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Bahá'i of Iran

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 25 March 2009

Source: Minahan (1996)

Description of the flag

See also:

Description of the flag

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