By Michael Theodoulou, Special to The Christian Science Monitor
TEHRAN, IRAN - One of the most striking of many murals in Iran's
capital, Tehran, is a towering portrait of Fathi Shkaki, a leader of
the militant Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad. He was assassinated by
Israeli agents in 1995 after he masterminded a series of suicide
bombings against Jewish civilians. A slogan beneath his face hails him
as a hero of the Islamic revolution in Palestine. Yet, stroll a little
farther along Palestine Street and you come to the Abrishami
Synagogue, the biggest of 23 synagogues in Tehran. It is regularly
attended by some 1,000 worshippers. It comes as a surprise to many
visitors to discover that Iran, a country so hostile to Israel and
with a reputation for intolerance, is home to a small but vibrant
Jewish community that is an officially recognized religious minority
under Iran's 1979 Islamic Constitution. "[Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini
didn't mix up our community with Israel and Zionism - he saw us as
Iranians," says Haroun Yashyaei, a film producer and chairman of the
Central Jewish Community in Iran. Like Iran's Armenian Christians,
Jews are tolerated as "people of the book" and allowed to practice
their religion freely, provided they do not proselytize. They elect
their own deputy to the 270-seat Parliament and enjoy certain rights
of self-administration. Jewish burial and divorce laws are accepted by
Islamic courts. Jews are conscripted into the Army. "We are one of the
oldest Jewish communities in the world," Mr. Yashyaei says. "When
Muslims came to Iran, we had already been here for centuries." "Take
it from me, the Jewish community here faces no difficulties. If some
people left after the revolution, maybe it's because they were
scared," says Farangis Hassidim, a forceful but good-humored woman who
is charge of the only Jewish hospital in Iran. She adds: "Our position
here is not as bad as people abroad may think. We practice our
religion freely, we have all our festivals, we have our own schools
and kindergartens." For her, the well-equipped hospital in central
Tehran is a model of religious harmony. "We have about 200 staff, 30
percent of them Jewish," she says. "These days, I'd say about 5
percent of our patients are Jewish, the rest are Muslims." A sign
outside the hospital reads in Hebrew: "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Nevertheless, many Jews emigrated after the 1979 Islamic revolution to
the United States, the favored destination, and to Israel. In just
under two decades, their numbers in Iran have dwindled from 100,000 to
about 40,000, 25,000 of them in Tehran. The shah, overthrown in 1979,
was on good terms with the Jewish state; opposition to it was a
cornerstone of Khomeini's revolution.
A tight-knit community Like other minorities, many Iranian Jews feared
an uncertain future, although their religious rights were enshrined in
the Constitution. Nevertheless, Iran's Jewish community remains the
largest in the Middle East outside of Israel, and human rights
activists confirm that members are not persecuted because of their
religion. Since the Islamic revolution, the Jewish community has
become more tight-knit and devout, according to worshippers at the
Abrishami Synagogue. After prayers, there is a festive atmosphere as
families, greeting each other with the Sabbath greeting "Shabbat
Shalom," spill out into the courtyard. Savory snacks are handed out as
families share gossip and children dart up and down the stairs playing
tag. A small portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini is painted on the wall of
the stairwell. Privately, there are grumbles about discrimination,
much of it of a social or bureaucratic nature. Some complain it is
impossible for Jews to get senior positions in Iran Air, the national
airline, or in the national oil company. A woman teacher says she has
been passed by for promotion several times because she is Jewish and
now hopes to emigrate to Los Angeles. A car-parts dealer says Jews
have to wait much longer for travel documents and exit visas. The most
pressing complaint is that, despite many petitions to parliament,
Jewish schools must open on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. Like so
many other Iranians, those at the Abrishami synagogue are relying on
the new president, Mohamad Khatami, to support them. "He's a kind man;
let's hope he can help us with this schools question," says the parts
dealer. Jews also hope for a genuine Middle East peace settlement that
would enable a more moderate Iran to recognize Israel, where many
Iranian Jews have relatives. That clearly is a long way off, despite
hints over the weekend of some kind of people-to-people dialogue. Even
Mr. Khatami, with his reputation as a relative moderate, called Israel
a "racist, terrorist state" in a recent interview on CNN television.
Contacts with the Jewish state are banned, although some visit through
third countries, while mail is usually routed through London.
Why leave? At an antiques shop in central Tehran, Isaac, the elderly
owner, says many Jews who once owned shops along the broad, bustling
avenue have left in the past 20 years. He has not seen his sister
since she emigrated to Israel 16 years ago, but he has no plans to
leave. "The Jewish community has been here for centuries, and this
shop has been in the family for more than 50 years," he says, reeling
off the famous customers who have visited. "Gen. [Charles] de Gaulle
was here. "But look at this," he adds, brandishing an old
black-and-white photograph of himself with his arm around curvaceous
1950s film star Gina Lollobrigida, who sports a beehive hairdo.
"Really, it's OK here, and it's home," he says.
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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