Iran: A Country Study
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-20 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard F. Nyrop, Iran: A Country Study, Washington, DC: The American University, 1978, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Iran
L                       a country study
?/
I
Foreign Area Studies
The American University
Edited by
Richard F. Nyrop
,   .    Research Completed
iái'fi {'-.               January 1978
á-~ h,_c1./''á ..             DA Pam 550-68
á( <lj'1'..J../ á r,'- .11 '? ./Supersedes 1971 Edition
{-n, /,         ---
1,
The winged lion on the cover                                                                                                                Foreword
is part of a glazed brick                                                              This volume is one of a continuing series of books written by
panel from Susa, on display                                                         Foreign Area Studies, The American University, under the Area
in the Tehran Archaeological                                                        Handbook Program. Its title, format and substance reflect modi-
Museum                                                                              fications introduced into the series in 1978. The last page of this
book provides a listing of other country studies published. Each
book in the series deals with a particular foreign country, de-
scribing and analyzing its economic, military, political, and social
systems and institutions and examining the interrelationships of
those systems and institutions and the ways that they are shaped
by cultural factors, Each study is written by a multidisciplinary
team of social scientists. The authors seek to provide a basic
insight and understanding of the society under observation, striving
for a dynamic rather than a static portrayal of it. The study focuses
Copyright© The American University, Washington, D.C., 1978                           on historical antecedents and on the cultural, political, and so-
Third Edition, First Printing: 1978                                                  cioeconomic characteristics that contribute to cohesion and cleav-
age within the society. Particular attention is given to the origins
and traditions of the people who make up the society, their dom-
inant beliefs and values, their community of interests and the
issues on which they are divided, the nature and extent of their
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data                                   involvement with the national institutions, and their attifudes
toward each other and toward the social system and political order
American University, Washington, D.C.                       Foreign Area Studies.    within which they live.
Iran, a country study.                                                                 The contents of the book represent the work of Foreign Area
Studies and are not set forth as the official view of the United
Supersedes the 1971 ed. prepared by H. H. Smith and others,                        States government. The authors have sought to adhere to accepted
and Issued under title: Area handbook for Iran.                                      standards of scholarly objectivity. Such corrections, additions, and
"Research completed January 1978."                                                 suggestions for factual or other changes that readers may have will
"DA pam 550-68."                                                                   be welcomed for use in future revisions.
Bibliography: p. 455.
Includes index.                                                                                                    William Evans-Smith
1. Iran. I. Nyrop, Richard F. II. Smith, Harvey Henry,                                                             Director, Foreign Area Studies
189i-      Area handbook for Iran. III Title.                                                                        The American University
Washington, D.C. 20016
DS254.5.A63        1978            955           78-11871

For sale by the superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Of!lce
Washington, D.C. 20402
Stock No. OOS-02o--00761-7
Iran:   A Country Study                                                                                                         Religious Life

living by publicly explaining points of ritual. Funeral rites are        elements, it has become strongly Islamicized. The Quran is placed
elaborate. Vows of charity and piety are frequently made for the         on a table along with young plants and the haft sin (seven things
fulfillment of a wish. A person who has asked for the granting of a      that begin with the letters). Blessings are recited for the Prophet
wish often symbolizes this request by slaughtering a sheep or by         and his family, and prayers are offered. Joyous religious festivals
attaching a padlock or a shred of cloth to the door or some other        are the feasts at the end of Ramazan; the feast of the sacrifice
part of a shrine, even to holy trees.                                    during the hajj month; the birthdays of Muhammad, Ali, and the
There is virtually a cult of Ali in Iran. Many homes have a           Imams; and the Idi Ghadir, which commemorates the day when
painting of him set in an enshrined niche, and gold medals with his      Ali was chosen as successor to the Prophet.
portrait are worn by many in all classes. In times of trouble Ali, not     Tragic religious events are more numerous than the joyful: the
Allah (God), is exclaimed; and whenever an example is called for,        most important is Ashura, the death of Husyan on the tenth of
whether in social discourse or business dealings, anecdotes about        Muharram. Mourning begins on the eve of his martyrdom, and the
Ali occur much more often than those of the Prophet. The hadith          procession of self-flagellation occurs on the day itself. There is
of Ali are collected in a volume that is regarded with almost the        open weeping and exclamations of sorrow on the streets as the
same reverence as the Quran and is probably read more often.             procession passes. Taaziehs, highly emotive passion plays, are
Two religious practices, unique to Shia Iran, combine those           performed depicting the events of his martyrdom.
