Jews in Iran since the revolution of 1979

  Content  

  Introduction  3

  The Past  4

  The Revolution of 1979 and its aftermath  7

  The Present  10

  BIBLIOGRAPHY  15

Introduction

When addressing Israel, Mr. Ahmadinejad's rhetoric is unmistakable. The Iranian President is quoted as calling for Israel to be wiped off the map 1 , and he has publicly expressed his doubts as to

the Holocaust having taken place. Although his rhetoric may appear extreme, it nevertheless broadly reflects the official policy of Iran towards Israel since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Given this hostility, it comes as a surprise, that the Islamic Republic of Iran is actually home of the biggest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel. The estimates for the number of Jews living in Iran differ greatly according to various sources and range from 25,000 members 2 ? to 35,000 3 ? . The history of the Jewish community in Iran reaches back into the 7 th century BCE,

making it the oldest Jewish Diaspora-community. Many places holy to Jews are located in Iran. The history of almost 3,000 years of Jewish presence in Iran and the influence the Jewish community had at different times on Iranian society and culture are far too complex to be retold in a short essay like the one I am presenting. Before I turn to the situation after the Revolution of 1979 I will therefore only shortly touch on two major historical events which have significantly altered the position of the Jewish community in Iran: The establishment of Twelver Shiism as state religion in 1501 by the Safavids and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911.

The main body of this text deals with the situation of the Jewish community during and immediately after the constitution of the Islamic Republic until the present. The Iranian constitution grants all officially recognised religious minorities (Armenian Christians, Assyrians, Jews and Zoroastrians) specific rights including that to practise their religion freely 4 . The recognised religious minorities

elect their own representatives to the parliament (Majles), run their own schools and are protected

1 In a speech at the World without Zionism conference in Tehran (2005) he said: “The regime occupying Jerusalem

must vanish from the page of time” (s o u r c e : G u a r d i a n , 1 2 . 0 7 . 2 0 0 7 )

2 David Shariatmadari, “Comment is free: Iran's forgotten religions.” Guardian Online, C o m m e n t i s f r e e .

3 Eliz Sanasarian, R e l i g i o u s M i n o r i t i e s i n I r a n Cambridge Middle East Studies, 2 edn (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2002), 13, p. 228.

4 The main Article of the constitution warranting religious freedoms to certain religious minorities is Article 13. It

states: “Z o r o a s t r i a n , J e w i s h , a n d C h r i s t i a n I r a n i a n s a r e t h e o n l y r e c o g n i z e d r e l i g i o u s m i n o r i t i e s , w h o , w i t h i n t h e l i m i t s o f t h e l a w , a r e f r e e t o p e r f o r m t h e i r r e l i g i o u s r i t e s a n d c e r e m o n i e s , a n d t o a c t a c c o r d i n g t o t h e i r o w n c a n o n i n m a t t e r s o f p e r s o n a l a f f a i r s a n d r e l i g i o u s e d u c a t i o n . ” (Translation provided by the Iranian Government, source:

against discrimination by the law. However, there have been instances of 'spontaneous' attacks on Jews, their property and their schools. I will also research how much Iran's animosity towards Israel was and is being reflected in its treatment of the Jewish minority in Iran. Because of the relative scarcity of primary sources, I will use a variety of secondary sources of varying quality and will therefore specifically indicate if I am concerned with the reliability of a source I have used.

The Past

Jews are amongst the oldest communities in Iran. The earliest mention of Jews in what is today's Iran dates back to the time of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III (727 BCE), under whose order thousands of Jews were deported from Israel and forced to settle in Medea 5 ?. Others followed in the

centuries to come. The biggest wave of Jewish settlers arrived during the reign of Darius the Great. It appears that the Jews in Iran lived for many centuries in relative harmony, as a fully integrated part of society, with their neighbours from other religions. Freedom of religion, movement, occupation and marriage were guaranteed under the Achaemenian 6 ?. After the conquest of the old

Persian empire by Islamic forces (633 – 651 CE), the official status of the Jewish religion changed from that of a fully emancipated and acknowledged religion amongst others to that of “Ahl al- Katab” (People of the book). Sanasarin describes the position of the People of the Book in Safavid Persia as follows:

“Ahl al-Katab were originally Jews and Christians based on the possession of divine books of revelation. Their privileged position was conditional based on the submission to Muslims and payment of jazieh (a special tax paid by the non-Muslims to the Muslim ruler) 7 ?.”

In Iran, the status of Ahl al-Katab was informally extended to the Zoroastrians, Iran's old indigenous Hinduism, Baha-i and Buddhism are not protected by Article 13.

5 Farshid Delshad, “A Short Review about Historical Backgrounds of Jews in Persia.” O r i e n t a l i s t i c . c o m .

religion. The immediate impact of Islam's arrival to Persia on Jewish life seems to have been minor

at first. Like other religious communities officially acknowledged by the Quran, they were granted a

kind of autonomy that was comparable to the millet-system 8 established in the Ottoman empire.

The big change in the status of the Jews in Iran came with the establishment of Twelver Shiism as

the state religion by the Safavids in 1501. Jewish chronicles of the time tell of mistreatment, forced

conversions to Islam and massacres. However, it is worth noting that the Jews had not been singled

out for a particularly harsh treatment, but shared this fate with most other religious minorities 9 ?.

One of the big changes Shiism introduced into the relationship between Muslims and non-believers,

even when these belonged to the Ahl al-Katab, was the application of the concept of nejasat

(pollution). Unlike in Sunni Islam, in Shiism there is the notion that contact with non-Muslims can

pollute Muslim believers. Shiite theologians advocate therefore avoiding contact with non-Muslims

(including physical contact and the consumption of food and drink prepared by non-Muslims and

using utensils used by non-Muslims). Shiite theological writings offer detailed guidelines on

cleansing in cases where contact had taken place 10 ?. The application of the concept of nejasat

contributed to the continuing segregation between the Muslim majority and the religious minorities

and to a steep decline in inter-faith marriages during the following centuries. Throughout the 19 th

Century the Jewish Community in Iran suffered repeatedly from persecution, discrimination and

economic hardship. 11 The mistreatment Jews suffered, especially during the reign of the Qajar

Shahs, 12 was so intense and extensive, that one theory concludes that Shiism may have been solely

6 Farshid Delshad, “A Short Review about Historical Backgrounds of Jews in Persia.” O r i e n t a l i s t i c . c o m .

7 Eliz Sanasarian, R e l i g i o u s M i n o r i t i e s i n I r a n , p. 19:

8 In the Ottoman millet system, people were bound by their religious affiliations rather than by their ethnic origins.

The millets enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and had separate courts which dealt with personal matters according to the rules and laws of the respective community. For more on the millet system read, amongst others, Stanford J. Shaw's “C h r i s t i a n s a n d J e w s i n t h e O t t o m a n E m p i r e : T h e F u n c t i o n i n g o f a P l u r a l S o c i e t y ” ( New York: Holmes& Meier)

9 Farshid Delshad, “A Short Review about Historical Backgrounds of Jews in Persia.” O r i e n t a l i s t i c . c o m

10 Eliz Sanasarian, R e l i g i o u s M i n o r i t i e s i n I r a n Cambridge Middle East Studies, 2 edn (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2002), 13, p. 228.

11 For a comprehensive history of the Jews in Iran see Habib Lavi's “Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran: The

Outset of the Diaspora” (Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers)

12 1794 – 1925