The terms "ērān"/"ērānšahr" had no currency for the Arabic-speaking Caliphs, for whom Arabic "al-'ajam" and "al-furs" ("Persia") to refer to Western Iran (i.e. the territory initially captured by the Arabs and approximately corresponding to the present-day country of Iran) had greater traction than indigenous Iranian usage. Moreover, for the Arabs "ērān"/"ērānšahr" were tainted by their association with the vanquished Sasanians, for whom being Iranian was also synonymous with being "mazdayesn", i.e. Zoroastrian. Accordingly, while the Arabs were generally quite open to Iranian ideas if it suited them, this did not extend to the nationalistic and religious connotations in "ērān"/"ērānšahr", nor to the concomitant contempt of non-Iranians, which by the Islamic era also included Arabs and "Turks".