Minority Rights in Iran, Then & Now

[Ahreeman X]

Minority Rights in Iran, Then & Now
January 10, 2006

Reza Khan's Era

Reza Khan was the most secular of all Pahlavis. Reza Khan had almost no respect for Mullahs, Shiite & Islam. At the beginning of his reign, Reza Khan had a chance to declare Iran, a Secular Republic (same as Attaturk in Turkey) & end the tradition of the Shiite Monarchy in Iran; however, by doing so, he had to go against the combine forces of Monarchists, Aristocrats, Feudals, Mullahs, Majlis & rest of the ruling class in Iran! Maybe that's why Reza Khan, gave in to the Iranian Ruling Class & despite his will to declare Iran, a Secular Republic & becoming the first democratically elected president of Iran; instead he kept the Monarchial tradition intact & became the starter of the Pahlavi Dynasty.

How can we blame Reza Khan? At that time, he was not powerful enough to go against the whole Iranian Ruling Class! But we shall always have in mind that he was one of the most secular Shahanshahs in the history of Iran. During his reign, minorities started to practice & evolve their human rights & specifically their rights as Iranian citizens, simply because Secularism is equal to minority rights in Iran, & Reza Khan's regime was as secular as Iran would get after the First Arabo_Islamic Invasion_Occupation (651 AD). Despite Reza Khan's efforts, Iran remained a Shiite State during his reign & Shiite Islam remained the official religion of the state.

An Episode

There was a time that an Iranian pilgrim, due to illness threw-up in Ka'bbah during the Haj. Saudis took this as an insult to Islam & executed him via beheading. Later on, Reza Khan said:

"It is a shame that Iran & Iranians whom once ruled the world, have now become so lowly that Saudi Arabs allow themselves to behave in this manner with citizens of Iran!"

Reza Khan remained a solid Secularist with practically no respect for religion & Islam, until the end of his life.

Mohamad Reza Shah's Era

Alahazrat on the other hand was a superstitious, religious Shiite Muslim! On the surface, Iran continued her growth of secularism during his reign; however, this growth was a superficial growth! How can a Non Secular Shah establish a secular state?! Seemingly, the nation became way too westernized, but in reality Mullahs/Muslim were untouchable! Every Anti Regime opposition group were prosecuted & incarcerated or executed except the Mullahs & Muslim! Alahazrat strictly ordered to exclude them from prosecution!

On surface, Iran was a progressive, modern & westernized nation, but under the surface, lied a layer full of Shiite! Remember that I have said:

"Iran has always been a pot full of Shiite, yet Alahazrat used to put a lid on top of this pot to cover it up & he used to paint the outside of the pot, gold plated & spray some perfume around it, so the world could not discover the REALITY of Iran which in fact was a pot full o Shiite! But once the Reaction of 1979 occurred, the Mullahs bravely took the lid off the pot, & they had revealed the true nature of Iran (Pot full o Shiite)!"

So basically as you see, Alahazrat was a great "Maleh Kesh" or shall we say:

Alahazrat "Goh Mal" ro Maleh Mikeshidand!

Alahazrat himself was a Haji! He went to Haj, dreamt about Hazrat Abbas, Imam Hussein & Moula Ali!

I have a Love-Hate feeling towards Alahazrat! Love for all the good that he had done for Iran & Hate for all the disasters he caused which they all led to the Islamic Reaction of 79. It surely is a Love-Hate Relationship. Alahazrat is like my father. I Love and Hate him, the same way I feel about my own father!

Even if I forgive all Alahazrat's mistakes, but how can I forgive the way that he betrayed his own comrade, Iran's great servant of decades, his own right hand, his prime minister and my God Father, Amir Abbas Hoveyda?!

How can I forgive him for jailing his own friend, a great nationalist & servant of Iran, as an escape goat to save his own neck?!

This makes me think! Is this how Pahlavis pay back their comrades, friends and devoted servants who served them & Iran for decades?!

For more information read:

Reasons for the birth of Islamic Republic of Iran?
http://iranpoliticsclub.net/club/viewtopic.php?t=551

During Alahazrat's Era, minorities could not really brag about their minority status or celebrate their holidays out in open. Minorities had what we call an "Underground Lifestyle". They lived up to their traditions in sanctuary of their homes, temples & communities. They had rights, they had parliament representatives, they had religious freedoms, yet all of these rights were respected as long as they knew their place in Iranian society & their place was obviously right beneath the Shiite Citizens!

