Sep17
Dr. Hamid Dabashi: When Baha’is are free, then all Iranians will be
On September 16, CNN International published the following commentary by Dr. Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, calling on American Muslims to “raise their voice against the abuse of non-Muslim minorities in Iran and the rest of the Muslim world.”
In a world now defined by the presence of multiple faiths inside many nations and as American Muslims learn to come together to protect their own constitutional rights in an old democracy, it would only be fitting if they were to raise their voice in defense of other religious minorities seeking to secure their basic rights to religious liberties in countries aspiring to become democracies.
The fate of Iranian Baha’is is not only a matter of their fundamental civil rights in the context of any republic, Islamic or otherwise. It is the very cornerstone of democratic citizenship without which the Muslim majority of Iranians is denied their constitutional protection. Watch the fate of the Iranian Baha’is carefully.
The day they are free to practice their religion without fear, Iranians at large will have finally secured their civil liberties.
Dr. Dabashi is the author of “Iran: A People Interrupted.” His website is http://www.hamiddabashi.com/
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