Bibliography 2: #BIB32925

Key	BIB32925
Reference type	Journal Article
Title	Religious Minorities in Iran : Baha’is, Jews, and the Islamic State
Short title	Religious Minorities in Iran: Baha’is, Jews, and the Islamic State
Journal	Critique : A Worldwide Student Journal of Politics (Normal IL)
Author	Oliai, Sara
Year	2011
Date	Fall 2011
Issue	Fall 2011
Abstract	The 1979 Islamic Revolution ushered in a new way of constructing the Iranian nation-state. The state was no longer defined in terms of its connections to its ancient empires and monarchical past; rather the new regime sought to define Iran as a national community united under Shi’a Islamic principles. In this new national construction, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini and the leading clerics' understanding of Shi’ism were incorporated within a new government structure to form the Islamic Republic of Iran and establish Islam as the state’s official religion. While the vast majority (89%) of Iran’s population is Shi’a (“The World Factbook: Iran” 2010), the institutionalization of Islam has significantly affected Iran’s religious minority communities. The Iranian constitution recognizes Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as the only protected minority religions, but the experiences of the Baha’i and Jewish communities have been especially unique considering their relationships to the Islamic state. Although there is significant scholarship about the impact of the Islamic Revolution on Iranian women, far less prominent work focuses on the Revolution’s effects on Iranian religious minority groups. Meanwhile, the persecution these groups face only intensifies. The discrimination faced by these specific groups is best understood in terms of the challenges that they pose to the authenticity of the Islamic state and its vision of the Islamic Iranian nation-state.
Language	English
Keywords	IRAN; MINORITIES; PERSECUTION; JEWS
URL	http://lilt.ilstu.edu/critique/Fall%202011/Olai.pdf
Pages	1–22

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