Baháʼí Faith in Iran

Insisting divine revelation had ended with Muhammad, Muslim clerics denounced the Báb's ideas as heretical,[17] and also portrayed them as destabilizing for the best interests of the Shah of Persia.

[11] In a desperate bid to eradicate his faith, Persia's prime minister ordered the public execution of the Báb; it took place in Tabriz on 9 July 1850 before an estimated crowd of 10,000, in circumstances reported as miraculous by both Iranian eyewitnesses and foreign diplomats.

Baháʼís hold that the Báb's teachings lay the groundwork "for the eventual establishment of a society characterized by the unity of nations, fellowship of religions, equal rights of all people, and a compassionate, consultative, tolerant, democratic, moral world order".

[30] Dispossessed of his extensive properties and wealth, in the exceptionally severe winter of January 1853 Baháʼu'lláh with family members undertook a three-month journey to Baghdad, thus beginning what became exile for the rest of his life in territories of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1863, on the eve of departing for Constantinople (now Istanbul) at the invitation of Ottoman authorities,[33][34][35] Baháʼu'lláh declared, to the many Bábís who had followed him to Iraq, that he was the Promised One foretold by the Bab[36][37]—a revelation which had come to him in visions that mark the beginning of his mission in 1852 while chained in the dungeon of Tehran.

[41][42] First in Constantinople,[43] then in Adrianople and 'Akka, Baháʼu'lláh publicly proclaimed his mission as a messenger of God in missives directed to major religious and secular rulers of the time, including Czar Alexander II, Napoleon III, Pope Pius IX, and Queen Victoria.

[c] Over the three decades in which Baháʼu'lláh revealed his teachings it became clear how they fulfilled and augmented the prophetic intent of the Báb in stating his message would become "a world religion centering on the principle of the oneness of humankind.

[47][48][49][e] Towards the end of his life, the strict harsh confinement ordered for Baháʼu'lláh was gradually relaxed by authorities in 'Akka who came to greatly admire him, and he was allowed to live in a home nearby, while still officially a prisoner of that city.

[58][59] ʻAbdu’l-Bahá's early childhood in Iran was greatly influenced by his father being a prominent Bábí, and by his parents' families belonging to the country's aristocracy.

"[85] With national and army radio stations put at his disposal, the preacher fueled a wave of anti-Baháʼí violence across the country; and the Pahlavi regime even assured parliament it had ordered the suppression of all activities of "the Baháʼí sect".

In Tehran, in front of foreign and domestic reporters with cameras, the cleric, accompanied by the Shah's army chief, proceeded to personally participate in demolishing the distinctive dome of Iran's national Baháʼí headquarters with pickaxes.

Iran's Civil Employment Act of 1966 explicitly mentioned applicants for government jobs should have no prior convictions for "espousing corrupt beliefs", a calculated derogatory reference to Baháʼís.

Belief in one of Iran's four official religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity or Zoroastrianism) was invariably listed as an eligibility requirement in ads for governmental jobs—which meant Baha'is should not bother to apply.

"[85] The "International Religious Freedom Report" of 26 October 2009 by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor documents that "According to law, Baháʼí blood is considered mobah, meaning it can be spilled with impunity.

[101] Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy,[h] members organize themselves in an administrative system of "annually elected governing councils that operate at the national, regional, and local levels as well as individuals and groups who are formally appointed to assist with various aspects of the community's work and needs.

The letter also drew attention to the fact that while Muslims were praised for sending money abroad (e.g. to Iraq and Jerusalem) for the upkeep of religious shrines, when a Baháʼí did the same, it was considered "an unforgivable sin and... proof that he has done so in order to strengthen other countries [particularly Israel].

[124][125] Specific instances are myriad and cannot be reviewed in an overview article; nevertheless several especially egregious areas of Iran's ongoing systematic persecution against members of the Baháʼí Faith in the country are mentioned below.

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Iran during the time of the late Shah, her itinerary included "a guided tour to this place to show her its beauty and to a Baháʼí [operated] hospital to demonstrate the type of [world class] medical service rendered to Iranians.

[135] Official Iranian policy against its Baháʼí citizens was disclosed by the UN Special Representative on the Human Rights Situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1993 when it obtained a secret 1991 government memorandum.

[139] Through random home raids, unlawful arrests, arbitrary detentions, and violations of due process by agencies of the Iranian government, members of the Baháʼí Faith are constantly victims of efforts to repress and intimidate them.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, courts have been increasingly handing down lengthy sentences for spurious charges made against Baháʼís, putting their lives at serious risk in the country's overcrowded prison system.

"[152][153][154][155] Despite numerous arrests, periodic raids, several imprisonments of those involved, mass confiscation of school equipment and general harassment, BIHE has continued and even expanded its operations.

A 9 April 2007 letter from Tehran's Public Places Supervision Office confirms orders to police commanders and heads of intelligence and security throughout the province saying "members of the 'perverse Bahaist sect' must be prevented from engaging in certain occupations.

[165][134] "Incidents include arbitrary shop closures, unjust dismissals, the actual or threatened revocation of business licenses, and other actions to suppress the economic activity of Baháʼís.

As part of an institutionalized incitement to hatred, "National and provincial budgets have included allocations for 'educational' programs to 'confront' the Baháʼí Faith, and official organs have been established and dedicated to that purpose.

"[135] As a result, Baháʼís in communities across Iran "receive threatening telephone calls, text messages, and anonymous letters, and they encounter anti-Baháʼí pamphlets in shops, schools, and other public places.

Beginning with the severe violence that characterized the religion's earliest years in the mid-nineteenth century, generations of Iran's Baháʼís have lived and suffered, under kings and clerics, "as an oppressed and vulnerable minority, experiencing recurrent episodes of violent persecution.

These episodes have been driven by incitements from the pulpit as well as media propaganda reflecting a calculated effort to poison public sentiment toward the Baháʼís and to intimidate fair-minded and sympathetic Iranians who might be moved to come to their defense.

"[176][174] Despite severe persecution over almost eighteen decades, the Baháʼís of Iran "have refused to adopt the culture of victimhood or to respond to their oppressors with hatred,"[177] instead they have invariably faced opposition with fortitude and "constructive resilience.

"[183] A growing number of nations, human rights organizations, and people around the world have in recent years condemned the Iranian government for its continued systematic persecution of Baháʼís.