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Baha’i faith. But what is even more important is to understand what
the persecution of Baha’is says about Iranian society as it struggles
through a turbulent and difficult transition to a better and more just
future. In other words, understanding the historic plight of the
Baha’i community is also about understanding the greater plight of
the Iranian nation, and its aspiration to build a modern identity built
on recognition and respect for diversity rather than a self-definition
based on hatred and self-deception.
This book is intended to be a contribution to the contemporary
dialogue among Iranians concerned with the future of their country,
to better understand the roots of anti-Baha’i ideology and the
function that it has served for those seeking authoritarian power.
The book is divided in two parts, dealing with the history of
persecutions from the Qajar era until the end of the Pahlavi era in
the First Part, and dealing with the more recent history of
persecutions under the Islamic Republic in the Second Part.
In the First Part, Chapter One entitled the “Baha’i riddle”
explores the views of the Iranian intellectuals and European
Orientalists about this religion and goes on with the central role of
the Islamic clergy in anti-Baha’i myth-making and hate-mongering
through both the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties. Chapter Two
considers “Reasons for Persecution of the Baha’i Faith” including
the relationship and differences between Islam and Baha’i
philosophy in light of belief in the oneness of all religions and how
the Baha’i philosophy relates to national identity in view of its
espousal of world citizenship and its response to the Iranian
encounter with the West and Westoxication. Chapter Three
discusses “The Persecution of Baha’is during the Qajar era” and
provides a glimpse of the repression and massacre of Baha’is in
places such as Yazd and Khorasan. Chapter Four examines “Baha’is
during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi” in light of his policy on
religion and modernity, and the sacrifice of the successful and