Ebn al-Moqaffa’ (died 142/759) is quoted by ibn Al-Nadim in his famous Al-Fihrist as stating that
Azerbaijan, Nahavand, Rayy, Hamadan and Esfahan
speak Fahlavi (Pahlavi)
......
Ibn Hawqal states:
“ the language of the people of
Azerbaijan and most of the people of Armenia (sic; he probably means the Iranian Armenia) is
Iranian (al-farssya),
.....
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Al-Masudi (896-956), the
Arab historian states:
“
The Persians are a people whose borders are the Mahat Mountains and Azarbaijan up to Armenia and Aran, and Bayleqan and
Darband, and Ray and Tabaristan and Masqat and Shabaran and Jorjan and Abarshahr, and that is Nishabur, and Herat and Marv and other places in land of
Khorasan, and Sejistan and Kerman and Fars and Ahvaz...
All these lands were once one kingdom with one sovereign and one language...although the language differed slightly. The language, however, is one, in that its letters are written the same way and used the same way in composition. There are, then, different languages such as Pahlavi, Dari,
Azari, as well as other Persian languages.
......
Al-Moqaddasi (died late 10th century) considers Azerbaijan as part of the 8th division of lands. He states:"The languages of the 8th division is Iranian (al-‘ajamyya). It is partly partly Dari and partly convoluted (monqaleq) and all of them are named Persian".
hahaha