I still remember a few interesting events from the time I lived in Iran. For the first 16-17 years of my life, I lived in Iran. Those were probably the best times of my life. Many Monarchist friends love to openly whitewash the minority relations of the Imperial Era, but I clearly remember the period. Let's review a few incidents:

Minorities & Memories of Imperial Iran

A Few Events Regarding Minorities (before 1979):

a) Mullahs gave a Fatwa that Pepsi-Cola was Bahaii owned, so all Muslim should boycott drinking it! All around towns, schools & mosques, there were talks of boycott. I still remember how oodles & oodles of students were following the boycott. Remember that these were not illiterate people of streets, but they were students of Iran! Mullahs were giving the Fatwa & that was all they had to do to agitate the mob. Once the mob were agitated, then the mob mentality like an epidemic would transfer through every social or economic class of Iran. Until this day, we do not really know if Mullahs ordered the Fatwa due to the Bahaiiness of the Pepsi-Cola's ownership or was it due to the kickbacks from Coca-Cola's ownership going towards Mullahs' direction!

b) Bahaiis were not officially considered as a religious minority! Shiite Islam & Law of the land did not recognize them as a religious minority; therefore, they did not have official minority rights!

c) Bahaiis & Babis had to attend the Religious Studies, Quran & other Arabic mandatory Courses in Junior Highs, High Schools & Universities, while other minorities were excused to do such. Bahaiis were not recognized as a religious minority, yet they were recognized as an Outlaw Sect (Ferqe-ye Zale-ye Bahaii) which had to attend & pass these torturous nonsense courses, the same as Muslim students! And trust me, when I say sitting through these courses was seriously painful!

d) Minorities were considered dirty (Najes) in a manner that they were not clean, due to the fact that they would not properly clean themselves (according to Islamic measurements)! So:

Jews were dirty because they charged interest on loans, eat non-Islamic food & simply because they were born as dirty Jews. Dirty Jews were inferior people who were enemies of Iran, pro Israel, fake Iranians but true Israelis, bankrupting the society by collecting wealth & simply evil.

Armenian/Assyrian Christians were unclean because they did not wash themselves properly or do Taharat (Islamic Butt Wash), but they only used toilet papers in bathroom. They were also eating Haraam Food (religiously forbidden food) & drinks (alcohol). Armenians had unclean butts! It was unhealthy to get close to them.

Zoroastrians were stinky, smelly & weird people with strange traditions who were Fire Worshipers, Sun Worshipers & had incestuous relations amongst themselves. The irony is that Zoroastrians are true Persians, yet this is how Muslim thought of them!

Bahaiis, forget about it! They were sub human, not even considered a minority! They were British spies, traitors, cultists, dirty rats & not true Iranians. They were banned from society & were outlawed!

etc. etc. etc.

Above thought patterns were not exclusive to mosques, yet they were popular way of thought amongst the Iranian youth, old, scholars, intellectuals, illiterates, religious folks & mobs of cattle or sheep in Iranian society.

e) If you had a business rival, all you had to do was to bribe the local Mullah to spread the word about your competition to be a Dirty Bahaii, Jew or Kafar (Atheist)! That alone would make all his products to be Najes, Haraam & Makrooh (religiously not recommended) to purchase; therefore, the public had no choice but to purchase your Halaal (religiously allowed) products!

f) If you had a political rival, all you had to do was to spread the word that he is a Bahaii. They done the same to Hoveyda (My God Father)! That would ruin their name for good!

g) Many minorities, specifically Jews & Bahaiis were targets of prejudice, teasing, verbal abuse, physical abuse & mistreatment in schools, small towns & religious neighborhoods.

And the list goes on & on & on & on ...................

All of this was happening in the so-called Great Imperial Iran, right under Shah's nose! I was right there & experienced it first hand! For more information, please read:

Religion & Pahlavis, a political history
http://iranpoliticsclub.net/club/viewtopic.php?t=241

Pahlavis and Secularism

I simply cannot trust Pahlavis on secularism! Why, you ask?

Let me give you a few example:

I. Back in Iran, Once, Alahazrat had a dream that he had fallen & Hazrat-e Abbas on horse top, came to his rescue & held his hand to stand up! He talked about this dream! Tofiq, the number one caricature & humor magazine of Iran was always in trouble because they were boldly criticizing everybody. At that time Tofiq wrote:

"Hazrat-e Abbas had no hands (both been cut off by Shemr & Yazid), then how did he hold Alahazrat's hand & helped him to stand up?!"

As usual, once again, they closed down Tofiq for a few months! Dobare Tofiq, Toqif shod! That's how democratic, the Shah's regime was!

II. Until a short while back, Empress Farah had a web page full of nonsense (in her site) about how her roots go back to Hassan & Hussein & she was proudly announcing this to the whole world! She was celebrating a couple of Arab murderers who slaughtered her countrymen & women, as her great ancestors! In one part, she openly & proudly stated that:

"We (Diba Family) are both Seyeds of Hassani and Husseini."

III. Above remarks were amazingly occurred as a coincident colliding with promoting & selling of Reza Pahlavi as a Seyed-e Oulad-e Peyqambar with roots going back to Muhammed the prophet to gullible Iranian people! The Religion Card was once again played by Pahlavis to promote Reza Pahlavi as a possible future leader to ride the masses! Unfortunately for Reza Junior, above tactic had backfired in his face!

