Baha’is in Iraq, Untold Facts
January 11th, 2010According 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, Israelites 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
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(.. Arabs and Kurds, and other folks … In Iraq, Muslims, Christians, Israelis and Yazidi, Sabean and a few of the Baha’i and the Magi, the liberty guaranteed by the Constitution ..)
I think you meant Jewish instead of “Israelis”. You don’t have to be Jewish to be Israeli. I don’t think anyone identified as Israeli in 1936.
[...] Originally posted by Wamith on MideastYouth.com [...]
Michael, I edited the wording. The Qur’an refers to Jews as Israelites, not Israelis. Thank you!
“Is it conceivable that the Iraqi society before eighty year ago was a more tolerant and civilized society than it is now?”
In my opinion, absolutely not. There was basically no liberty whatsoever under Saddam, including for Baha’is, although admittedly, they were probably better off in Iraq than in Iran.
I agree with the article that the Baha’is in Iraq still face many hardships, but to my knowledge, compared to life under Saddam’s sadistic crime family, there is a night and day difference. It would seem that the Baha’is are better off under the Maliki/Talabani leadership.
But only time will tell.
Why does ones religion have to go on official forms at all – whatever it is? Can you say you are an atheist? Quite frankly whatever the ultimate truth about the existence of God, being an atheist would seem to me to be the best response. Religion seems to cause nothing but trouble.
Further should ones opinion on ANY philosophical question be on an official form. Should belief in String Theory be on a form?
dear friends
thanx for your responses , i always say the problem is not in the religion but in the people who misunderstand the words and why these words where there and in what time ?and they try to force there hatred and fear any one who seems different
as for some of my article uncorrected translations ,please forgive me i had to use Google to translate the legal parts and Google not always accurate
as for the part where i say the situation was better 80 years ago ,well Saddam was only in power for 28 years ,if you add the years of other bath leaders ,it will be 35 years ,that mean i was not talking about Saddam days i was talking about all the time of Iraqi state
my personal view is iraq had seen his worse times after 2003 ,but that doesn’t mean that the death of our Kurdish brothers in the massacres in his times are not one of the darkest times of iraq history ,but i mean that in general condition of the state and for minorities ,
the last few years in iraq are very bad time ,saddam destroy people ,and today we see them destroying people and history and civilization ,it tear your heart to see your country like this
as for Bahi they lived under saddam days under oppression of being recognize as religion and had no rights ,today they still not recognize and had no rights and more than this they fear opening there mouthes to complain in fear of being displace ,kidnapped ,killed and thrown in the streets,the same thing happen to the others minorities in iraq after 2003 ,so is this good compare to saddam? ,it is like comparing lethal injection with the electric chair ,one death is worse than the other ,
Hi Wamith,
Sorry about that, I had misread, I thought you had said “eight years”, not “eighty years”, my bad.
As to the Baha’is in Iraq, I only meant that in the long-run, they’re probably better off in the post-Saddam era, which seems, at least on the surface and in theory, to be operating under a framework of democracy and liberty. Of course, in practice, there is a long way to go, mostly because of the vile suicide bombers and other criminals trying to destroy Iraqi society, but as soon as this smoke clears (and I hope it’s very soon) I think our Baha’i brothers in Iraq can look forward to being respected, so that they can serve the Cause we all love so much.
But as I said, only time will tell and we can only hope for the best.
By the way, I should have mentioned this before, but thank you very much for writing this article. It is quite enlightening.
no problem sure i hope things clear soon in iraq so every one can rest ,and find space to live peacefully, i will try to write more but unfortunately no many resources are available