The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights » Iraq

Baha’is in Iraq, Untold Facts

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:26:24 +0000

According to the Baha’i leadership studies, Iraq is home to less than 2,000 Baha’is, spread all across the country. In 1970, Iraq banned the Baha’i Faith, and in 1975 there was a subsequent decision of prohibiting the issuance of identification documents to Baha’is. In 2007 the government abolished the Ministry of Interior’s decision of 1975, but to date issued only about six or seven Baha’i identity papers. Baha’is still have “Muslim” in their IDs since the 1975 decision that forced them to change their documents.

Iraqi law recognized the non-Muslim sects in Iraq in a statement by court No. 6 in 1917. Articles 13, 16 and 17 of the statement contains the provision to register the personal status of Iraqis according to the minority group that he belong to.

Since that date, the courts began to ratify civil marriage contracts of Baha’is, which were performed under the religious law of the Baha’i Faith. This was further strengthened in the Iraqi Constitution, which in 1925 recognized freedom of religion and belief. This provided the Baha’is with the opportunity to complete the establishment of a National Spiritual Assembly and Local Spiritual Assemblies, publicly establish their headquarters in Alhaidar, and to live according to their religious principles, including social involvement and activities. In 1936 the Iraqi Ministry of Interior issued an Official Guide explicitly recognizing the Baha’is as one of the minority groups in Iraq (Arabs and Kurds, and other folks … In Iraq, Muslims, Christians, Israelis and Yazidi, Sabean and a few of the Baha’i and the Magi), and stated again that they are guaranteed liberties by the Constitution. The Baha’is continued to interact in Iraqi social life and enjoy freedom to practice their religious and social practices in harmony with the rest of the society in Iraq.

Following the Baathist coup in 1963, the new leaders have drastically limited the freedoms previously guaranteed to the Iraqi citizens. The new regime began with attempts to prevent Baha’i activity in Iraq in 1967. The suffering of Baha’is began to escalate; Baha’i became subjected to maltreatment and prisons. This culminated in the decision of the Directorate of Civil Status No. 358 24 / 7 / 1975 that stopped allowing to register Baha’is in the records of civil status.

Baha’is used to obtain a certificate of citizenship that stated “Baha’i” in the field of religion up until 1975. Then they were denied registration of marriages in the records of civil status, and denial of Baha’i identity card or a copy of registration for the record. New births were not registered, and thus Baha’is were deprived of the right to have a passports and employment, entrance to universities, and buying and selling homes and property, forcing some of them to change the field of religion to :Muslim”. This is incompatible with the simplest principles of human rights, and not in line with the constitutions in Iraq, which emphasizes the freedom of belief, stating in Article (40): “Iraqis are free to make personal commitments, according to their religions, sects, beliefs or choices, and be regulated by law.”

Despite the wide space of freedom that was brought by the change in 2003, the Baha’is of Iraq still face many hardships. With a constant and all encompassing discrimination for more than three decades, Baha’is lived in the dark, and there are many Iraqis who do not know anything about the Baha’is in Iraq, who used to make up 0.5% of the population of Baghdad. After pressure on Baha’is concentrated in certain villages, they were forced to scatter and live in isolation from their community. The Baha’s are not given any attention by the government, the Iraqi media and political parties, this is perhaps for religious reasons or ignorance about the Baha’is because of false information spread about them. Therefore, Iraqi civil society organizations are the only place that might highlight the issue, without regard to the small number of Baha’is. Baha’is had more rights in the past but as time passed and more Iraqi minorities demand their rights, this one group actually goes backwards and losses more rights.

Is it conceivable that the Iraqi society before eighty year ago was a more tolerant and civilized society than it is now? Where is the democracy and justice our Iraqi leaders promised us? Do not Baha’is deserve the rights given to big players in the political game, or will they have the same fate of other minorities in Iraq like bombings, death and neglect?

References
1-al-sabah Iraqi newspaper
2-iraqi religions encyclopedia
3-bahi in Iraq -Wikipedia

Originally posted by Wamith on MideastYouth.com

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Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:08:18 +0000

On Faith recently featured an article by Remz Pokorny, a Baha’i senior at Brandeis University. In the article, Remz spoke of the different views on faith his parents espoused, and how they had contributed to shaping his identity.

Forced to leave her homeland Iraq due to the persecution Baha’is were facing, Remz’s mother took an emotional approach to teaching him about the Baha’i Faith.

Let’s start at the beginning: My mother is a refugee from Iraq, driven from the land of her birth by religious persecution. My father is from an upper-middle class family in Kansas, and as a young child, he moved to Washington state.

My parents met at a Baha’i fireside–an informal gathering where a spiritual topic is presented and discussed–in Concord, New Hampshire; my father was working as a staff writer for the Boston Globe, and my mother had just recently immigrated to this country. Had they not been involved with the Baha’i community, they would not have dated or decided to get married, bringing me and my brother into the world.

From the outset, my identity was ambiguous, almost indefinable. But from the cradle, my mother acquainted me with her native tongue, Arabic. She taught me the story of her persecution as a Baha’i in Iraq, which is an unfortunate narrative for many Baha’is in the Islamic world. Her father and mother were imprisoned for 6 years during the 1970s.

“Ahli chanow bel sijin min ani chinit jahala,” my mother always reminded me. “My parents were in prison when I was a child.”

When other people heard my mom say that her parents were in prison, the question was often the same, “My goodness, why?”

I’m sure their first thought may have been that my grandparents were lowlifes or career criminals. But instead, my mother’s response would shock them.

“They were imprisoned because they were Baha’is,” she would say. “Because they were Baha’is.”

From a young age, my mother instilled in me a sense of Baha’i pride. She loved to talk about her family and their contribution to the Baha’i narrative. One of her aunts was given the title “Knight of Baha’u'llah” for her role in starting the Baha’i community of Cyprus. My mother spoke of the 1960s as a heroic era for the Baha’is of Iraq. Her father, who, despite the fact that he was going blind, would fearlessly defend the Faith against Iraqi government agents who made a habit of dropping in at the Baha’i National Center in Baghdad and harassing whomever they would encounter.

My grandfather was a member of the national governing body of the Baha’is of Iraq, so he was usually one of the first people they would want to speak to. Pointing to the stacks of Baha’i scripture in the national archive they would say, “We’re taking these books.”

My grandfather’s response would be, “Just take a minute and read them first, and then tell me if there is any harm in having them around.”

The agents eventually confiscated the entire library of Baha’i books but were nevertheless impressed at my grandfather’s audacity in defending his faith.

My mother’s approach in raising me as a Baha’i was primarily emotional. The stories she told me and the prayers she would teach me were an important part of my upbringing, sparking emotion and a deep connection to the narrative of my faith, which is still persecuted in Iran, the land of its birth.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

In 1970, a law was passed in Iraq that prohibited the Baha’i Faith, followed shortly by a ruling in 1975 that prohibited issuing national identity cards to the country’s Baha’i population.

However, there is little information available on the current status of Baha’is in Iraq. We contacted Remz in hopes of gaining a clearer insight into the current situation in Iraq, and he kindly responded with the following:

On behalf of my mom, I was asked to convey the following to you. When she talks to her relatives in Iraq, she gets the general sense that they live their lives normally as other Iraqis do. They quietly practice their religion, free from harassment and at the present time they face no persecution, from the government or their fellow Iraqis. They are cautious about giving too many details beyond that, since it is still the Middle East after all and the conditions are not ideal by any means.

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