Baha’is in Post-revolution Iran: Perspectives of the Ulema

Abstract

Since the inception of the Baha’ism as an independent faith in Persia, its adherents came under attack from the religious clergy which perceived the growing popularity of this new faith as a threat to their monopolistic position in the society. Education and economy were the two dominant fields where the Baha’is prospered in pre-revolution Iran, thereby contributing to the modernization of Persia. However, being a post-Abrahamic faith in its origin, the Islamic clergy viewed the Baha’is as apostates and an enemy of Islam, which led to the persistent targeting and attacks on the Baha’is over the faith’s origin and as an essentially incompatible and contradictory disposition in the Baha’i– ulema relations. While the pre-revolution Iran show an ulema–monarchy convergence in their attack on the Baha’is, the post-revolution Iran witnessed the same through consolidation of state– ulema powers in the form of the new Islamic Republic. The discrimination and persecutions of the Baha’is in the post-1979 Iran increased considerably, and one can witness a deviation of the homogenous perception on the Baha’is by the religious clergy class. The conservative reformist faction of the ulema has given rise to newer and opposing perspectives on the Baha’is, the largest non-recognized religious minority in Iran.

Between Tolerance and Exclusionism: Urban Iranian Youth’s Attitudes towards Race and Religion

“…In contrast, the participants' reductionist reflections on Arabs and Baha'ism signalled a distinctive form of ethno-/religiocentrism held by them; a conviction that regards the aforesaid racial group and religion, respectively inferior and invalid. Perhaps, the best place to search for the origin of this kind of antagonistic dispositions among participants would be the dominant discourses in society where Arab -Iranian, Shia-Sunni, Shia-Baha'i oppositional binaries have historically resulted in formation of such ideologies [36]. This in turn suggests that although youth have considerably distanced themselves from older generations and their timehonoured dogma, they still, in some respects, continue to subscribe to their antecedents' reactionary ideals.…”