Even thought the Muslim conquest of Iran was welcomed by Iranians on some level, the gradual divergence of Muslim Arabs from the teachings of Islam which called for the equality of all Muslims regardless fo race or ethnicity, led to an increasing sense of disquiet among those Iranians who were subjected to oppression and injustice. As a result, this disaffected group rebelled against Arab rule on numerous occasions, both at the time of the four rightly-guided caliphs (al-Kulafa ar-Rasidun) and under the Umayyads. In this article, some of these uprisings have been discussed and their relationship to shiite and Kharijite rebellions examined.

The further persecution of the Baghdads Shi'ites and specially the departure of Sheykh Tousi, the spiritual leader of the shi 'ites, was one of the consequences of Arsalan BasaÎsiri's revolt. The eleven months rule of this Turkish general in Baghdad also led to the capture of the Abbasid Caliph, al-kÊaÎim bi Amr AllaÎh; the execution of his Vizir and the proclamation of al-Mustansir bi 'llah - the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt - rule in baghdad.The suppression of this revolt by the Saljugh Emir, Toghru brought a drastic change in the Caliph-Sultan relationship and apart from triggering the cultural eclipse of shi'ism there, put a final end to a long tradition of the Fatimides attempts to take over Iraq.An inquiry on the background of Basaisiri, the main course of his revolt and finally its consequences are the main subjects of this paper.