Abstract
The Islamic Republic of Iran has its political and ideological foundation in the teachings of Islam; thus, Islam is valid for all people and the related legal system. Therefore, strictly speaking, discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, gender, or religion is not justifiable. The foundations of such an understanding can be laid down on two perspectives: Surah 2:256f. of the Qur’an emphasizes that forced conversion of people of different faiths is prohibited because God will only pass judgment on non-Muslims in the Last Judgment. And Surah 109:6 acknowledges the fact that there are several religions, so that followers of non-Islamic religions are allowed a limited practice of cult (cf. Surah 9:29). This acceptance of early Islam applies to the so-called people of the book (ahl-e ketāb)—Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. In the course of history, Islamic religious scholars have always opened up a range of possibilities for exclusivist and graduated pluralistic interpretations of how to deal with religions, which was also the case in Iran and led to a connection between religious freedom, Islamic law, and human rights until contemporary times.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Hutter 2019: 207f. Other data (Uphoff 2012: 314, 320, 325f.; Sanasarian 2012: 313f.) are likely to be a little too high; see further the Report on Religious Freedom for 2020, published on 12 May 2021 in https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/iran/ (last online access 01.08.2021).
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
On Zoroastrianism in general, see Hutter 2019: 28–100, and in particular pp. 92–96 for developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
Hosseini 2020: 445–453 summarizes the legal situation of minorities and the consequences for their daily life and their religious practices.
- 11.
Bibliography
Amirpur, Katajun. 2011. Iran und die Juden. Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung 20: 24–63.
Hosseini, Sevil. 2020. Die Rechtsstellung religiöser Minderheiten im Iran. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Hutter, Manfred. 2019. Iranische Religionen. Zoroastrismus, Yezidentum, Bahā’ītum. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Kreyenbroek, Philip G. 2014. The Yaresan of Kurdistan. In Religious Minorities in Kurdistan. Beyond the Mainstream, ed. Khanna Omarkhali, 3–11. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Motika, Raoul. 1999. Die aktuelle Lage der iranischen Mandäer und die Verfassung der Islamischen Republik. Münchner Materialien und Mitteilungen zur Irankunde 4: 125–141.
Rota-Nik Nafs, Caroline. 2012. Die Mandäer Irans. Kulturelle und religiöse Identität einer Minderheit im Wandel. PhD University of Bamberg, Bamberg: Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg.
Sanasarian, Eliz. 2012. Nationalism and Religion in Contemporary Iran. In Religious Minorities in the Middle East. Domination, Self-Empowerment, Accommodation, ed. Anh Nga Longva and Anne Sofie Roald, 309–324. Brill.
Sarshar, Houman M. 2014. The Jews of Iran, The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World. London: Tauris.
Stümpel-Hatami, Isabel. 1996. Das Christentum aus der Sicht zeitgenössischer iranischer Autoren. Eine Untersuchung religionskundlicher Publikationen in persischer Sprache. Berlin: Schwarz Verlag.
Uphoff, Petra. 2012. Untersuchung zur rechtlichen Stellung und Situation von nichtmuslimischen Minderheiten in Iran. Frankfurt: Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte (IGFM).
Vogt, Matthias. 2019. Christen im Nahen Osten. Zwischen Martyrium und Exodus. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hutter, M. (2023). Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Iran: An Introduction. In: Hosseini, S.B. (eds) Ethnic Religious Minorities in Iran. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1633-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1633-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-1632-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-1633-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)