Bio:
Dr Yaghoob Foroutan completed PhD in Demography at The Australian National University’s
Demography & Sociology Program, Canberra, Australia. His doctoral dissertation on Muslim/Non-Muslim women's employment differentials in Australia was awarded The W. D. Borrie Essay Prize by the
Australian Population Association. He has been Post-Doctoral Fellow at The University of Waikato, New
Zealand (2010-2012), where he now holds a position as Research Associate at The University of Waikato
Islamic Studies Group, Hamilton, New Zealand. Further, he is Associate Professor of Demography at
Social Sciences Department, The University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran. Dr Foroutan also holds a
position as Adjunct Member at Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney University,
Sydney, Australia.
Dr Foroutan has served as the Chair of the Scientific Group on ‘Demography of Asian Migrants and
Diasporas’ at The Asian Population Association; and as a committee member for The Society of the
Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) in the USA. He also serves as Editorial Board Member of academic
journals including 2 journals in Persian language Sociology of Social Institutions (University of
Mazandaran) and Journal of Social Sciences (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad), and also 10 journals in
English language Comparative Islamic Studies; International Journal of Social Science Studies and
Technology; Today Social Science; International Journal of Social Science Studies; International Journal
of Education, Culture and Society; Humanities and Social Sciences; Cultural and Religious Studies;
International Journal of Islam; Journal of Modern Educational Research.
Dr Foroutan has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Population
Research; Current Sociology; British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies; New Zealand Sociology; Journal
of Muslim Minority Affairs; International Migration Review; Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in
Religion &Education, etc. In 2022, Dr Foroutan has also been recognized amongst the World’s Top 2%
Scientists 2022, detailed here in this link: https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/4
Abstract:
The starting point of this study is the Huntington’s (1996) notion arguing that western ethno-
religious minorities in the Islamic states are more discriminated against than Islamic minorities in
western states. While the status of Muslim minorities in the western settings has been almost
sufficiently studied, there is still little in the existing literature to explore the status of religious
minorities in the Islamic settings. The present study has contributed to filling this research gap.
The field of this study is the Islamic Republic of Iran which holds the world’s largest Shi’a
Muslim population. It is also the home for some religious minorities including Sunnis, Christians,
Jews, and Zoroastrians. This study has revealed how these religious minorities are represented by
the educational system in this Islamic setting on which the authorities have had an absolute power
particularly upon the 1978 Islamic Revolution when the western-oriented Shah monarchy was
replaced by an Islamic regime. In sum, the research findings of this study focusing on educational
resources identified not only as ‘opportunity’ and ‘reform’ but also as ‘a tool of democracy’
(UNESCO 2004) emphasize the underlying conclusion that this Islamic setting still has a long
way to go in order to meet democratically the minorities’ visibility from a socio-demographic
perspective.
Key words:
minorities, visibility question, representation, ethno-religious minorities, Huntington,
Islamic republic of Iran, socio-demographic perspective.
Introduction and Literature:
The underlying idea to build up the framework of this study came from Huntington’s (1996)
notion arguing that western ethno-religious minorities in the Islamic states are more discriminated
against than Islamic minorities in western states. Is he really right? In fact, this question mark has
become the starting point for the present study. The status of Muslim minorities in the western and
non-Islamic settings has received overwhelming attention by researches as there is a large body of
literature with specific focus on this part of the coin. How about the other side of the coin? In fact,
there is still little in the existing literature to give specific attention to the status of religious
minorities in the Islamic settings and further studies are required to provide research-based
evidence to deal with this research gap.
