al-majus

Al-Majus (المجوس) is an Arabic term that originally referred to the Iranian Magi, the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The Persian magi were skilled in astronomy, astrology and esoteric philosophy. The word ‘magus’ (Latin from Old Persian ‘magush‘), is an ancient term for a magician or a wise man, and the ancestor of the modern word ‘magic.’

Considered to fall under the Islamic classification of ahl al-Kitab (the people of the book), Zoroastrians were generally protected by early Muslim rulers, especially within Iran; however, the term al-Majus has also been used historically and in modern sectarian contexts by Wahhabi fundamentalists as a pejorative for all Iranians, with the implication that Iranians and Shia Muslims are actually covert practitioners of pre-Islamic beliefs.