Shiite Islam Essay

Immediately after the Khamenei’s speech the Iranian Parliament drafted an emergency with signatures from 50 MP s to ban all methods of birth-control in the country. According to the bill, all measures that leadleading to abortion or impotency, such as vasectomy and any campaigns in favour of birth-controlbirth control were banned and the violators were to be prosecuted. Later on, the Supreme Leader promulgated his ‘Statement of Principle on Family’, in which he emphasised the significance of fertility and in-house roles of women. The earlier anxiety over the decline of the Shiite population decline, as well as the consequent policy shift, testify to the concern among the Iranian leadership about the changing trend in the ethno-religious
Put otherwise, the Constitution repeats the general words “Islam” and “Muslim” more than 200 times. However, there are articles which restrict their meanings to the Shiite Islam. For instance, Article 12 reads that, “the official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelver Ja'fari School, and this principle will remain eternally immutable.” This way not only the Sunnite Iranians, but also other sub-groups within Shiites are excluded. Further, Article 58 asserts that the resolutions of the Iranian Parliament resolutions must be compatible with the official religion. Similarly, Article, Article 115 asserts that the President must be elected from amongst those with convinced belief in the official sect. More importantly, in tandem with Article 121, before assuming the office, the President must take oath that he would guard the official religion and dedicate himself to its propagation. As a result, the Iranian Sunnis de facto are considered a minority. The practices of the regime since its establishment in 1979 also attest to disadvantaged position of the Sunnite Iranians compared to the officially recognized religious minorities . The constitutional status of the non-Muslim Iranians gives