Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Harvey Henry Smith, Area Handbook for Iran, bahai-library.com.
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AREA HANDBOOK
for

IRAN

Co-Authors
Harvey H. Smith
William W. Cover
John B. Folan
Michael L. Meissenburg
Julius Szentadorjany
Suzanne Teleki

Research and writing were completed on
June 23, 1970

Published 1971

(This pamphlet supersedes DA Pam No. 550-68, May 1963)

DA PAM No. 550-68
they have sm~ll groups active in Western Europe and the United
Influenced by Christianity and pre-Islamic mystery religions, their States and claim a world membership of 500 ,000 . Th e B ahars á have
been severe I Y condemned by the Shiite clergyá the B h á l" á
mystic love of God sought outlet in religious fervor. Some became ár t d tá • a ar re rgron
so preoccupied with the contemplation of divine perfection that w h r e no un er ac 1ve suppression ' is not le ga ll Y recogmzed
Iran. á in'
they sought ecstatic trances, eventually by prescribed phases, as a
means of identifying with God. Mystic poetry and music were Religious Minorities
developed to a high degree as aids in achieving this selfless state. . T~e official recognized minority religions are Judaism Chri
As a result, Sufi poets were among the greatest contributors to tramt!, and Zoro~str~anism. Each of these groups is per~itted ts~
Iranian art (see ch. 10, Artistic and Intellectual Expression). sustam an orgamzatron, to elect a representative to th M á1á
A number of Sufi brotherhoods were established during the t á t á á á e aJ rs,
o mam am re11g10us schools, and to publish periodicals Th
early centuries of Islam, many of which continue to exist. In the however • re s t nc
. t ed m
. th eir
. political activities since non-Muslims
. ey are,
late 1960s one Kurdish sect had members in nine Middle Eastern can~ot occu~y com~and positions in the armed forces and cannot
countries. One of the brotherhoods, which came into being in the ach1e~e pohcymakmg positions in the government (see ch 5
thirteenth century, was that of the whirling dervishes (from the Ethmc _Groups and Languages; ch. 13, The Governmental Syste~)'
Iranian word meaning "poor"), mendicant ecstatics known for . In mid-1970 there were about 67,000 Jews in Iran, living main];
their gyrating dances performed while in a trance, a condition m Tehr_an, Isfaha, Kashan (120 miles south of Tehran) Ha d
heightened by the gyrations. Dervishes and other Sufi orders and Shiraz. _In addition, since 1948 some 45,000 have ~igr~t:da~~
maintain loose organizations and hold private meetings at which Israel. Iraman Jews form one of the oldes t J ew1s á h commumtres
á á
.
the traditional ritual chanting of Sufi poetry and invocations are m t~e world, and through over 1,000 years of Jiving among the
carried on. Ira~ia.ns, have be7ome physically and spiritually very close to the
Modern-day Sufis are not all beggars or poor. Many important maJonty _populat10n. They have preserved, however, a rather
public figures belong to one of the brotherhoods. They tend to.live conse:vat_ive, closed religious life. They are fully protected by the
sober, modest lives with a more than average regard for the pr,e- Constitution.
cepts of Islam. . In the t"'.entieth century the Jewish population has achieved
The Bahai movement had its origin in the eighteenth-century importance m the commercial life of the major cities, particularly
heretical beliefs of the followers of Shaykh Ahmed Ahsai, who Teh:a.n, and have e~tered the professions, most notably pharmacy,
taught that the hidden imam was a creative force with which con- med~cme, and d:ntistry. They have their own hospitals and aca-
tact could be made through a human intermediary, the Bab dem~c and techmcal schools and are the only ethnic group that is
(Door). In 1840 Mirza Ali Muhammad of Shiraz proclaimed him- cons1der:d. 100 percent literate. The Jewish shrine to Esther and
self to be the Bab and gained the following of many tribal leaders. Mordecai is at Ramadan; the tomb of Daniel is supposed to be
The Babi movement grew rapidly and assumed the character of a located near Ahvaz.
militant new faith at considerable variance with Shiism. The Nat!ve Christians are limited almost entirely to the Semitic
Babis interpreted the Koran as largely allegorical and represented Assy:ians, nu~bering about 25,000, who live around Lake
the resurrection as a manifestation of divine spirit. Claiming to Rezaiyeh an? m. Tehran, and to the Armenians, the oldest and
be Muslim nevertheless, they taught that all religions have ele- largest ethmc mmority, totaling over 190,000, living mainly in
ments of truth, peace, brotherhood, and tolerance. The heretics Tehran and Isfahan. Most Assyrians belong to the Assyrian
were severely persecuted by the Shiite leaders, and many were put Church of the East, formerly and mistakenly called the Nestorian
to death, including Mirza Ali Muhammad. Churc_h, but as a result of the Western missionary work of the
A number of the Babis escaped, however, and followed Hussein :wentieth century, four distinct denominations also exist, includ-
Ali Baha Ollah, a disciple of Mirza Ali Muhammad, who declared ng Roman Catholic and Protestant groups. Most Armenians
himself the expected manifestation of the divine spirit, the ~elon~ to ~he Gregorian Church under the Catholicos of Cicile
Messiah of all religions, and the promulgator of a new era. The }. Be1:ut m Lebanon. This has led to a political split in the
followers of Baha Ollah, known as the Bahais, were pacifists (un- thrmeman c~mmunity as many Armenians continue to recognize
like the Babis) and preached respect for the law. They advocated i Se .leadership of the Catholicos of Echmiadzim at Yerevan in
universal brotherhood of man and legal equality between men and á; ov1et Armenia, who claims to represent the entire community.
women. The Bahai movement has spread throughout the world;~.

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