page 98 Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961
... Persia or Iran, with its culture and imagination, its proneness to mysticism and sensuousness, became the home of Islamic heresies. The Shias, dominant in Persia since the sixteenth century, began as a dissenting sect. The Aga Khan is the head of a heretical sect going back to the Persian middle ages. A modern example is the Bahai sect. Its mystical sense found expression in the poets, of whom Hafiz and Rumi attained world rank. In the cultural sphere the Arabs of the early Caliphate borrowed heavily from the classical Greek heritage of the countries which they conquered. Plato and Aristotle became familiar names in their thought; indeed, the knowledge of Aristotle was returned to the West at the University of Paris through Arab channels. The Islamic light, after passing through the Persian cultural prism, showed a spectrum of elegance, grace, and toleration not evidenced elsewhere. Though the Arabs first brought Islam to northern India, they never got further than Sind. The real bearers of Islam to India were the Turks, who were in different ages more or less influenced by Persian culture...
