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Iran |
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· Shi’a Muslim--95% (63,979,000).
Distinctive Shi’a practice includes: - Seven pillars of faith. In addition to the five pillars shared with all Muslims, most Shi'a practitioners add:
Jihad--the crusade to protect Islamic lands, beliefs and institutions
The requirement to do good works and avoid all evil thoughts, words and deeds.
The Five basic principles of faith (the first three being shared by most all Muslims) are:
(1) One God
(2) the Prophet Muhammad is the last of the line of prophets chosen by God
(3) the resurrection of the body and soul
(4) Divine justice will reward/punish believers according to their actions and will
(5) the Twelve Imams, successors to Muhammad, were sinless and free from error, chosen by God through Muhammad.
Imamate (ee-MAHM-uh). A spiritual and political leader combined.
The Twelfth Imam. "Shi'as...believe that the Twelfth Imam has never died, but disappeared from earth in about A.D. 939. Since that time the greater [state of hiding] of the Twelfth Imam has been in force and will last until God commands the Twelfth Imam to manifest himself on earth again as the Mahdi, or Messiah.
Shi'as believe that during the greater [hiding] of the Twelfth Imam he is spiritually present--some believe that he is materially present as well--and he is besought to reappear in various invocations and prayers." (Country Study, p. 117.)
Other distinctive religious obligations include observance of the month of martyrdom, Moharram (muh-HAHR- rahm), and pilgrimages to the shrines of the Twelve Imams and their various descendants.
Moharram observance commemorates the death of the Third Imam, Husayn near Karbala, Iraq in A.D. 680.
Mujtahids (MUZH-tah-hid) are religious leaders of highest authority.
They are scholars in the science of religion (the Qur’an, traditions of Muhammad and the imams, legal practice and theology) and demonstrate the ability to decide on matters of religious conduct. "Since the mid-nineteenth century it has been common for several mujtahids concurrently to attain prominence and to attract large followings. During the twentieth century, such mujtahids have been accorded the title of ayatollah (a-yat-ool-LAH)." (Country Study, p. 124.)
· Sunni Muslim--4%
· Bahá'ís (bah-HI): (350,000).
Bahá'ís lived scattered in small communities throughout Iran, being concentrated in Tehran. They originated during the 1840s as a Shi'a reformist movement. "By the early twentieth century, Bahá'í had evolved into a new religion that stressed the brotherhood of all peoples, equality of the sexes, and pacifism." (Country Study, p. 127.)
· Christian (282,000).
Armenian and Assyrian Christians are official religious minorities. Anglicans receive persecution.
· Jewish (50,000). The Iranian Jewish community is one of the oldest in the world.
· Zoroastrian (zohr-oh-AS-tree-ahn):(32,000).
Concentrated in Tehran, Kernan and Yazd, Zoroastrian belief developed in Iran in the seventh century B.C. It is an official Iranian religious minority. The Iranian-speaking prophet Zarathustra founded the religion.
Distinctive beliefs/practice includes: - A dualistic universe, with forces of good and evil. There is a beginning and ending of the world with a final battle resulting in eternal life for the good and annihilation for the evil.
Yasna (YAS-nuh), the main rite of worship, takes place in fire temples.
The rite of passage is initiation into the religion at 15 years of age.
· Persian 51%
· Azerbaijani (ah-zahr-bi-JAH-nee), 24%.
These Turkic speaking peoples live mostly in the northwestern corner of the country. Their language, Azarbaijani, is similar to Turkish except with different accents. Lifestyle of both urban and rural Azarbaijanis do not differ significantly from that of Persians.
· Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%. (Persian dialect speaking peoples)
· Kurd 7%
· Arab 3%
· Lur (and Bakhtiaris) 2%. (Shia Muslims who speak an Indo-Iranian language)
· Baloch 2%.
These semi-nomadic farmers live near the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders. The poorest and least educated of Iranian ethnic groups, Baloch peoples are difficult for the government to control.
· Turkmen 2%
· Women were active participants in the revolution which toppled the Shah. Large numbers participated in street demonstrations.
· The government imposes the Hejab (HEHZH-yuh, properly modest attire for women) to enforce the traditional role of women in secular society.
· Since 1986, women receive government encouragement to be part of the military.
· Periodic flare-ups with the UAE arise over Abu Musa Island in the Persian Gulf.
· Non-Islamists: Presently, a deadly silence is imposed (by the ruling clerics) on all non-Islamists. This silence applies not only to secular Iranians but also to Islamic groups not sharing the regime’s Islamic vision as well.
· Since 1979, the Bahá'í sect receives government persecution.
· 1 APR 1979--Proclamation of the Islamic Republic of Iran
· Official language is Farsi (Persian)
· Progressive Islamic reformers in Iran either:
(1) seek to gradually open the system from within or
(2) quietly question whether militant Islamic government is workable in the modern world (see God Has Ninety-Nine Names, p. 467).
www.Iranmania.com, an English Language web site for most everything related to Iran including news and current affairs.
Greenburg, Joel, "Iran’s Party of God Puts Deep Roots in Lebanon," New York Times, 11 Apr 96, p. A2.
MacFarquhar, Neil, "With Mixed Feelings, Iran Tiptoes to Internet," New York Times, 8 Oct 96, p. A4.
Rachlin, Nahid, Married to a Stranger. San Francisco: City Lights, 1983. Engrossing novel describing women’s issues in Iran during the seventies.
Sciolino, Elaine, "Casting a New Iran in the Old Role of a Friend," New York Times, 22 Sep 96, p. E4.
Sciolino, Elaine, "In World Flux, a Constant: U.S. and Iran Still Foes," New York Times, 29 Dec 96, p. A8.
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