This book examines how socio-political surroundings have affected the evolution of Yārsāni religious thought and why the Yārsāni religious belief, despite its fundamental disagreement with Islamic tenets, has been affiliated with Islam. It also considers the historical context and socio-religious milieu in which the Yārsāni belief appropriates religious forces to survive, how Yārsānis experience their religion in Islamic society, and what differences are significant in their lived experiences. The author explores how the experience of worship influences real life for the Yārsānis from the perspectives of sociology, behaviorism, content analysis, cultural studies and ethnography in Iran and diaspora with focus on Sweden. Yārsāni followers became known as those who “don’t tell secrets,” primarily because they were not allowed to promote and advertise their religion in public, but recently have started to reveal their religion, especially in social media. This book discovers the transformation of this religion, and in particular in which context an individual can change the content of religion, and bring about new ideas regarding religion and belief.

Eliz Sanasarian's book explores the political and ideological relationship between non-Muslim religious minorities in Iran and the state during the formative years of the Islamic Republic to the present day. Her analysis is based on a detailed examination of the history and experiences of the Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahais and Iranian Christians, and describes how these communities have responded to state policies regarding minorities. Many of her findings are constructed out of personal interviews with members of these communities. While the book is essentially an empirical study, it also highlights more general questions associated with exclusion and marginalization and the role of the state in defining these boundaries. This is an important and original book which will make a significant contribution to the literature on minorities and to the workings of the Islamic Republic.

This book explores the methods of marginalization that authorities use against religious minorities, and the subsequent mechanisms these minority groups develop in order to survive. This study focuses on the relationship between the state and non-Muslim religious minorities (Christian, Sabean-Mandaean, Bahai, Yarsan- Jewish, and Zoroastrian) in order to explore the dynamics of this extremism and its impact, and what the response of religious minorities has been. The conceptual framework of the study provides an introductory survey of Iranian politics in the twentieth century, offers a brief synopsis of the role of non-Muslims in Islamic majority countries, presents the views of the non-Muslims held before revolution in the time of Pahlavi king in Iran and the Shi’a revolutionary ideologues and, finally, identifies several important issues in this research.

Focusing on the situation of both Muslim and non-Muslim religious minorities in the Middle East, this volume offers an analysis of various strategies of resilience and accommodation from a historical as well a contemporary perspective.

The Qesse-ye Sanjān is the sole surviving account of the emigration of Zoroastrians from Iran to India to form the Parsi (‘Persian’) community. Written in Persian couplets in India in 1599 by a Zoroastrian priest, it is a work many know of, but few have actually read, let alone studied in depth. This book provides a romanised transcription from the oldest manuscripts, an elegant metrical translation, detailed commentary and, most importantly, a radical new theory of how such a text should be “read”, i.e. not as a historical chronical but as a charter of Zoroastrian identity, foundation myth and justification of the Parsi presence in India. The book fills a lacuna that has been acutely felt for a long time.

The Iranian revolution of 1978–1979 uprooted and globally dispersed an enormous number of Iranians from all walks of life. Bitter political relations between Iran and the West have since caused those immigrants to be stigmatized, marginalized, and politicized, which, in turn, has discredited and distorted Iranian migrants’ social identity; subjected them to various subtle and overt forms of prejudice, discrimination, and social injustice; and pushed them to the edges of their host societies. The Iranian Diaspora presents the first global overview of Iranian migrants’ experiences since the revolution, highlighting the similarities and differences in their experiences of adjustment and integration in North America, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. Written by leading scholars of the Iranian diaspora, the original essays in this volume seek to understand and describe how Iranians in diaspora (re)define and maintain their ethno-national identity and (re)construct and preserve Iranian culture. They also explore the integration challenges the Iranian immigrants experience in a very negative context of reception. Combining theory and case studies, as well as a variety of methodological strategies and disciplinary perspectives, the essays offer needed insights into some of the most urgent and consequential issues and problem areas of immigration studies, including national, ethnic, and racial identity construction; dual citizenship and dual nationality maintenance; familial and religious transformation; politics of citizenship; integration; ethnic and cultural maintenance in diaspora; and the link between politics and the integration of immigrants, particularly Muslim immigrants.

Global migrations flows in the 20th century have seen the emergence of Muslim diaspora and minority communities in Europe, North America and other parts of the world. While there is a growing body of research on Muslim minorities in various regional contexts, the particular experiences of Shi'a Muslim minorities across the globe has only received scant attention.This book offers new comparative perspectives of Shi'a minorities outside of the so-called 'Muslim heartland' (the Middle East, North Africa, Central and South Asia). It includes contributions on Shi'a minority communities in Europe, North and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia that emerged out of migration from the Middle East and South Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries in particular. As a 'minority within a minority', Shi'a Muslims face the double challenge of maintaining as Islamic as well as a particular Shi'a identity in terms of communal activities and practices, public perception and recognition.