Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest living religions, is a pre-Islamic and ancient monotheistic religion. Along with monotheistic features, Zoroastrianism also contains dualistic features and it shares many central concepts with the major world religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is centered on the words of the prophet Zoroaster and focuses worship upon Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, and also acknowledges two competing principles representing good and evil: Spenta Mainyu (“Bounteous Spirit”) and Angra Mainyu (“Destructive Spirit”) (What, n.d.). People are free to choose between the good or evil, but then they are responsible for their choices and deeds. Humans are intimately involved in this struggle, holding off chaos and destruction through active goodness (What, n.d.). …show more content…
There are four sacred elements of Zoroastrian ethics and worships which are the earth, fire, water, and air. Whoever pollutes or violates these sacred elements is considered evil and will be punished in the afterlife in hell. Ahura Mazda is strongly associated with both fire and the Sun, for this reason Zoroastrians respect and recognize fire as a powerful purifier and always keep a fire burning at their temples to represent Ahura Mazda’s eternal power (What,