elements of cathartic religious tragedy and beauty so beloved by           The deaths of the Prophet, Ali's other son, Imam Hassan, and of
Iranians. The rawda (literally, garden) is a series of religious         Imam Reza, all occur in Safar. The attack and eventual death of Ali
sessions during which the rawda khwan, a person gifted in the            on the twenty-first of Ramazan is understandably a major event.
techniques of sermons and laments who is not necessarily a               Other mourning holidays are for the deaths of Ali's wife, Fatima,
mujtahid, delivers powerfully emotional sermons and recites and          and of the other Imams.
sings laments on the subject of the deaths of the Prophet o..r the       Deviant Religious Movements
Imams. The government sponsors rawdas in mosques during Mu-                 After the acceptance of Shiite doctrine as the official religion in
harram and Safar. In addition they are given in private homes,           the sixteenth century, there were many schismatic movements,
throughout the year, usually as nadhr, the fulfillment of a vow for      partly encouraged by the Shiite principle of ijtihad (personal rea-
some special favor asked of God. Anyone may go to a rawda. Black         soning, derived from the Arabic word meaning to struggle). The
flags on the door indicate that a rawda will be held. Weather            follower of ijtihad is permitted to study rules and regulations and
permitting they are held in a garden. Some of the particularly           their sources, draw his own conclusions, and follow his conscience
pious attach loudspeakers outside of their houses so that those who      on procedural matters without reference to the authorities. This
cannot fit inside the house may still benefit from the rawda.            code of personal responsibility is open to anyone who can make an
The holding of a sufra is similar but is usually strictly confined    intelligent judgment. The two most important deviant movements
to women. Sufras are held to fulfill nadhr, and a woman will invite      that exist in modern times are Sufi mysticism and Bahaism.
her friends to a lavish feast prepared with meticulous and highly           In the ninth century, as the conquering Arabs adopted a way of
ritualistic care. A female rawda khwan will recite and chant during      life at variance with the puritanism of the early period of Islam,
the meal. After the performance, the remainder of food is distrib-       the Sufi movement was formed by Muslims who felt that worldly
uted among the poor and the participants and is believed to pos-         pleasures distracted from the true concern of the believer with the
sess baraka. The success of both the sufra and the rawda is judged       salvation of his soul. They also believed that materialism was
by the number of people who are moved to weeping.                        supporting and perpetuating political tyranny. They prescribed
Despite the Islamic prohibition against magic, it is widely prac-     meditation that over the years became formalized. The Sufis be-
ticed in Iran where it is combined with Islamic motifs. The magical      lieve love of God is the only real condition; all else is illusion, and
use of Quranic phrases is a traditional science, and certain phrases     sense and reason are inadequate to explain these facts. Their name
or formulas are well-known for their specific application. Dua,          is generally believed to come from the rough white wool (suj) that
short prayers that include the names of Sufi saints or imams, may        they wore as a symbol of their asceticism; some scholars, however,
be carried on the person or inscribed on rings and amulets. The          claim the name came from the Greek word sophos (knowledge).
dua niwis, the writer of the correct dua for a specific situation, and       By the tenth or eleventh century the Sufis had developed a
the rammal, the practioner of geomancy, enjoy a brisk trade in           semiliturgical poetic service with a significant musical content.
urban and rural areas.                                                    Influenced by Christianity and pre-Islamic mystery religions,
Iran has major religious holidays throughout the year. New             their mystic love of God sought outlet in religious fervor. Some
Year, No Ruz, is the continuation of the Zoroastrian New Year             became so preoccupied with the contemplation of divine perfec-
and, although the celebration naturally contains many pre-Islamic         tion that they sought ecstatic trances, eventually by prescribed

130                                                                                                                                         131
Iran:   A Co1rntn; Study

phases, as a means of identifying with God. Mystic poetry and
music were developed to a high degree as aids in achieving their
selfless state. As a result, Sufi poets were among the greatest
contributors to Iranian art.