As discussed in the next section, the field of the present study is the Muslim-majority country of
Iran. It is worthwhile to state that another Muslim-majority country in which religious minorities
have received a relatively considerable attention in the existing literature is Pakistan. For instance,
in a recent study on Religious Minorities in Pakistan, Fuchs and Fuchs (2020: 67) have
documented that “minority identities by their very existence complicate debates about the place of
religious difference in a liberal political framework, and challenge processes of nation-building
that primarily or even just rhetorically rely on narratives of religious belonging”. In addition, there
are a few other studies in the existing literature focusing on religious minorities in the Islamic
settings including a comparative study of demographic, social and economic data on Muslim
minority and majority countries (Abedin 1989), a study on non-Muslims in the Islamic state:
Majority rule and minority rights (Berween 2006), and another study on non‐Muslim minorities in
an Islamic state (Rahman 2007). According to these studies in the existing literature, although an
Islamic model has been argued as ideal for governing multi-religious, multi-cultural, and multi-
ideological societies in terms of the principles of majority rule and minority rights, this still
remain as the ultimate question: who should govern? and how? (Berween 2006:91). In a more
recent study on Religious Freedom in Pakistan: A Case Study of Religious Minorities, (Mehfooz
2021), while it has been found that both the Constitution of Pakistan and Islam guarantee religious
freedom to the country’s religious minorities, still some Muslim clerics seem to be attempting to
deny religious freedom to other faiths in Pakistan. However, the existing literature still lacks
substantially fresh research finding to address the place of religious minorities in the Muslim-
majority contexts with specific reference to the role of the Islamic authorities’ official
mechanisms such as educational system, religious institutions, state’s communications channels of
Radio, TV, newspapers, etc. Accordingly, the present study is responding to this scientific call and
contributes to filling this research gap in the existing literature and contemporary knowledge.
Theoretical Backgrounds
This paper presents research-based evidence about the association between educational
institutions and religious socialization with specific reference to the representation of religious
minorities in the Islamic state through its educational system. According to social scientists and
sociologists, the process of socialization is employed in order to protect social unity and group
superiority. Berger (1967, 126), for instance, asserted that “the modern world is defined by large
numbers of groups competing with each other for control over the process of socialization”. In
more recent years, the process of socialization has been recognized as a “strategy” which a society
or a group employs in order “to transform the characteristics of the newcomers, so that it can
admit them with the confidence that their behaviour will not endanger group unity” (Plus 2007,
253). It has also been documented in the literature that the important influence of family on the
religious socialization of children is closely associated with the official education of schools
because religious socialization is “a process of education”. More specifically, the key role of
educational institutions, in particular school and its educational materials, has been substantially
emphasized in the socialization theory (e.g., Britton and Lumpkin 1977; Arbuthnot 1984; Bender
and Leone 1989; Taylor 2003; Lee and Collins 2008, 2009; Foroutan 2012, 2021). For instance, it
has been theorized that children’s “social self” is shaped by language and interaction (Mead
1934).
Moreover, the literature identifies the educational system as the first official agent and one of the
most powerful engines of socialization (see Britton and Lumpkin 1977; Arbuthnot 1984; Bender
and Leone 1989; Taylor 2003; Lee and Collins 2008, Foroutan 2017, 2019). Since educational
textbooks “present a microcosm of ideologies, values, and beliefs from the dominant culture”
(Taylor 2003, 301), it is important to know how various religious minorities are represented in
these vital sources and whether our children are democratically socialized towards religious
minorities through these official educational materials. These research questions are particularly
relevant for the present research because it took place in an Islamic setting where religion
traditionally plays a critical role in society and Islam dominates as the state religion detailed in the
following section.
Research Questions
This section specifies more clearly the key research questions considered to be focused and
examined in the present analysis. Accordingly, the research questions are detailed below:
- The starting research question of this analysis, as noted before, relies on Huntington’s
(1996) notion arguing that western ethno-religious minorities in the Islamic states are more
discriminated against than Islamic minorities in western states. Is this really right on the
basis of the new and fresh research-based evidence?
- While Muslim minorities in the western and non-Islamic contexts have been sufficiently
studied, how about the other side of the coin? In other words, how have religious
minorities been treated and represented in the Islamic settings?
- More specifically, due to the vital role of educational system on socialization process from
childhood, it is crucially important to explore: (1) whether and how well are our children
democratically socialized towards religious minorities? (2) How various religious
minorities are treated and represented in the educational system of the Islamic authorities?