IV. Pahlavis miscalculated on how great are the secular feelings & Anti Islam feelings amongst the Iranians & even the Monarchists! They were amazed when the above tactics resulted in negative propaganda for them!

V. As a final blow, I wrote a section about that web page, in my famous unanswered letter to Reza Pahlavi. This letter had published on the web, remained unanswered by RP & caused a good amount of popular awareness about the so-called secular nature of the Pahlavis! This letter shall once more to be published in the future IPC Website.

So as you see, I am having a hard time trusting the secular preachings of Reza Pahlavi in his supposedly self-written books or his 3 minute interviews with FOX or CNN!

Once bitten, twice shy!

Yes my friends, I simply cannot trust Pahlavis anymore!

I respect Reza Khan thus he owned Balls of Steel.
I somewhat respect Alahazrat thus he owned balls of copper.
I almost have no respect for Reza Junior thus he owns Cotton Balls!

And that is why Monarchy has a slim chance of returning to Iran (5%), yet Pahlavis have a null chance of returning to Iran (0%)!

IRI Era

The difference between minority rights during Imperial Era, Islamic Era & Exile Era:

Imperial Era
Minorities had an "Underground Life". They did not openly put their religious identity for show in public. They did not brag or reveal their religion in public. They celebrated their traditions in low key. They had rights & they lived upon their rights. They had problems but overall they led a good life.

Islamic Era
Minorities have a "Incognito Life". If not needed, they do not reveal their minority status @ all. The same as majority, they lead Dual Lives! They live mostly an underground life in their homes, community & temples. They keep a low profile. They have superficial rights. Bahaiis & Babis do not even have minority rights. Minorities are being prosecuted. Minorities cannot propagate their religion. Conversion from Shiite Islam equals death penalty. Minorities have some rights but public & religious zealous groups mostly ignore them. Minorities live a low-key lifestyle.

Some ask about Atheists! I am sorry to inform you but Atheists have no rights in Islamic Iran! It is a privilege for them to breathe and to be alive!

Exile Era
Lets say, whatever the minorities could not do in Imperial Iran or Islamic Iran, they are doing in Exile! For instance, Jewish Iranians have built downtown Los Angeles & own the Westwood business district. They openly celebrate & propagate their holidays, widely announce their traditions & cultures on Persian media in exile. They hang banners all over streets & close the whole Westwood Business District on Jewish Holidays! Iranian Jews own a good chunk of Los Angeles Downtown & Midtown, so they live life in open & they live as freely as possible!

Minorities are living an open & free life in democratic societies such as America, Israel, UK, etc.

It is good to have an "Above Ground" lifestyle for a change!

Ending

Folks, you cannot possibly understand what it means to be a minority, living in Iran. Minorities had their share of episodes during Imperial Iran & are having their share of Heartaches during the Islamic Iran. Bahaiis had it worst then & they are having it worst now, Jews were & are next in line, Christians had it & having it much easier than the rest, they are the lucky ones! Even Zoroastrians are not immune! They are the True Persians, yet their status are amongst the minorities! They had it pretty good during Imperial Era or @ least they were not oppressed then, but now they are The Target Practice Board for Muslim! They are the Kafar, Totem worshipers & Fire Worshipers. As long as more & more Iranians are converting from Islam to other religions, also a great number are returning to their Zoroastrian roots. This makes the Islamic regime to specifically target Zoroastrians as a central target!

Imam Khamenei, spiritual leader of Islamic Republic of Iran, openly had stated in letters, as of answers to religious questions, that:

"Fire Worshipers count as half of Muslim. In inheritance matters, a Fire Worshiper son will inherit half of what a Muslim son inherits. It is good to convert to Islam."

There is a systematic prejudice towards anything Persian. In Islamic Iran, to be Persian & to love Persian Values, is a crime! Who could have thought that there would come a day that Persians would be prosecuted & be discriminated upon, in their own land?!

Yes, in today's Iran, the Iranians are @ minority status, while Arabo_Muslim, Half_Breeds & other Islamist Buffoons are @ majority status! Talking about an upside down turn of events!

It is good that Reza Khan is dead, so he cannot witness these barbaric days! This would have been a spit in his face & on All the efforts which he had done to progress Iran! Reza Khan we are ashamed, we are not worthy ............

Folks,

Justice shall overcome tyranny. It is not an If or a But, yet it is the Historical Destiny that Iran will revive & once more, we will celebrate the Persianhood in our own land.

@ that moment, all children of Iran, despite their racial, religious & ethnical heritage, will dance freely in streets of Iran, celebrating their Persianhood. We will witness a Free and Secular Iran, thus this shall not be a myth, yet an historical destiny!

Amen

Sign,

Ahreeman X