175 Years of Persecution

For almost two centuries, followers of the Baha'i faith, Iran's largest religious minority, have been persecuted by the state. They have been made scapegoats for the nation's ills, branded enemies of Islam and denounced as foreign agents. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Baha'is have been barred from entering the nation's universities, more than two hundred have been executed, and hundreds more imprisoned and tortured.

Now, however, Iran is at a turning point. A new generation has begun to question how the Baha'is have been portrayed by the government and the clergy, and called for them to be given equal rights as fellow citizens. In documenting, for the first time, the plight of this religious community in Iran since its inception, Fereydun Vahman also reveals the greater plight of a nation aspiring to develop a modern identity built on respect for diversity rather than hatred and self-deception.

Fereydun Vahman is professor emeritus at the University of Copenhagen. Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 he has been a leading voice defending the rights of Baha’is. He is the author of several books in Persian, English and Danish, and is editor of the Religion and Society in Iran series.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The “Enigma” of the Baha’i Religion in Iran

PART ONE: Persecution During the Qajar and Pahlavi Dynasties, 1844–1979

Chapter 1: Why Were the Babi and Baha’i Faiths Suppressed in Iran?

Chapter 2: The Violent Repression of the Babis and Baha’is during the Qajar Period

Chapter 3: The Baha’is during the Reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi

Chapter 4: Baha’is in the Reign of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

Chapter 5: The Shahrud Incident

Chapter 6: Eighty-One Stab Wounds: The Murder of Dr Berjis in Kashan

Chapter 7: True Crime: The Incident at Abarqu

Chapter 8: The Events of 1955: Hojjat al-Islam Falsafi, the Ramadan Broadcasts, and the Military Occupation of the Baha’i Center

PART TWO: The Islamic Republic in Confrontation with the Baha’i Faith

Chapter 9: Baha’i Persecution during the Last Days of the Shah’s Regime

Chapter 10: The Baha’is—the First Victims of Oppression in the Islamic Republic

Chapter 11: The Persecution of Baha’is under Bazargan and the Revolutionary Council

Chapter 12: The Presidencies of Banisadr and Raja’i

Chapter 13: Arrests and Executions of the Baha’i Assemblies, 1981–85

Chapter 14: The Destruction of Baha’i Holy Sites and Community Resources

Chapter 15: After Ayatollah Khomeini: The Escalation of Persecution

Chapter 16: Efforts at Reform under President Khatami

Chapter 17: Escalating Repression under President Ahmadinejad (2005–13)

Chapter 18: An Obsession with Conspiracy Theories in the Islamic Republic

Chapter 19: Systematic Humiliation: Being Labeled Ritually Unclean (Najes)

Chapter 20: The Perspectives of Iran’s Grand Ayatollahs on the Baha’i Faith

Chapter 21: The Appeals of International Organizations and the Iranian Diaspora

Epilogue

Postscript

Appendix

Glossary

Select Bibliography

Notes

Index