As sad as it sounds, I don't think there is enough of them for anyone to give a shit.
The Zoroastrian Genocide (An Ayatollah timeline)
- Thread starter Incanian
- Start date
As sad as it sounds, I don't think there is enough of them for anyone to give a shit.
As sad as it sounds, I don't think there is enough of them for anyone to give a shit.
What kind of cultural effects would this have?
Pretty negative for the Zoroastrians, Iran's ones are the second largest population behind India. Iran/Persia is a homeland of the religion and being purged from there would probably be spiritually depressing. I imagine the global community would be pretty upset with the regime, but I'm not sure anyone would intervene to help.
Well the reputation of the Iranian Regime would be much worse. We would likely also see more internal opposition to the Regime in Iran, even among the clergy and religious conservatives (some would likely look at this genocide to against a millenium of Islamic practices and traditions in Iran). Shia Islam would likely also have a harder time finding allies against the Sunnis, as they would be connected to the genocide.
I think you could see for the rest of history Zoroastrians wanting an independent Zoroastrian state, and you could see a Zoroastrian terrorist group leading a crusade against the Islamic Iranians.
There's just not that many of them. I think about 150k globally or something, losing 25k is about a sixth of their overall population. Due to nature of the belief systems, they don't really convert or allow in new people. It'd be a major setback for a region which is slowly dwindling. Maybe you'd see a few radicals conducting random attacks here or there, but they simply lack the support, manpower and recognition to really gun for such a thing.
More likely you might see something akin to Fulan Gong protesters that keep tabs on the human rights abuses of the Iranians.
I do agree that nobody would do too much, however killing off an entire population for religious reasons (as opposed to throwing them out) would give Iran a really bad odor. You might very well see imposition of sanctions sooner and longer lasting. IMHO Khomeini would do just fine telling them to get on planes with 2 suitcases and no valuables. After 1948 the majority of the Arab countries basically did the same for their Jewish populations and about 30x as many as the Zoroastrians we are talking about, and nobody outside of Israel said a thing...
In India, Zoroastrians are a very rich minority. Just note that Tatas and many other business families are Zoroastrians by religion. If there is any flow of Zoroastrian refugees into India they can raise immense amount of money for the welfare of the refugees and they are influential enough to pressure the Government of India to take any action they desire.
There is little chance of a Zoroastrian persecution in India. The Hindu nationalists have a soft corner for their religion. They view only Islam and to some extent Christianity as unwelcome foreign religions. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are counted as fellow native religions. Judaism and Zoroastrianism are counted as friendly guest religions.
There is little chance of a Zoroastrian persecution in India. The Hindu nationalists have a soft corner for their religion. They view only Islam and to some extent Christianity as unwelcome foreign religions. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are counted as fellow native religions. Judaism and Zoroastrianism are counted as friendly guest religions.
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Why would the Ayatollah focus on such a small ans harmless group who have People of the Book status with Shias and are seen as living examples of Iran's glorious past? The Ayatollah has bigger fish to fry dealing with coup and counter revolution attempts by the CIA, monarchist, communist and MEK.
Despite the implausibiity of it, let's give it a whirl. While most wouldn't care for the Zoroastrians in of it themselves, it did provide a good enough reason to be able to interfere with Iran politiclaly and possiiblity with military conflict. It would further emphasize the Ayatollah as a radical fringe lunatic who does not have Iran's interests in mind.
Since they are a rich minority, he could win favor with the socialists, by killing them off and giving some of the wealth to other people. He could also be worried that America, still wanting that sweet sweet oil would want to fund the Zoroastrians, and other minority groups to overthrow the Ayatollah, and get more resources to exploit from Iran. Or they could just be the Ayatollah's paranoia. He doesn't really need a reason. If it's all three, then it would make sense.
To be a successful revolutionary leader, which Ayatollah Khomeini undoubtely was, you need to have a bit of hubris, but chasing down by tiny non threatening minorities wont help your cause. Like I said before, there are plenty of real threats that faced the early Islamic Republic: communist, monarchist, CIA and ultimately the Iraqi invasion.
Yea, even if Zoroastrians are on his shit list, it's probably at the bottom. He has worse enemies than them, and truth be told, he might risk losing support from the people going after Iran's most ancient surviving community. The clerics tried to convince people not to celebrate Nowruz IOTL, as a much milder example. Didn't work out.
And truth be told, if he did want the Zoroastrians wiped out, all he needed to do was apply the jizya and Islamic inheritance, and let economics do the rest. No need to make himself an enemy of their community when being a friend would earn him converts.
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
Zoroastrians are People of the Book and have been considered such for centuries under Shi’a jurisprudence. There is no way in hell genocide would ever happen, not even persecution like the Baha’i face.
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
You don’t know anything about Vilayet-e-faqih or the basic underpinnings of Shi’a jurisprudence. This is a fantasy completely untethered from reality.
I was under the impression that at least relative to the rest of the region Iran's Jewish population is fairly well treated.
Indeed, they are. Khomeini claims to differentiate between Israelis and Jews in general. How much he and his followers conflate the two in reality, however, is harder to say...
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
They have official representation in the Majlis, as do Assyrian and Armenian Christians as well as...Zoroastrians. This whole thread is an ignorant fantasy.
Jesus Christ, your tone is really aggressive. If you think it's wrong, you don't have to lash out so harshly dude. I thought it was a prospect I thought was interesting. If you don't think so, that's okay.