> Implying OTL Persians aren't already offensively Arabized
Persian culture is still very unique compared to the culture of the Bedouin, just as is Syrian and Iraqi culture - their languages may have been pushed out the way by Arabic, but their cultures are distinct. (Heck, Iraqi and Syrian Arabic are pretty different to Hejazi Arabic anyway).
This is something my Persian teacher was very vocal about. She said they they had such a beautiful language and culture before the arrival of Arabs and Islam. She was very proud to be a strong, independent (old) Persian women, not one of those covered up Arab princess wives... At any rate, 40% of Persian words are Arabic cognates, and of course their script as well, replacing the native Pahlavi script.
Persian is still a beautiful language and most Persians are proud of it regardless, but I can't lie and say I don't prefer the purer Middle Persian - it's a lot more similar to Hindi in its original form.
Same could be said of the Assyrians, they were the epicentre of a mighty empire with a long-lasting cultural influence, their language lived on as a lingua franca (or at least as an administrative one) with a lasting prestige.
Assyrians had a different situation though - Semitic people (which made the transition to Arabic easier) who lived in an open plain, unlike the Persians who were more numerous and lived in a much more mountainous and secluded landscape.
prevent writing or publication of Shahnameh ? it sometime argued that shahnameh prevent Persian language from disappearing.
Elamites at Khuzestan and Mesopotamian in Iraq does get Arabized, both area originally part of Persian Empire, so it certainly possible for other area to get Arabized too.
As Hrvatskiwi said, the Khuzestani were never really Persians, and keep in mind that the current province of Khuzestan is a much reduced size to the original Khuzestan and only a bit under half the population or so actually speak Arabic, with Lurs and Bakhtaris making up the remainder.
As for the Shahnameh, the Persian language survived because of both numerous speakers and resistance to Arab rule + the Abbasids endorsing Persian culture.
Or Greek, for that matter. Greek went from being the lingua franca of the entire Eastern Mediterranean to a pretty insignificant modern language.
But I'd argue that Persian culture was pretty Arabised and that it was the political developments in the centuries since the establishment of Shia Islam in Persia that saw a shift away from Arabisation to a self consciously Persian identity.
I don't think the culture ever was particularly Arabised, the language was and the religious elements of the culture were, but beyond that, Persian clothing, cuisine and lifestyle remained unique to that of the Arabs - I'd say if anything, the Turks had a bigger influence on our culture.