Moreover, it is worthwhile to emphasis the fact that the research questions highlighted above tend
to be overwhelmingly more important and appropriate to be addressed and examined in the
context of this field of study. This is due to the fact that the present research takes place in an
Islamic setting where not only religion traditionally plays a critical role in the society and Islam
dominates as the state religion, but also because the socialization mechanisms particularly
education system are substantially influenced and operated by the Islamic authorities upon the
1979 Islamic Revolution, as detailed in the following section.
The Field of Study
The field of this study is the Islamic Republic of Iran which is largely a Muslim-dominated
country and holds the largest Shi’a Muslim population in the world. Its major religious minorities
include Sunni, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Table 1 presents Iran’s population by religious
affiliation in 2011 and the latest census in 2016. In addition, the present analysis focuses on its
educational resources that are recognized as the first official agent of and one of the most
powerful engines of socialization process. The educational system of Iranian schools comprises of
three major levels and covers eleven grades: five for primary schools and three each for
intermediate and high schools (see Table 2).
It is vitally important to note that these educational resources are usually the sole materials of
schools and The Ministry of Education (TME) has the authority and supervision over the whole
process of producing these textbooks. This process begins from the selection and appointment of
the textbooks; authors to the publication and distribution of the textbooks throughout the country.
Moreover, the TEM has the authority, partly through its screening committee (so-called Edarehe
Ghozinesh) to make decisions regarding the recruitment of teachers. These two strategies (i.e. the
authority and supervision both on textbooks; authors and on school teachers) are mainly taken in
order to ensure that the state's religious considerations and preferences are properly met by the
educational system.
Furthermore, religion traditionally has played a vital role in the Iranian society. However, since
the 1979 Islamic Revolution in particular, the country has been entirely governed by an Islamic
regime that has enforced the dominance of religion. In turn, the dominance of religion has been
entirely represented and reflected by the educational system. For instance, other studies conducted
in this Islamic context (Foroutan 2012, 2019, 2020) have revealed that the most prevalent finding
was the ubiquitous presence of the terms “religion” and “God” throughout the educational
materials. This was a dominant observation in both “religious” and “other” textbooks of all school
levels (that is, primary, intermediate, high school levels). Similar results demonstrated the
predominance of religious names in the textbooks examined. Although this was expected in the
“religious textbooks”, it was also evident in “other textbooks,” in which more than half of all
names are of a religious nature (Foroutan 2017, 2021). As a result, all of the issues discussed
briefly above echo the key fact that not only do these educational materials have the potential to
play an exceptional role in children’s socialization process, but more importantly they provide an
opportunity through which the states interpretations on a wide range of important issues,
including minorities issues, can be explored. As such exploration is the underlying aim of the
present study.
Research Data
As briefly mentioned before, the research evidence of this paper is based on a study focusing on
the educational system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The educational system of Iranian schools
comprises of three major levels: Primary, Intermediate, and High schools. In both Primary and
Intermediate levels, all textbooks have been included in this analysis: containing 36 and 37
textbooks respectively (n=N). In the level of High school, since there are various disciplines
consisting of a wide range of textbooks, a sample of textbooks in this level was selected. The
sample includes 19 textbooks which are commonly used in various disciplines of High school.
Accordingly, this analysis includes, in total, 92 textbooks. It is critically important to stress the
fact that these school-textbooks are substantially widespread as standard and compulsory
educational resources and are used in all schools throughout the country. This evidently echoes
the exceptional role that these educational materials can potentially play in the socialization
process. Due to the central focus of this paper on religion, the textbooks in this analysis have been
classified into two major categories: ‘religious textbooks’, and ‘other textbooks’. The former
includes textbooks entitled ‘Religious Education’ (Talimate Dini), ‘Holy Gifts’ (Hedyehaye
Asmani), Religion and Life (Din va Zendegi), and ‘Teaching Quran’ (Amozeshe Ghoran). The
latter refers to all other textbooks included in this analysis. Table 2 provides detailed information
on the title and number of these school-textbooks by school levels included in the present
analysis. Appendix 1 provides further details regarding the title and number of the textbooks by
school levels (i.e. Primary, Intermediate, and High schools).
