Around 800-816 a religious sect in Abbasid Iran formed, known as the Khurramites. The Khurramites based their ideology largely on the ancient Mazdakite faith, a direct splinter of Zoroastrianism. The movement would be inherited by Babak Khorramdin and his wife, under the leadership of Babak and the political turmoil surrounding the Abbasid Civil War as well as the unity of the Persians being slowly restored across the Iranian realm Babak would devastate the Abbasids.
Abbasid Civil War & the wider Iranian resistance against Despotic rule
Ruler under the Umayyads was not nice, like their Rashidun forefathers Islam was central and this conflicted with the Zoroastrians of Persia, Mesopotamia & Armenia as much as it did with other faiths in the Caliphate, when the civil war broke out this enabled the Iranians to take advantage of the chaos, as plethora of revolts ensued across Iran & the Khurramites struck many Abbasid targets around upper Iran and modern Azerbaijan. What set off the Iranian revolts itself wasn’t anti-Arab sentiment in general as much as it was the politically motivated murder of a political friend of Iran named Abu Muslim, as such Iran would revolt consistently for decades.
Babak Khorramdin & the Khurramite Rebellion
After the former leader Javidan died, Babak took his place, married his wife and promptly set off a series of attacks against Caliphate targets, taking castles and other strategic locations, allying with figures like Mazyar & proclaiming a restoration of the Sasanian Dynasty, he also was instrumental in encouraging the Persian people to rally to his cause. The Khurramites under Babak’s leadership were a fearsome force, defeating multiple Abbasid armies much larger than his own for 20-23 years with few defeats, the armies of Yahya ibn Mu’adh, Isa ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Khalid, Ahmad ibn al Junayd, Muhammad ibn Humayd Tusi & many more.
Babak would eventually be betrayed & captured when an Armenian general handed him over to the Abbasids, the Abbasids gruesomely executed Babak in public, first by removing his arms and legs, however according to legend Babak doused himself in his own blood to spite the Abbasids attempt of demoralization, he was then gibbeted alive.
The last of the Khurramites
While the Khurramite rebellion technically ended after the death of Babak, resistance in Iran & Azerbaijan continued and many Khurramites fled to the Roman Empire (Basileia Rhomaion) including the prominent figure Nasir, better known by his Greco-Roman name Theophobos. Theophobos with roughly 14,000 Khurramites enlisted into the Byzantine Army and given the role as division commander (Paygan Salar in Persian or Patrikios in Greek), Theophobos would become a trusted colleague of the Emperor Theophilos and would serve as a loyal commander against the Arabs and was present at the battle of Anzen as well as reportedly saved the emperor’s life.
However with rumours of the emperors death abound Theophobos’s men declared him emperor possibly without his permission and Theophobos arranged with Theophilos to end the charade and retain his position, Theophilos would later execute Theophobos on his deathbed to solidify the succession of his son Michael.