![[Bahá'i of Iran]](../images/i/ir_bahai.gif)
image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 25 March 2009
Last modified: 2009-06-06 by ian macdonald
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image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 25 March 2009
Source: Minahan (1996)
See also:
According to James B. Minahan ("Encyclopedia
of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World" volume I) the
Bahá'i of Iran have a flag. More info on Bahá'i Faith and the persecution of the
Bahá'i in Iran and elsewhere at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahai_Faith.
The flag of the Bahá'i of
Iran is my reconstruction following an image in Minahan's book. "...In the years
since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Iranian Bahá'is, rejected, persecuted,
and forced into isolation, have taken on the characteristics of a distinct
national group, including the longing for a safe place to live, a homeland."
Also, they do have a traditional, historic homeland in Northern Iran, south of
the Elburz Mountains in Zanjan, Mazandaran, and Tehran provinces, and speak
their own language, a dialect of Farsi, that developed after the founding
of the Bahá'i religion in the mid-nineteenth century.
Chrystian Kretowicz,
25 March 2009
Minahan presents the flag which he attributes exclusively to the Iranian
Bahá'is, not the worldwide religious movement. Then, he states clearly they took
on the characteristics of the "national minority" due to their forced isolation
and persecution in that particular country, which might not make them a separate
"nation" but it could indicate a specifically different status then just a
"religious minority". The Iranian government, in response to UN and human rights
demands, continues to classify them as a political group, not as a religious
minority. Also, they speak their own language, which being a dialect of Farsi,
is nevertheless quite distinct and they have a traditional homeland there, which
they consider as their own.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 12 April 2009