Research Method
Methodologically, this study uses the method of content analysis, which has been identified as a
strategy for collecting and analyzing qualitative data through the use of an objective coding
scheme (Berg 2001; Taylor 2003). The method of content analysis can be used in two ways: latent
content and manifest content. The former is mainly based on the interpretive reading of the
researcher who attempts to understand ‘the symbolic meaning of the data in order to uncover its
deep structural meaning’ (Taylor 2003: 303). The latter refers to the visible and countable
elements in the books or other instruments of social communication (such as television, radio, and
cinema); for instance, pictures and names of men and women or images identifying gender roles,
which are countable as they are physically present in the books.
The present study uses the manifest content analysis method. It is worthwhile to mention that the
important impact of pictures in textbooks has been documented in previous studies. As Low and
Sherrard (1999:311) explained, this importance lies in the fact that ‘readers assume that they
[photographs] are objective slices of reality, thus giving the photographs authority and allure...
Photographs can thus carry connotations, be they intentional or not, never stated in the text’. This
tends to be more applicable to younger audiences. Accordingly, this methodological advantage
has been considered in the present analysis which deals with children and students in school-ages.
Research Findings
This section highlights the major results of this study which are based on several research
strategies in order to approach its key objectives outlined above. Giving specific focus to the
characteristics associated with the religion of Islam, this discussion includes the following
religious characteristics: the world’s major religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism), Prophets
(Prophet Mohammad and other Prophets), Holy books (Quran and other holy books), and Islamic
sects (Shiite and Sunni). Further, the representation of these main religious characteristics will be
discussed in terms of two major types of books (‘religious textbooks’ and ‘other textbooks’),
educational grades, and school levels (Primary, Intermediate, and High school). The discussion of
this section is based on the results of this analysis illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
1. Main Religions: Islam, Christianity, Judaism
The discussion on the findings of this research strategy begins with the representation of the three
major religions in the school-textbooks of this study: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism (it should
be mentioned that this analysis also includes other relevant words for each of these religions such
as Islamic, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish and so on). Before moving forward to highlight these
research findings, it is worthwhile to mention that according to the latest population census of Iran
in 2016, there are 130,158 Christians and 9,826 Jewish in Iran. Table 1 provides further details
regarding the religious affiliation of population in Iran in 2011 and 2016. The Constitution of the
Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes religious minorities such as Christians and Jewish (as well as
Zoroastrians and Sunnis). How these religions have been represented in the educational resources
of this Islamic setting? The results of this analysis illustrated in Figure 1 show that the words
related to the ‘religion of Islam’ are overwhelmingly more represented than those related to the
‘religions of Christianity and Judaism’: 96 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. This pattern
applies both to ‘religious textbooks’ and to ‘other textbooks’. This means that the presence of the
religion of Islam, relative to the two other religions, throughout all textbooks is so substantial that
the differences related to the representation of the religion of Islam in these two main sorts of
textbooks are negligible.
2. Main Islamic Sects: Shiite and Sunni
In addition, the results of this analysis illustrated in Figure 1 indicate how frequently the two
major sects of Islam (Shiite and Sunni) have been represented in the textbooks. According to this
Figure, of total frequency of these two Islamic sects in the textbooks, about a quarter is allocated
to Sunni and the remaining majority to Shiite. While the substantial dominance of Shiite remains
across all the textbooks, the dominance varies in ‘religious textbooks’ and ‘other textbooks’:
approximately 75 and 95 per cent, respectively.
