Language and literature

Article 15 of the Iranian constitution states that the "Official language (of Iran)... is Persian...[and]... the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian." Persian serves as a lingua franca in Iran and most publications and broadcastings are in this language. Next to Persian there are many publications and broadcastings in other relatively large languages of Iran such as Azeri, Kurdish and even in relatively smaller ones such as Arabic and Armenian. Many languages have originated from Iran, but Persian is the most used language. Persian is a tongue belonging to the Aryan or Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The oldest records in Old Persian date back to the Achaemenid Empire and examples of Old Persian have been found in present-day Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt. In the late 8th century the Persian language was highly Arabized and written in a modified Arabic script. This caused a movement supporting the revival of Persian. An important event of this revival was the writing of the Shahname by Ferdowsi (Persian: Epic of Kings), Iran's national epic, which is said to have been written entirely in native Persian. This gave rise to a strong reassertion of Iranian national identity, and is in part credited for the continued existence of Persian as a separate language.
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بسی رنج بردم در این سال سیعجم زنده کردم بدین پارسی
For thirty years, I suffered much pain and strifewith Persian I gave the Ajam verve and life
”
—Ferdowsi (935–1020)

Persian beside Arabic has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the Islamic world especially in Anatolia, central Asia and Indian sub-continent. Poetry is a very important part of Persian culture. Poetry is used in many classical works, whether from Persian literature, science, or metaphysics. For example about half of Avicenna's medical writings are known to be versified. Iran has produced a number of famous poets, however only a few names such as Rumi and Omar Khayyám have surfaced among western popular readership, even though the likes of Hafez and Saadi are considered by many Iranians to be just as influential. The books of famous poets have been translated into western languages since 1634. An example of Persian poetic influence is the poem below which is inscribed on the entrance of United Nations' Hall of Nations.
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بنى آدم اعضاء يک پیکرندکه در آفرينش ز يک گوهرندچو عضوى بدرد آورد روزگارددگر عضوها را نماند قرار
Of one Essence is the human racethus has Creation put the baseOne Limb impacted is sufficientFor all Others to feel the Mace
”
—Saadi (1184–1283)