# Area Handbook for Iran

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> 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;~.
>
> — *Area Handbook for Iran (Used by permission of the curator)*