The Baha'i Studies Listserv > Based on what you said it doesn't even seem to be a Shi'ite issue as > much as an issue of 16th and 17th century Persia. Do you find such > teachings in the writings of the Imams?
Dear Gilberto. Iran makes up the bulk of the Ithna Asharia sect. It was, after all, the 'ulama recruited from Iraq who imposed these things on Iran. Iskandar indicated that there were hadiths from the Imams regarding non-believers being najas but I don't know how authentic they are. What is indisputable is that these strictures have been and currently are imposed on minorities in Iran and most Iranian Baha'is have suffered because of them, whether it be in the form of a young child not being able to drink from a drinking fountain at school or an adult not allowed to enter into a business partnership with a Muslim. > So the discrimination and persecution that those Persians were > inflicting the Jews in Persia is definitely a problem, and they may > have even tried to justify it religious terms, but it has about as > much to do with Islam as Jim Crow-era segregation (seperate drinking > fountains, segregated churches, swiming pools, etc.) have to do with > Christianity. Those quotations focused on Jews only because I took them from a Jewish website, but all non-Muslim minorities in Iran are subject to this treatment. It cannot be separated from Islam for the simple reason that these strictures are based on rulings by the 'ulama not necessarily state law (although nowadays it is both.) Now, if you want to argue that they are not Islamic in some ideal sense of the word, I won't quibble the point. But then we must admit that the 'ulama no longer represent real Islam. warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-510616-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
