The Status of Unrecognized Religious Minorities in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Islamic Jurisprudential-Legal Review

Today, many countries around the world have different minorities as their citizens. The Islamic Republic of Iran also has various types of minorities. Different racial, linguistic, cultural and religious minorities have formed a diverse population in Iran. Muslims in Iran are about 99.4% of the population, so the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran mandates that the official religion of Iran is Islam. Then, non-Muslim Iranian citizens as “religious minorities” are divided into two general categories in the Iranian Constitution: Religious minorities subject to Article 13 of the Constitution as “recognized religious minorities” and Religious minorities subject to Article 14 of the Constitution as “unrecognized religious minorities”. The Constitution enables recognized religious minorities -Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians- to apply their own cannel law in the interpersonal affairs. According to Article 14, unrecognized religious minorities will be treated well and fairly in Iran. As mentioned in the Constitution, Iran’s legal system based on Islamic jurisprudence. So, by using citizenship -as a legal entity- and considering the teachings of Islamic jurisprudence, this research seeks to make clear the status of unrecognized Iranian religious minorities, using an analytical-descriptive method.