How does Arab and Persian / Iranic culture differ ?

[ronki23]

I'm surprised that they (Iranics) still follow Islam and the Dari, Tajik, Farsi and Urdu alphabets use Arabic script if they try emphasise how they're not the same as Arabs.

I recall that Iran is the only Shia Iranic country whereas Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan (Pathans) are Sunni. Same applies for Bahrain and Iraq being Arab yet have Shia majorities.

Can we see some examples of other differences ?

 

[Tambourine]

Persian script has a few extra letters on Arabic script, if I recall correctly.

Farsi, Dari, Urdu and Tajik belong to the Indo-European group of languages, compared to Arabic which belongs to the Semitic group.
I've been told by a German professor of Urdu that he had a much easier time learning Farsi and Urdu than Arabic for that reason.

 

[Glaurung]

I've been told by a German professor of Urdu that he had a much easier time learning Farsi and Urdu than Arabic for that reason.

I don't have much experience with either Persian or Urdu, but as far as Persian goes the impression I have gained from my limited reading about it is that it is fairly straightforward to learn due to a stripped-down and regular morphology. My book on world languages claims that Persian is to Iranian what English is to Germanic, in that it is the most radical in the gradual reduction of its inflectional morphology over time.

I recall that Iran is the only Shia Iranic country whereas Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan (Pathans) are Sunni. Same applies for Bahrain and Iraq being Arab yet have Shia majorities.

From what I understand, the ascendancy of Shi'ism in Persia was a result of a top down policy of enforcement by the Safavids. The main purpose was to create a religious identity that would insulate against Ottoman influence.