Religious Minorities In Iran

Eliz Sanasarian's book explores the political and ideological relationship between non-Muslim religious minorities in Iran and the state during the formative years of the Islamic Republic to the present day. Her analysis is based on a detailed examination of the history and experiences of the Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahais and Iranian Christians, and describes how these communities have responded to state policies regarding minorities. Many of her findings are constructed out of personal interviews with members of these communities. While the book is essentially an empirical study, it also highlights more general questions associated with exclusion and marginalization and the role of the state in defining these boundaries. This is an important and original book which will make a significant contribution to the literature on minorities and to the workings of the Islamic Republic.

Iran is home to approximately 70.5 million people who are ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse. The central authority is dominated by Persians who constitute 51% of Iran¿s population. Iranians speak diverse Indo-Iranian, Semitic, Armenian, and Turkic languages. The state religion is Shia, Islam. Contents of this report: (1) Recent Developments; (2) Background; (3) Persian Dominance; (4) Under the Islamic Regime: History of Ethnic Grievances; Ethnic Unrest; (5) Major Ethnic Minority Groups: Azeris; Kurds; Arabs; Baluchis; (6) Religious Minority Groups: Sunni Muslims; Baha¿is; Christians; Jews; (7) Reaction to the Status of Minorities; (8) International Rights Groups. Map and table.

Based on the premise that nationalism is a dominant factor in Iranian identity politics despite the significant changes brought about by the Islamic Revolution, this cross-disciplinary work investigates the languages of nationalism in contemporary Iran through the prism of the minority issue.

"This collected volume is an attempt to create an overview of Iran's main religious and ethno-religious minorities in their relationship to the dominant political discourse. The diversity of the topics, the international and academic backgrounds of the authors as well as their contemporary orientation distinguishes this volume as an original one." -Behrouz Alikhani, Senior Lecturer, WWU Münster, Institute of Sociology, Germany. This book explores the experiences of the ethnic and religious minorities of Iran, such as Jews, Yarsani, Christian, Sabean Mandaean, Bahai, Zoroastrian, Baluch, Kurd, and others and provides a historical overview of their position in society before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution and highlights their contribution to the country's history, diversity, and development. It also focuses on the historical, sociopolitical, and economic factors that affected the minorities' development during the last century. Author Behnaz Hosseini has shaped this book with authentic material and has assembled the experiences and opinions of academics of diverse backgrounds who approach the minorities' issues in Iran in a constructive and ingenious way: from debating their efforts to preserve their identity and cultural heritage and ensure their survival to discussing their relations with the majority and other minorities, the role of religion in everyday life, and their contribution to the rich cultural history of Iran. S. Behnaz Hosseini is a visiting research fellow at Centre for Studies in Religion & Society, University of Victoria in Canada as well as minority researcher, project coordinator, and conference organizer at the mobilecultures team affiliated with University of Vienna. She is an Honorary Fellow in the Center for Research on Gender and Women at the University of Wisconsin College. She is also a Middle East media analyst with Persian media. Dr. Hosseini has conducted extensive research on minorities in the Middle East and has worked with the United Nations as an expert consultant on ISIS crimes against religious minorities in Iraq. .

Contemporary political events have generated a strong interest in minorities in the Middle East. Although today the region is mostly identified with Islam, it has been home to many other great cultures, and the civilization of the Islamic world is itself indebted to the various peoples that the Arabs subdued in the 7th and 8th centuries. Far from fading away after the Arab conquest, the inhabitants of the Iranian plateau and of Mesopotamia were central players in the lives of their regions. However, the magnitude of their contribution to the emergence of the early Islamic world has hitherto been neglected. In this fascinating and groundbreaking study, Khanbaghi offers a comprehensive discussion of those groups that resisted assimilation to the new Islamic order yet continued to participate actively in the socio-political life of their homeland. He concentrates on Iran, which due to its complex religious history offers unique opportunities for the study of non-Muslim communities, specifically of Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians. Aptin Khanbaghi has written an important and fascinating book which aims to present a thorough evaluation of the historical contributions made by religious minorities – Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians – to the societal and cultural physiognomy of the lands of Iran in pre-modern and early modern times. His general perspective and his broad treatment of the topic are quite new, while his use of sources and of the secondary literature is genuinely impressive. The Fire, the Star and the Cross makes a very significant and original contribution to our knowledge and understanding of Iranian history and civilization during an era when the foundations were laid for the emerging modern Iranian state.' BERT G FRAGNER, Director of the Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna

First comprehensive study of the Baha’i community of Iran Wide range of topics covered, including the role of women, schools and literature Includes many chapters authored by leading academics in Iranian Studies Fills a gap in the study of modern Iran

Focusing on the situation of both Muslim and non-Muslim religious minorities in the Middle East, this volume offers an analysis of various strategies of resilience and accommodation from a historical as well a contemporary perspective.

Examines Iran's Armenian community, shedding light on Muslim-Christian relations in Iran since the 1979 revolution.