Religious Minorities in Iran: A Case Study of Sunnis in Sistan-Baluchistan

Abstract

The journey of the Sunnis from a majority to a minority started after the Arab's conquest of Persia. Most of the population were Sunnis in Persia (Old Iran) till the Safavid era 1501 AD. After the Safavid era, Sunnis gradually started to lose their majority status, later with Khomeini’s revolution, modern Iran was officially de-clared a Shiite state. This Study investigated the Political share, Economic rights, Health facilities and Religious freedom of the Sunnis in the Sistan-Baluchistan province under the administration of the dominant Shiite State. As a case study of Sunnis, the statistics data and census reports are used to explore the current condi-tion of Sunnis in the Sistan-Baluchistan province. The findings of this study indi-cate that the Sunnis have a political quota, but they are unable to reach a high-level position. Economically the Sunni-majority province of Sistan-Baluchistan is facing challenges, but some economic hubs can help to control this condition. Health fa-cilities are available to some extent but insufficient in terms of population and Re-ligious freedom also needs attention however the increasing number of the reli-gious institutions of Sunnis in the province in recent years is notable. They were finding calls for the state to pay attention to the Socioeconomic and Political rights of Sunnis to develop a considerable relationship between the Sunnis and Shi-ites in Iran.