Would it be too much to claim that this man, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, changed the world?
Watching the first of three episodes of BBC 2 TV’s excellent new documentary on Iran and the West (available on BBC iPlayer to those living in the UK) was enough to persuade me (had I needed persuading) that by kicking off the Iranian Revolution (1978–1879) he changed the terms of engagement between Iran and the rest of the world in ways it would have been difficult – perhaps impossible – to predict before the revolution and which continue to impact on the lives of millions, both inside Iran and here in the West.
Hostage crisis
The documentary is cleverly constructed, intercutting interviews with the major players, such as US President Jimmy Carter and a number of those who had been close to Khomeini throughout the revolution, with footage and narrative, telling the story of what led up to the revolution, what happened during the revolution and what happened as a result, including the hostage crisis that occurred when Iranian students took control of the US Embassy in Tehran and held its occupants hostage for 444 days.
Every attempt that President Carter and his administration made to bring the crisis to an end ended in failure. Even the agreement that was eventually reached between the Carter administration and the Iranians was not honoured by Khomeini until a few brief moments after Ronald Reagan had been inaugurated as US President on 20 January 1981 and Carter was no longer in office.
Khomeini adopted an intransigent approach to international relations, based on his interpretation of Islam. This approach took other countries, notably the US and Western European countries by surprise and established a pattern of puzzlement that affects the West’s relations with Iran to this day.
What about the Baha’is?
Funeral of Hashin Farnush, arrested 5 November 1980, executed 23 June 1981. His wife is shown kneeling down at his graveside in Tehran.
The Man who Changed the World, the first episode of the documentary, made no reference to the situation of the Baha’is before, during and after the revolution.
This is a strange omission, given the importance of the role of the Baha’i community in Iran in promoting, amongst other things, education, agricultura, industrial development, and a focus on personal, business and political ethics.
Even before Khomeini returned from France to Iran, the Baha’is experienced an increasing number of attacks. At least seven Baha’is were killed, mostly as a result of mob violence, in 1978.
Under the new Islamic constitution of 1979, the Baha’is were deprived of all their civil rights and it became possible for hostile people and agencies to attack and kill Baha’is with impunity. The House of the Báb, the holiest Baha’i shrine in Iran, was destroyed in 1979 by a mob led by Shi’ite clergy and officials from the Department of Religious Affairs.
Baha’i school teachers were dismissed from their posts in November that year and told that they would have to repay their salaries back to the time they started teaching.
“To cut off the head”
Buoyed by their growing influence over all aspects of Iranian life, in 1980 the clergy moved “to cut off the head” of the “heretical” Baha’i movement by destroying its leadership, believing that the majority of the Baha’is would then succumb to social pressures to recant their Faith.
Nearly half the Baha’is executed in Iran since 1979 have been members of national and local governing councils of the Baha’i community, known as Spiritual Assemblies.
“They will not be accepted?”
Professor James Cockroft of Rutgers University interviewed Khomeini in December 1978, two months before Khomeini’s return to Iran.
Khomeini assured Professor Cockroft that all religious minorities would be protected by law under an Islamic regime. Cockroft wasn’t satisfied that the Khomeini’s answer was complete.
“Will there be either religious or political freedom for the Baha’is under an Islamic government?” he asked.
Khomeini replied, “They are a political faction; they are harmful. They will not be accepted.”
“How about their freedom of religion – religious practice?” Cockroft asked.
“No,” said Khomeini, and with that single syllable put an end to hope for the Baha’is in Iran.
Read more
Read more about the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran here.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, Islam, revolution, Khomeini, US, BBC
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{ 3 comments }
Good post, and it was a good documentary with regard to summarising what happened. Though nothing in it was ‘new’ information, apart from perhaps the revelation (to me anyway) that the current President Ahmadnejad tried to dissuade the students from taking American’s hostage for fear swaying of Iran towards the communists….
They didn’t mention the Baha’i Faith, like you wrote, however, this is not surprising to me since it ‘Rageh in Iran’ which was probably the best documentary I’ve seen on ‘modern Iran,’ managed to show every walk of life there, except the Baha’is.
I think the BBC might be trying to be overly cautious, probably in order to ‘remain neutral’ in the eyes of the Iranian government so that they can obtain interviews with the aides of the late Khomeini or other government officials. It’s hard to say, but its either extremely poor journalism (which I doubt, since the Baha’i Faith has a dedicated page on the BBC religion section) or they were purposely omitted, which I think is more than likely….
I look forward to the day Panorama does a full in-depth exposé into the maltreatment of the Baha’is in Iran.
It is way overdue.
On the subject of revolutionary flavour, I have written a blog entry myself on the nature of revolution, but in 19th century Iran:
http://www.bahaiperspectives.com/events/2009/02/07/viva-la-revolucion-part-ii/
I remember we naively thought (or at least my little band of friends did) that once Khomeini died or fell from power, things would change completely. We had no understanding whatsoever of the political, social and religious undercurrents in Iran.
Reading this, I suddenly thought that there is a metaphor with what is happening in Australia: Baha’is in Iran were overtaken by terrible fire.
@Ronnie: Many thanks for your comments. I suspect that the BBC might trading out mention of the Baha’is in order to gain access to Iran. I have heard one of the very experienced Baha’i International Community representatives to the UN say that she thinks that the Baha’is have been airbrushed out of Iranian history. The role of the Baha’is in 19th and 20th Iran has yet to be given its full value. But this is not surprising, given that the Iranian government clearly has a policy of destroying its own history in order to conceal the very existence of those want different paths for Iran. Baha’is will remember the destruction of Bahá’u'lláh’s father’s house in Tehran, even though the house was a priceless example of Ottoman architecture.
Today’s edition of Iran Monitor (from the European Foundation for Democracy) says:
So, it’s not surprising that even the BBC falls for attempts to block it from mentioning Baha’is. The fact that there are pages about the Baha’i Faith in the BBC religions section is neither here nor there! We can hope that one day there will be a proper exposé of the persecution of the Baha’is. But much has to change before that can take place.
@Tess: Iran is a very complex society indeed, with many undercurrents. Khomeini certainly revealed and exploited a very strong anti-Shah, anti-secular strand in Iranian society, but in so doing he made innovations in Shia jurisprudence that not all the senior clerics approved of. His foundational doctrine of velayat-i-faqih (government by the qualified jurist) runs counter to the main strands of Shia theological and political doctrine, as far as I understand.
Yes, the Baha’is in Iran were overtaken by a terrible fire. The fire died on the surface down after some years, but it is still burning under ground and is awaiting a wind to fan it back into life.
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