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P R E F A C E
Throughout contemporary Iranian history, the followers of the
Baha’i religion in Iran have been the victims of persecution.
Beginning with the pogroms of the nineteenth century under the
Qajar dynasty, continuing with more subtle discrimination during
the Pahlavi dynasty, and consummating in the attempt of the
Islamic Republic to eradicate this community, Baha’is have been a
constant scapegoat, the subject of hatred based on false accusations
of disloyalty to Iran and Islam, and imaginary conspiracies linking
them to everything from Russian and British Imperialism to
American and Israeli dominance, and most recently, the source of
sedition in the “anti-revolutionary” Green Movement of 2009. The
pages of Keyhan and other Government newspapers and sites are
disproportionately filled with slanderous allegations and those
deemed to be enemies of the Islamic Republic, ranging from Shirin
Ebadi, the renowned human rights lawyer to Hadi Khorsandi,
satirical political writer are either accused of being Baha’is or having
close relations with this community. In short, in the eyes of the
current leadership of Iran, to belong to the Baha’i community is to
belong to a criminal conspiracy.
In recent years, with the gradual transformation of social
consciousness in the Iranian community, many scholars and
commentators and emerging leaders have come to question the
demonized historical portrayal of Baha’is and called for their equal
rights as fellow citizens of Iran. An important consideration always
is to discover a truthful account of the history and teachings of the