A [}umber of Sufi brotherhoods were established during the
early centuries of Islam, many of which continue to exist. In the
late 1960s one Kurdish sect had members in nine Middle Eastern
countries. One of the brotherhoods, which came into being in the
thirteenth century, was that of the whirling dervishes (from the
Iranian word meaning poor), mendicant ecstatics known for their
gyrating dances performed while in a trance, a condition height-
ened by the gyrations. Dervishes and other Sufi orders maintain
loose organizations and hold private meetings at which the tradi-
tional ritual chanting of Sufi poetry and invocations are carried on.
A khaniqah, the tomb of a dead Sufi master or the teaching
center of a living one, continues to be a vital religious institution
in contemporary Iran and is actually a complex of centers. It
houses rooms for spiritual training as well as accommodations for
fuqara (disciples) and for visiting Sufis. The ceremonies of the
khaniqah are opened to the public on such special occasions as
birthdays of the Prophet Muhammed and the Imams and on the
mourning holidays. In addition to the fuqara who reside there a!Jd
the public who occasionally visit, there are others from all socio-
economic classes who may go once a week to the khaniqah for
instructions in Sufi spiritual techniques. The meeting of these
people on a frequent basis is socially significant because it is one of
the few Iranian institutions that cuts across all classes and where
there are exchanges among the members of all groups.
The major Sufi orders, most of which have branches in other
countries, wield considerable influence in shaping contemporary
cultural life, particularly in the fields of philosophy, music, litera-
ture, and painting. Because of the Sufi orientation to the esoteric
or mystical truths of Islam, Sufism is attractive to those Iranians
who, while living in the real world, nevertheless seek spiritual
realization. Because the emphasis is on the development of the
inner self and because Sufism may be approached and appreciated
on any intellectual level, it draws, though not necessarily or exclu-
sively, from groups that are not otherwise religious in the tradi-
tional sense of outward practice. In order of their size and influ-
ence, the following Sufi orders are most prominent in Iran today;
the Nematollahi, which has centers throughout the country; the
Gunabadi, chiefly in Khorasan; the Dhahabi in Shiraz; the Qadiri
in the Persian Gulf area and in Kordestan; and the Naqshbandi,
also in Kordestan.
The Bahai movement had its origin in the eighteenth-century
heretical beliefs of the followers of Shaykh Ahmed Ahsai, who
taught that the hidden Imam was a creative force with which
contact could be made through a human intermediary, the Bab               Dervish carrying flag ornamented with symbol of Shiite resistance
(door). In 1840 Mirza Ali Muhammad of Shiraz proclaimed himself                                                   U.S. Army photograph

Iran:   A Country St[ldy                                                                                                    Religious Life

to be the Bab and gained the following of many tribal leaders. The         In mid-1977 there were an estimated 80,000 Jews in Iran, living
Babi movement grew rapidly and assumed the character of a mili-         mainly in Tehran, Isfahan, Kashan, Hamadan, and Shiraz. Since
tant new faith at considerable variance with Shiism. The Babis          1948 some 45,000 Jews have migrated to Israel. Iranian Jews form
interpreted the Quran as largely allegorical and represented the        one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, and through
resurrection as a manifestation of divine spirit. Claiming to be        more than 1,000 years of living among the Iranians, have become
Muslim nevertheless, they taught that all religions have elements       physically and spiritually very close to the majority population.
of truth, peace, brotherhood, and tolerance. The heretics were          They have preserved, however, a rather conservative, closed re-
severely persecuted by the Shiite leaders, and many were put to         ligious life. They are fully protected by the Constitution.
death, including Ali Muhammad.                                             Jn the twentieth century the Jewish community achieved im-
A number of the Babis escaped, however, and followed Hussein         portance in the commercial life of the major cities, particularly
Ali Baha Ollah, a disciple of Ali Muhammad, who declared himself        Tehran, and Jews have entered the professions, most notably
the expected manifestation of the divine spirit, the messiah of all     pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry. They have their own hospitals
religions, and the promulgator of a new era. The followers of Baha      and academic and technical schools and are the only ethnic group
Ollah, known as the Bahais, were pacifists (unlike the Babis) and       that is considered 100 percent literate. The Jewish shrine to
preached respect for the law. They advocated universal brother-         Esther and Mordecai is at Hamadan; the tomb of Daniel is sup-
hood of man and legal equality between men and women. The               posed to be located near Ahvaz.
