all ethnicities in the crucible of Islam, which came to cut off all roots of division, especially ethnic, tribal and factional divisions.