Derogatory name applied to Iranian Zoroastrians.
The word may derive from the Arabic kāfir ("infidel"). After the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century BC, the Zoroastrians became an outcast minority, saddled with many social and economic disabilities. Since the 19th century they have received support from the Parsi s of India. Persecuted after the Islamic fundamentalist revolution of 1978–79, they currently number a few thousand. See also Zoroastrianism and Parsiism .