3. The Prophet Mohammad and Other Prophets
The results of this analysis illustrated in Figure 1 also show that the Prophets have been evidently
represented in different ways. According to this Figure, of total frequency stating the names of
prophets in the textbooks, more than half is devoted to Prophet Mohammad (60 per cent) and the
remaining is allocated to all other Prophets. Further results of this analysis regarding the
representation of Prophets are indicated in Figure 2. Here, Prophets are classified into three
categories: 'Prophet Mohammad', 'Other Messengers' , and 'Other Prophets'. It should be noted that' Messengers' (Rasul or Ule al Azm) refers to five special Prophets who have been sent holy books,
which include the Prophets Nuh (Noah), Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. The first four
are considered as 'Other Messengers' in this analysis. 'Other Prophets' refers to all other Prophets
(so-called 'Nabi') to whom holy book has not been sent. This, for example, includes such Prophets
as Aaron (Haroon), Ismael, Yusuf (Joseph), and Yaghoob (Jacob). Figure 2 shows the results of
this analysis regarding the representation of Prophets by educational grades and school levels. It is
evident that the representation is closely associated with educational grades. This tends to be a
more evident observation in Primary school-textbooks in which there is a reverse relation between
the dominance degree of the representation of Prophet Mohammad in the textbooks and
educational grades: the lower the educational grade, the greater the dominance degree. For
example, the proportion allocated to Prophet Mohammad in the textbooks Grade 1 is twice greater
than the corresponding proportion in textbooks Grad 5 (about 84 and 40 per cent, respectively).
However, this pattern does not entirely apply to the textbooks of higher school levels. In
particular, a varying pattern exists in the textbooks of High school level in which the presence of
Prophet Mohammad becomes increasingly more evident as educational grades goes up.
4. Holy-book of Quran and Other Holy-books
Moreover, the results of this analysis regarding the representation of the holy book of Quran and
other holy books are shown in Figure 3. It illustrates the percentage distribution of the names of
the holy books stated in the textbooks of this analysis by school levels (Primary, Intermediate, and
High school). Generally speaking, the most visible pattern relates to the substantial dominance of
the holy book of Quran which applies to the textbooks of all school levels. It is also evidently a
predominant pattern in both ‘religious textbooks’ and ‘other textbooks’. For example, of total
frequency of representation of the names of holy books in the textbooks of Intermediate school
level, more than 96 per cent are allocated to the holy book of Quran and the remaining 4 per cent
to all other holy books. The corresponding proportion in the textbooks of High school level is
more than 92 per cent for Quran and the remaining 8 per cent for all other holy books. Further,
this substantial dominance of the holy book of Quran relative to all other holy books exists in both
‘religious textbooks’ and ‘other textbooks’ of Primary school level. This observation is more
important to be stressed in the ‘religious textbooks’ of Primary school: one the one hand,
interestingly, the title of these textbooks is Hedyehaye Asmani (Holy Gifts). On the other hand,
the word of ‘Quran’ has been frequently mentioned in these textbooks (that is, about 238 times)
and other holy books are almost absent in these textbooks. This casts doubt on the compatibility
between the title and content of these particular textbooks.
Concluding Remarks
The starting point of this study has been Huntington’s (1996) notion arguing that western ethno-
religious minorities in the Islamic states are more discriminated against than Islamic minorities in
western states. While the status of Muslim minorities in the western settings has been almost
substantially studied, there is still little in the existing literature to explore the status of religious
minorities in the Islamic settings. The present study has contributed to filling this research gap.
The field of this study is the Islamic Republic of Iran which holds the world’s largest Shi’a
Muslim population. It is also the home for some religious minorities including Sunnis, Christians,
Jews, and Zoroastrians. This study has revealed how these minorities are represented by the
educational system in this Islamic setting. It is worthwhile restating that educational system has
been recognized as the first official agent of and one of the most powerful engines of socialization
process from childhood and school-ages. More importantly, the educational resources of this
study are the sole school materials throughout the country on which the Islamic authorities have
an absolute influence particularly upon the 1978 Islamic Revolution when the western-oriented
Shah monarchy was replaced by an Islamic regime whose power has been increasingly dominated
across the country including its educational system.
