“The infidels do not inherit”

A recent event has confronted the Iranian Zarathushti community with a dilemma: to stay in Iran and face gradual extinction, or to migrate and be assimilated in the melting pot of international communities abroad!

This is the event: A Zarathushti called Behrooz Foroo­dian had embraced Islam some years ago. His mother and father died on June 22, 1999 and April 25, 2000 respectively. Foroo­dian has five siblings, three brothers and two sisters. Under the current Iranian Islamic Civil Code, Beh­rooz claimed all inheritance as the only Muslim heir. His siblings maintained that the Zarathushti Religious Code, which is recognized by the Islamic government, applied to the deceased parents and should therefore govern the inheritance. The dispute reached the law court. In the meantime Foroodian wrote a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei which read (in transla­tion):

"The supreme leader, your august reverend Ayatol­lah Ali Khamenei

"After respectful salutation, I seek your sancti­fied verdict on the following issue: If one of the members of a Zartushti family, (living) in Iran under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Republic regime, embraces the Shia Islam, and subse­quently the parents die, how should the inheritance be divided among the several children, having regard to the fact that only one child has embraced Islam?

"Wishing an increasing success for all Muslims and with thanks.

Behrooz Foroodian”

Underneath the letter is written (translation): "In the name of the Most High

"With a Muslim heir, the infidels (Kâfers) do not inherit.” The curt rejoinder bears the seal of the Ayatollah.

Conseque­ntly, the ‘Tehran Court No. 515’ gave its judgment in favor of Behrooz Foroo­dian and deprived the other heirs of their share of the inheritance.

A few years ago, under different circumstan­ces, a married Zara­thushti wo­man was enamored of a Muslim man who hap­pened to be a Pasdar (a member of the Revolutionary Guard). She obtained her divorce from her Zarathushti husband and brought an action in the court for custody of their children. The former Zarathushti husband, in order to retain custody over their children, had no alternative but to become Muslim, even in name.

Unfortunately, such sad events may repeat themsel­ves in the name of Islamic justice and lead to the extinction of the Zarathushti community. From the begin­ning of Islam, financial gain has been offered as an incentive in fighting for victory in its religious wars, for avoiding payment of jazya (personal tax) and now for gaining inheritance.

The new Iranian law (Article 881 annex), depriving Zimmi (minority community, viz Christians, Jews and Zarathushtis) heirs of their lawful inheritance has no basis in the Koran. It was enacted only 10 years ago. It prescribes that if a member of a Zimmi becomes Muslim, the other family members will not inherit.

In June 1996, when my wife Pari­chehr and I visited Iran at the invitation of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance to participate in the Sixth World Zoroastrian Congress (WZC), an Irani Zarathushti had alerted me to this new law. I discussed it with Parviz Ravani, the then Zarathushti representative in the Parliament (Islamic Majlis). He indicated that before enactment of the law he had protested but to no avail.

I had therefore been on a lookout for an appro­priate occasion to bring that question up, to some high-level Iranian authority. Fortunately, the right time came during the course of the Sixth WZC. At the invi­tation of the Office for Religious Dialogue (within the International Studies and Research Center of the Organ­ization of Islamic Culture and Relations), a one-day conference was arranged between the Muslim and Zara­thushti scholars. On the Islamic side the participants included Ayatollahs Taskhiri, Seyed Mohamad Khamenei (leader’s brother), Hojatolislam Dr Hojati Kermani and several Tehran University professors. On the Zara­thushti side were the late Mobed Rustam Shahzadi, Mobed Dr J. Oshidari, Dr Mahyar Ardeshiri (president of the Sixth WZC), Ravani and Dr Khus­row Dabes­tani (pre­sent Zarathushti representative in the Parliament), Dr K. Vafadari, myself and my wife and a few others.

After a discourse by Kermani on Islam and its treatment of other religions and by me on Zoroast­rianism and its treatment of other religions, a ques­tion and answer session started. That provided the best opportunity for me to raise the new law concerning inheritance and dieh (blood money).

After quoting the ‘Article 881 annex’ of the Civil Code, I requested the Muslim scholars to indicate the relevant Koranic basis for that law. None was offered. Then I explained that this practice only started in the early 17th century when a Christian (Armenian) boy in Isfahan embraced Islam. His father died a few months later. The boy claimed all the inheritance. The matter was referred to Mohammad Baqer Majlessi, the great Mujtahed of the Safavid court, who gave his verdict in favor of the newly converted Armenian. This rule was extended to other religious minorities — Zarathushtis and Jews, during the Oajar dynasty period, until the second half of the 19th century, when it was repealed by Nasser-al-Din Shah at the urging of Maneckji Limji Hataria. Unfortunately it has been rees­tab­lished under the Islamic Republic. After my explana­tion, Ayatollah Seyed Mo­ha­mad Kha­menei asked one of the Tehran University professors to study the matter and subsequently report to him.

What had encouraged me to raise the issue in this 1996 Di­alogue mee­ting were the pronouncements of Ay­a­­­tollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the religious leader, and Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani (the then President of the Islamic Republic of Iran), during their meetings with Zarathushti delegations to the Sixth WZC.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had said (translation): "Friends and my Zara­thushti compatriots! This is a new and sweet meeting for me. Although in our dear Iran, the followers of all religions live together in an at­mosphere of friendship and peace the Zarathushtis have a closer bond with the Muslims. First, because Iran is the birthplace of the Zarathushti religion. This is a matter of pride for this country to be the birthplace of one of the divine religions. Few lands have had the privilege of being graced with a divine religion and one of its natives being selected by God to be a prophet and receive revelation.”

