Jurisprudential Basis of Constitutionalization of Legal Status of Religious Minorities in Iran

Under various principles of the [Iranian] Constitution, especially Article 12, the use of the word "minority" is only valid when used to describe non-Muslim religious groups. Article 13 only recognizes some religious minorities, and article 14 obliges the Islamic state and Muslims to respect the human rights of non-Muslims, without referring to a specific minority. Therefore, the Iranian legal system is faced with two categories of religious minorities, namely "recognized" and "unrecognized" minorities. Despite the legal recognition of rights in the Constitution, their implementation is ambiguous. Much of this ambiguity is due to the lack of a clear religious jurisprudential basis for the fundamental rights of these minorities. In this paper, using an analytical-descriptive method, it has been concluded that the use of “aman treaty” in Islamic jurisprudence can resolve many issues concerning religious minorities in Iran. After explaining the various Islamic jurisprudential institutions, including "dhimma”, “hudna”, and "aman", it will be concluded that the situation of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic, both recognized and unrecognized, conforms to the institution of "aman".