The results of this study have clearly indicated an overwhelming invisibility and under-
representation of the minorities. This suggests that not only the religion of Islam and Shi’a
Muslims (compared to other religious minorities including Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and
Sunnis), but also the main characteristics related to the religion of Islam including Prophet
Mohammad and the Holy book of Quran (relative to other Prophets and Holy books) have been
overwhelmingly more represented in the educational resources. These forms of dominance are
partly understandable in a country in which Muslims and Shiite are markedly its predominant
populations. However, it should be also considered that the magnitude of the invisibility and
under-representation of these minorities is substantially high. For instance, while the religious
textbooks of Primary school are entitled ‘Holy Gifts’ (Hedyehaye Asmani), the holy books other
than Quran are almost invisible and disappeared in these educational resources. These sorts of
overwhelming invisibility, under-representation, imbalance, and incompatibility affect
significantly the democratic process of socialization from childhood.
The effects of such a representation and socialization process through the official mechanisms like
educational institution and whether and how effectively it has been socially perceived are another
story that stand outside of the scope of the present study and have been considered and discussed
in other studies (Foroutan 2021, 2022). Despite whether and how effectively such a representation
and socialization process through the official mechanisms has been accepted by individuals in the
society, two key points cannot be ignored. First, this educational system is an official body of the
Islamic authorities which has an exceptional power and absolute influence throughout the country.
In particular, it deals with audience in childhood and juveniles in school-ages when their identity
and personality are shaping. As a result, whatever they learn from and however they were dealt by
this official mechanism will more or less remain with them and will somehow affect their
knowledge and behavior for the rest of their life in future. Second, the focus on such an official
mechanism provides a good opportunity for us in order to unlock and to shed further lights on the
official reading and interpretation of the authorities about the issues under study which is here the
issue of minorities’ visibility. Accordingly, the results of such studies also reveal that how
minorities have been perceived by the states and authorities. This particularly applies to the states
like the Islamic setting of the present study that have an absolute power and entire influence over
such representation and socialization mechanisms as educational institution throughout the
country.
In conclusion, it is acknowledged that since the field of this study is a Muslim-majority and Shi’a-
dominated country, the general patterns explored in this study confirming the dominance of the
religion of Islam (compared to other religions including Christianity, Judaism as well as
Zoroastrians, etc.), the dominance of the Islamic Prophet of Mohammad (compared to other
Prophets including the Prophets Abraham, Jesus, Moses, Nuh or Noah, etc.), the dominance of the
Islamic Holy book of Quran (compared to other holy books including the holy books of Bible,
Injil, Torah, etc.), and the dominance of the Islamic sect of Shi’a (compared to other major
Islamic sect of Sunni) can be expected as normal patterns and a matter of no surprise. Moreover,
such a dominance of the majorities’ ideology and power relations has been documented in the
prior studies termed as ‘eloquent silence of ideology’ (Eaglenton 1976), ‘imagined communities’
(Anderson 1991), the ‘political hand of state textbook-adoption policies’ (Apple 1992), and
‘ideological bombardment’ (Arnot 2002, Foroutan 2021). However, the vitally important point to
be taken into account here is the magnitude of the majorities’ presence and dominance, as
compared to the others (i.e. minorities): the minorities are almost invisible as observed in this
analysis and discussed in this paper. This substantially high magnitude of invisibility and
overwhelming under-representation of minorities damages significantly the nation’s appropriate
socialization process from childhood.
As a result, such an inappropriate experience of childhood can also harm considerably their
attitudes and behaviors on the acceptance and tolerance of school-ages children towards
minorities while they grown up enough in their adulthood throughout life span. These are the
main reasons why minorities irrespective of their number and population size are also expected to
be properly treated and visibly represented through socialization mechanisms particularly
educational resources from childhood. This particularly applies to countries such as the
contemporary Iran due to their specific demographics including a substantially increasing
proportion of children and younger populations (Foroutan 2019, 2022) whose potential aspirations
for modernity are fuelled by the wide-spreading access to the global modern communications
technologies and social media of the contemporary world. In sum, the research findings of this
study focusing on educational resources identified not only as ‘opportunity’ and ‘reform’ but also
as ‘a tool of democracy’ (UNESCO 2004) emphasize the underlying conclusion that this Islamic
setting still has a long way to go in order to meet democratically the ethno-religious minorities’
representation and visibility from a socio-demographic perspective.
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