Rafsanjani had stated (trans­lation): "Centuries before the arrival of Islam in this country, our dear Iran witnessed the birth of the Zarathushti religion, which is a divine religion, and Zarathushtra is one of the divine prophets. Islam has acknowledged the divinity of this religion and has recognized it as such.”

Needless to say, in the light of these statements, as well as one made subsequently by Hojatolislam Mohammad Khata­mi, (the present President of Iran) which I shall describe below, I was quite bewildered when I saw the ruling in 2000 with the seal of the religious leader, underneath the letter of For­oodian. I still want to assume that it was written without Ayatollah Khame­nei’s knowledge!

Let me now recall the September 1998 meeting of Iranian immigrants with Khatami. During the President’s visit to the United Nations, again I brought up the unjust law on inheritance to the attention of the new President. When I asked for the floor, I mentioned that I was Zarathushti and my question concerned Zara­thushtis in Iran. The President was magnanimous enough to recognize me by saying that "Iranian higher educa­tion, learning and culture are truly indebted to you” and then admitted that all Iranians have Zarathushti roots. He continued that the Zarathushti religion today stands as one of the great four divine religions: Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam.

This was my question to the President: "The Isla­mic Republic Constitution, like the previous 1906 Constitution, has recognized three minority religions in Iran: Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism, and has allocated certain seats to them in the Islamic Majlis. Also the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic, like the Civil Code of the previous regime, has allowed the followers of these religions to observe the rules and customs of their own religions in the matters of per­sonal affairs such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and wills. Unfortunately in 1991, a law was passed (Section 881 bis of the Iranian Civil Code) which adjoins that if a member of a religious minority family becomes Muslim, that person will become the sole heir when the parents die, regardless of the degree of his or her relationship to the deceased, and regardless of the fact whether such a relationship is through consanguin­ity (blood) or affinity (marriage). This law is unjust and has indeed frustrated the advantages of the law that religious minorities, in matters of their personal affairs, are subject to their religious laws and cus­toms. So far as I have researched, this new law has no basis in the Koran. According to universally accepted practice, it is the personal law of the deceased that should govern inheritance, not that of one of the heirs. This is the law accepted by all nations, in all religions. In your speech today you referred several times to ‘civil society’ that you would like to see in Iran. You also spoke of justice. In the name of those noble goals, I earnestly entreat you to issue an order for investigation of the matter, and for establishment of justice.

"The other issue that I would like to raise is in connection with payment of the blood money (dieh) to a victim or the victim’s heirs. In the Iranian Criminal Code payment of blood money is assessed for Muslim men and women, but there is no provision for payment of blood money to the victims from religious minorities. Conse­quently, if a Zarathushti is murdered or killed through manslaughter, or receives bodily harm in any way, no blood money will be paid to him or her as the case may be. Again, since you stated today that in a ‘civil society,’ all people must enjoy equal rights and those who have been treated unjustly should demand their rights through the existing legal channels, I earnestly request you to issue an order for the matter to be investigated and the injustice be removed. I believe that in the Iranian civil society all people who are proud to be Iranians should enjoy equal human dignity and every effort must be made within the legal frame­work to attain equality.”

President Khatami replied, "I am not familiar with these laws. You have the right to express your views. So long as a law is on the books, it will be im­plement­ed. But if there are different views, these must be expressed and we must make efforts to bring our views closer to what goes on in today’s world, and try to understand them. Mindful of the prevailing interests of the society, our laws should be more encompassing. Citizens of all religions, just because they have accepted Iranian citizenship, must benefit from all the rights of citizenship. And presently, all this exists to a great extent; if it seems that in some cases there are shortcomings, they must be resolved through discus­sion and dialog.”

Despite these reassurances for the equally digni­fied position of religious minorities, review and possible changes in the law, made by the Iranian au­thorities at the highest levels in 1996 and 1998, nothing seems to have been done. Hence the Foroodian case and the injustice done to Behrooz’s siblings, is a case for Dabestani, the present Zarathushti represen­tative in Parliament, to seek justice, jointly with representatives of other religious minorities in the Majlis within the directives of the President himself. It is a test to try out both the Iranian government’s sincerity and its ability to deliver on its promises.

About three months ago the Armenian representative in Islamic Assembly Majlis declared that because of legal discriminations in Iran, many Armenians have migrated to North America, Australia and Armenia and he feared that in a few years, the Armenian population in Iran will drastically dwindle. I hope that would not happen to the Zarathushtis. Every reasonable effort must be first made in the interest of justice, welfare of the Zara­thushti community, and the preservation of the Zara­thushti community, religion and culture in Iran.

With the reelection of President Khatami and serious efforts by Dabe-stani, I pray that these unjust laws will be repealed and that Zarathushtis will be able to live in Iran, the cradle of the Zarathushti religion, in peace and with dignity.

Scholar, author and activist Farhang Mehr was Iran’s former deputy prime minister who left the country during the Islamic revolution. A professor emeritus of Boston University, Mehr is presently editor of Humata, the journal of the Center for Ancient Iranian Studies. This article has been reprinted from Humata, Fall 2001.