Bahai movement was spread throughout the world; it has small               Native Christians are limited almost entirely to the Semitic
groups active in Western Europe and the United States and claims        Assyrians, numbering about 30,000, who live around Lake
a world membership of 500,000. The Bahais have been severely            Rezaiyeh and in Tehran, and to the Armenians, totaling approxi-
condemned by the Shiite clergy; the Bahai religion, while not           mately 250,000, living mainly in Tehran and Isfahan. Most
under active suppression, is not legally recognized in Iran,            Assyrians belong to the Assyrian Church of the East, formerly and
In addition to the Sufis, who may be appreciated as representing     mistakenly called the Nestorian Church. As a result of Western
the mystical aspect of Islam, and the Bahais, who are now tot~lly       missionary work in the twentieth century, four distinct denomina-
outside the theology oflslam, there are several sects active in Iran    tions also exist, including Roman Catholic and Protestant groups.
today that fall somewhere in the middle of these two interpreta-        Adherents to these four Christian groups were estimated at ap-
tions. Of these dissident sects, the Ismailis are the oldest and were   proximately 30,000 in the mid-1970s. Most Armenians belong to
very numerous in Iran during the medieval period. They were             the Gregorian Church under the Catholicos of Cicile at Beirut.
originally part of the larger Shiite movement but split from the        This has led to a political split in the Armenian community as many
main body of Shiites during the ninth century over the question of      Armenians continue to recognize the leadership of the Catholicos
the rightful successor to the Imamate. They claim only seven            of Echmiadzim at Yerevan in Soviet Armenia, who claims to repre-
imams but have a religious leader, Aga (or Agha) Khan, forty-ninth      sent the entire community.
descendant of their last imam. The largest number of Ismailis are          Armenians have long been free to enter the economic and social
in other countries, but in 1977 several thousand resided in Iran,       life of Iran. They have achieved a relatively high standard of
chiefly in the Elburz Mountains.                                        living, have maintained a large number of religious schools, and
Two smaller groups-the Ali Allahi and Ahl i Haqq-are con-            are entitled to two seats in the Majlis. An annual feature of their
centrated in Lorestan but have also spread to Mazandaran,               worship is a pilgrimage to the ruins of the Church of Saint
Kordestan, and some of the southern provinces. Although still a        Thaddeus, founded over 1,500 years ago, in the area that became
part of the Islamic tradition, these two sects emerged from politi-     West Azarbaijan. The strong National Armenian Committee re-
cized Sufi orders, and members of these two religious groups            presents the interests of the religious community.
ignore the shariah and many Muslim devotional practices.                   The foreign community of business and diplomatic people make
Minority Religions                                                      up the bulk of the remainder of the Christians. They have
The official recognized minority religions are Judaism, Chris-       churches in major cities, where services are conducted in Euro-
tianity, and Zoroastrianism. Each of these groups is permitted to       pean languages.
sustain an organization, to elect a representative to the Majlis (the
lower house of Parliament), to maintain religious schools, and to                              *         *         *
publish periodicals. They are, however, restricted in their politi-
cal activities since non-Muslims cannot occupy command positions          One of the best treatments of Shiism in Iran is Sayyid Hossein
in the armed forces and cannot achieve policymaking positions in        Nasr's article, "Ithna Ashari Shiism and Iranian Islam." Roger
the government.                                                         Savory's article, "Land of the Lion and the Sun," is useful as an

134                                                                                                                                    135
Iran:   A. Country Study                                                                                                        Social Systems

the economic, military, and political sectors, the elite has been          Qajar dynasty but powerful enough to hold on to some of their
expanded to include high-level government administrators from              former glory, those who through choice or fate have not acquired a
families with a tradition of service to the throne, general officers of    foreign education or some other essential of upper-class status,
the military and security forces, highly respected professional            and men of unusual ability who could never hope to attain upper-
men, and the wealthiest industrialists and representatives of              class status for reasons having to do with their ethnic origins or
commercial interests. Although no longer the ruling dynasty and            religious adherence. The Bahais are the most conspicuous exam-
precluded by the Constitution from holding the highest political           ple in this category.
