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Papers by Anja Prof. Dr. Pistor-Hatam

Gyselen, Rika und Maria Szuppe (Hrsg.): Matériaux pour l'histoire économique du monde iranien, Paris , 1999

Ann Lambton Memorial Lecture Durham Middle East Papers No. 105 ISSN 1476-4830 March 2021, 2021

Historiography matters, because we deal with the past using the tools established by the science... more Historiography matters, because we deal with the past using the
tools established by the science of history. Like any other science,
historiography must always remain open to criticism and new insights. Research cannot do without the critical questioning of
its results and facts in search of al-ternative interpretations and
new insights.
Historical narratives on the Mongol period written in Iran
in a time span of nearly 80 years, including the Pahlavi era as
well as the Islamic Republic, are an interesting case study. The
more so since this period had been neglected in Iran for quite a
while. Due to the establishment of an Iranian national history
in the 1930s, the Mongol era had to be given attention and it
had to be integrated into a new historical narrative. Using two
Iranian authors of different periods – Abbas Eqbâl (1897-1956)
and Rasûl Dja’fariyân (born 1964) – this paper will analyse how
historiography on the Mongol period began under Reza Shah and
how its narrative strands continue well into the period of Islamic
Republic.

Zeitschrift für Recht und Islam/Journal for Law and Islam , 2017

According to article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born f... more According to article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Considering the equality of human rights and human dignity, the declaration expresses a universal claim valid for all human beings, regardless of their origin, sex, religion or conviction. As the Universal Declaration’s entitlement to universal validity has been contested since it was first announced – by Muslim individuals, organisations and states among others –, Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers have long been discussing if its prerogatives are compatible with Islam, i.e. the sharia. Some of them consider the concept of human dignity a chance for a consensus in the human rights debate, hoping that it “might facilitate a critical mediation between the normative requirements of human rights on the one hand and various religious or cultural traditions on the other” (Heiner Bielefeldt).
In this paper we show that as far as the debate of high ranking religious scholars in the Islamic Republic of Iran is concerned, an “overlapping consensus” (John Rawls) between the concept of human dignity as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the idea of human dignity as defined by Shiite scholars in Iran is not achievable. “Dignity” is translated into Persian (and Arabic) as karāmat, a qur’anic term implying a sense of honour that is not compatible with the secular understanding of dignity as the essential equality of all human beings. Additionally, Shiite scholars declare dignity to be directly connected to piety, which, again, is considered an individual, personal merit. An even greater deviation from the concept of “dignity” as propagated in the Declaration of Human Rights is the Iranian Shiite scholars’ belief that the inborn, and in this case God-given, dignity can be forfeited if a person does not fulfill his/her religious obligations.

Krüger, Thomas et al (Hrsg.): Sprachen – Bilder – Klänge: Dimensionen der Theologie im Alten Testament und in seinem Umfeld. Festschrift für Rüdiger Bartelmus, 2009

Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 1999

Conermann, Stephan und Anja Pistor-Hatam (Hrsg.): Die Mamluken. Studien zu ihrer Kultur und Geschichte. Zum Gedenken an Ulrich Haarmann, Schenefeld , 2003

Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes , 1999

Religious Minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the 'Rights to have Rights', 2019

In this article, I will pursue the issue of what Hannah Arendt's claim for the 'right to have rig... more In this article, I will pursue the issue of what Hannah Arendt's claim for the 'right to have rights' means regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran and its most endangered religious minority, the Baha'is.

