Iran owes its big name to Shahnameh

In fact, the Shahnameh is a letter of love; a love letter full of visionary, epic images, profound thoughts, mystifying beauties, patriotism, philanthropy, chivalry, gallantry and freedom.
Ferdowsi's fame, reverberated today across geographical and ethnic frontiers of the globe, is mainly the outcome of the unrivalled and exceptional role played by the great Persian poet to portray the prime human and ethical charisma personified in the noble characters of the Shahnameh.
The people in the Shahnameh tend to be an amalgamation of imagination, epic, myth and legend. But passing through the skilful, creative and miraculous filter of the 'poet brain' they have turned to be integral, undying and lively components of the Iranian culture and memory.
The people in the Shahnameh have been living our lives with us and within us; Rustam, the most prominent legendary hero of Shahnameh, in our imagination, has been riding for centuries his stallion Rakhsh, putting shackles on the intruders and looters of the homeland and morlities.
Based on Ahura Mazda culture of the Shahnameh, giving in to the tyrants, bullies and thugs is senseless, odd and out of mind. Iran owes its big name to the Shahnameh. It is impossible and horrible to think of Iran without thinking about the Shahnameh.
We should respectfully bow to the legend and heart-sore poet, who in his ivory tower, went through 30 years of an ordeal to preserve Iran's culture, identity and national zeal.
Ferdowsi, in an era of loneliness and helplessness of the Iranian culture and history, only with the Shahnameh, started a relentless solo fight against perversity, felony and corruption.
The Persian poet, in his long lonely moments of solitude, restored all the very plundered dignity and glory possessed by the Iranian people in every and each word of the Shahnameh.
And for centuries, the grand, magnificent, glorious and invulnerable palace of Shahnameh, erected by the celebrated poet, has been immune from all the blows of the devils, turning to be a source of honor for the national identity and Iranian culture and civilization.
I hereby offer my congratulations on the auspicious 1073rd birthday anniversary of distinguished Iranian literary and cultural figure, Abolqasem Ferdowsi.
The article by Bahram Qasemi, Speaker of Iran's foreign ministry, originally appeared in Persian section of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) website.