positions, members of the Qajar family retain important po.litical,           Because political connections are the key to social status, the
economic, and social status. In 1977 the upper class was estimated         upper middle stratum continually hopes that some political change
to comprise less than 1 percent of the total population.                  will bring them as individuals into the upper class. The lower
Members of the elite tend to be involved in numerous complex          middle class is made up of small retailers, craftsmen, low-level
interrelationships. Some members of the Senate, which included            government employees, mullahs, and related occupations. Gen-
many members of the elite, were also on the boards of several             erally they are less well educated and less well paid than members
industrial and commercial enterprises and were owners of a large          of the upper middle class. Like the upper middle class they have a
number of villages. Since an important prerequisite for entry into        st:ong dislike for manual work, preferring desk jobs, especially
the elite has usually been belonging to a "good family," blood and        with the government. The members of this stratum do not how-
marital relationships tend to bring together important segments of        ever, have the hope of the upper middle stratum that fate will
the elite. Until the land reform measures most political leaders          propel them into the upper class. They are too far away from the
were also large landowners, and many of the Islamic leaders held .a       dividing line, and they do not have the economic resources, family
number of lucrative trusteeships over property endowed for reli-         background, or political connections to take advantage of a shift in
gious purposes, waqf land.                          .     .     .'       the political scene. Their main concern appears to be that they do
In spite of all the prestige and power the rulmg ehte did. ~ot        not lose their social niche and fall into the lower class.
enjoy real security even before the reform movement. There 1s no            The middle class is also divided into modern and traditional
strong group or class cohesion even at the t.op. The members :eact       groups. The modern middle class consists of those persons with
individually or by family to the favor or displeasure of the smgle       Western education employed in government services, the profes-
individual at the apex of the entire social hierarchy, the shah. One     sions, and the universities, whereas the traditional middle class
of the conclusions of Zonis' study was that because of such factors,     includes bazaar merchants, mullahs, and wealthy guild members.
the behavior of the political elite emerged from and was based ?n           The two groups differ greatly in their origins and outlook. The
four attitudinal characteristics: political cynicism, personal mis-      modern middle class stems from the development of a modern
trust manifest insecurity, and interpersonal exploitation. Studies       bureaucracy originating in the late nineteenth century. This group
by other observers identified the same or similar characteristics in     was significantly expanded in the 1960s and 1970s, largely as a
the society as a whole.                                       .          function of the greater access to education and wealth. James A.
The middle class underwent considerable changes dunng the            Bill notes that, "One of the most profound unintended conse-
1960s and 1970s, the most important of which was its rapid expan-       quences of the White Revolution is the accelerating growth of the
sion. The class may be divided vertically into upper and lower          professional middle class." Bill pays special attention to the
middle-class strata and horizontally into modern and traditional        modern middle class that he calls "The Professional-Bureaucratic
Intelligentsia." He views them as an alienated class for the most
groups.
The members of the upper middle stratum are drawn from the           part and the class that is most vociferous about the need for system
same occupational sources as the upper class. ~hey are ~o~nd ~n         transformation. This group, whose power position comes primarily
lesser positions in the civil service in Tehran or m top pos1h~ns m     from talents or skills acquired from a modern formal education,
provincial cities, in positions just bel~w com.~and. level m the        increasingly refuses to participate in or is at least intensely frus-
military, in important but not outstandmg positions 1~ commerce         trated by the personal maneuvering and manipulation that are
and industry, among professionals who have not ac~1~ved reco~­          necessary for advancement in society.
nition as being at the top of their profession, in positions of reli-      The civil service reforms of 1966 strengthened the position of
gious respect, and finally as landowners of local influence but not    this group. The reforms introduced competitive examinations and
important enough to be consulted when new policies are being           provided that advancement would be based on education and skill
considered for the rural areas. They include latecomers to the         rather than on traditional criteria. Once in a position in the civil
cause of the Pahlavi dynasty, younger offshoots of old upper-class     service, however, individuals have found that traditional methods
families, members of families too actively associated with the         for retaining a position or securing another position have con-
-- Iran: A Country Study (Used by permission of the curator)