Taking negative hermeneutics as an analytical frame, this article focuses on the way religious mi... more Taking negative hermeneutics as an analytical frame, this article focuses on the way religious minorities are created in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Referring to the Qur'an, Khomeini's utterances and the constitution, religious scholars and political scientists demonstrate their lack of understanding or purposeful misunderstanding of the quest for dignity made by members of those minorities. Instead, the authors under review refer to the status of the "protected minorities" as defined by Islam and allude to their obligations with regard to the Muslim majority. The official discourse in Iran depends on political imperatives and quite easily adapts to changing political contexts. Consequently, the Baha'i Faith can be treated as an organisation created by imperialists in order to destroy Islam, the Muslim world and Iran respectively. And at the same time, Baha'is can be considered apostates who want to destroy Shiite Islam from within in analogy to Zionism that is accused of destroying Judaism. In addition, conspiracy theories are quite helpful when it comes to misunderstanding and incomprehension.

Books by Anja Prof. Dr. Pistor-Hatam

Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2021

The Islamic Republic of Iran is bound by the customary content of the Universal Declaration of Hu... more The Islamic Republic of Iran is bound by the customary content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Iran's constitution, however, equality rights apply only to Muslims. Also, protection under the law in the constitution is granted to citizens of the Islamic Republic only within the framework of the Twelver Shiite interpretation of Islamic law. Accordingly, there are different rights for different people depending on their gender and religious affiliation. How universal human rights are discussed and dealt with in Iran on this basis is the subject of the contributions to this anthology.
Content:
Anja Pistor-Hatam:
Einleitung/Introduction /
Kerstin von der Decken:
Völkerrechtliche Bindungen des Iran an die Menschenrechte: UN-Menschenrechts-verträge, universelles Völkergewohnheitsrecht und OIC-Menschenrechtsdokumente /
Arash Sarkohi:
Islamischer Menschenrechtsdiskurs in Iran - Chance oder Widerspruch /
Constance Arminjon Hachem:
Human Rights in Twelver Shiite Islam: Iranian Clerics' Debate on Two Legal Traditions /
Ladan Rahbari:
Violence Against Women in Contemporary Iran: Between State, Society and Domestic Sphere /
Arash Guitoo:
Sexuelle Minderheiten in der Islamischen Republik Iran /
Christopher Buck:
The "Baha'i Question" in Iran: Influence of International Law on "Islamic Law" /
Anja Pistor-Hatam:
"Human Dignity/karâmat": On the Question of a Possible Consensus in the Human Rights Debate through the Example of the Islamic Republic of Iran /
Anja Pistor-Hatam:
Freedom of Religion in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the "Right to Have Rights" /
Mohsen Kadivar:
Plädoyer für die Abschaffung der Bestrafung von Apostasie im Islam

Nachrichtenblatt, Informationsbörse und Diskussionsforum: Akhtar-e Estanbul (1876-1896) - Anstöße zur frühen persischen Moderne, 1999

The transition to modernity brought about far-reaching political, economic, social, philosophical... more The transition to modernity brought about far-reaching political, economic, social, philosophical and ideological changes in non-European societies. While the governments of Iran and the Ottoman Empire and their respective statesmen as well as other intellectuals primarily propagated and partly implemented reforms from above, members of other social strata sought their own answers to the new challenges. In Iran, these were mainly merchants who were involved in the public welfare of the country on the one hand and maintained trade relations with other countries on the other. Members of the Persian trade diaspora based in Istanbul established the newspaper 'Akhtar' as both an medium for information exchange and as a forum for discussion where questions related to 'progress' and 'civilisation' were examined.

Geschichtsschreibung und Sinngeschichte in Iran. Historische Erzählungen von mongolischer Eroberung und Herrschaft, 1933-2011, 2014

The thirteenth-century Mongol invasions and their aftermath are largely considered as traumatic a... more The thirteenth-century Mongol invasions and their aftermath are largely considered as traumatic and even regarded as genocide by many Iranians. This is seen in the many texts on the subject published during the Pahlavi era and the Islamic Republic. In this book, a close look is taken at these historical narratives and the meanings their authors give to the central events of this period. Pistor-Hatam explains how Iranian authors use fictions of coherence to construct their national identity as well as reassure themselves that there could never again be a power capable of destroying Iran.