You don’t hear too much about another group often designated as “People of the Book,” and thus entitled to dhimmi status: the Zoroastrians. Here is an article about how they are disappearing from Iran. Hmmm; I wonder why, given the tolerant, peaceful system they’ve been living under? From AFP, with thanks to Ali Dashti:
“We are a species on the road to extinction,” laments Babak, a man in his sixties who came from Tehran with his wife for the annual pilgrimage to one of the Zoroastrians’ holiest sites — the rocky peak of Chak-Chak. …
“It may just be folklore, but it is undeniable that somebody important or a group of Zoroastrians took refuge here,” added Kasra Vafadari, a respected member of the community and a teacher of history at the University of Nanterre, France. Furthermore, scholars point out that the route was used in following centuries for Zoroastrians fleeing Iran — or Persia as it was formerly known — to escape religious persecution. Once inside the grotto, women shrouded in white cast off their veils — obligatory in Islamic Iran — and drink tea and wine, which is permitted for religious use by non-Muslims in the Islamic republic.
Along with Judaism and Christianity, Zoroastrianism is a recognised — and therefore permitted — religion in Iran, where officially 99 percent of the 66 million-strong population are Muslims. …
In a concession to their Persian roots and in contrast to many Sunni Muslim scholars, the Shia regime here recognises them as Kittabiyah — or people of the book and fellow monotheists as opposed to Kufr, or infidels.
But their numbers are declining sharply. Centuries of persecution have forced many to flee to India, where they are known as the Parsi and number between 80,000 and 100,000.
Discrimination in Iran continues today, for example in seeking employment in the state sector where Muslims are preferred. …
“People are leaving because they have no future here.”