Alkanadi:

Uh yes. The Ayatollah is Shia and Iran is a Shia state.

"Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran called on Muslims to learn Esperanto... it began to be used in the seminaries of Qom. An Esperanto translation of the Qur'an was published by the state shortly thereafter."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

????? Let me guess the Pope's Catholic and the Vatican's a catholic statelet right? I never disputed that the Ayatollah's (A religious rank that exists only in Shia Islam) and the majority of Iranians are Shia, but even if I did how on earth is that an appropriate response. Are you saying that Iranians being Shia means they're more willing to reverse there policies because Zamenhoff was Jewish? Or did you think I was saying Iran is a majority Bahai nation? Most sources on Iranian Esperanto history I've seen place the start of Esperanto popularity in the 1970's which was before the Iranian revolution of 1979. Indeed having look into it some more I've found some Iranians stating the very early pro Esperanto line of Khomeini to be regarded as a myth since they've not actually been able to find the Iranian translation of the Quran or copies of Esperanto translations of his speeches. I'm sure it happened given how many times I've seen it cited but the lack of physical copies and impact suggests Khomeini had little to do with its popularity in Iran.

The Iranian state soon distanced itself from Esepranto because the Bahai's were pushing the language quite strongly, probably because Zamenhoff's own daughter was a convert.

Here's an Iranians overview of Esperanto in Iran.

RhysH:I never disputed that the Ayatollah's... and the majority of Iranians are Shia, but... how on earth is that an appropriate response.

You said that the popularity of Esperanto is because of the Bahai. I wanted to be extra clear that it was also because of the Shia sect.

Not everyone knows that Iran is a Shia state. In fact, I think most people can't even distinguish between Iraq and Iran. Most people don't even know the differences between Shia, Sunni, Sufi, Ahmadiyya, Qurani, Alawites, Ismailis, Deaboni, ect...

I saw a tv show where people thought Australia was Iran. Not everyone is this ignorant but most people just don't care to know.

To clarify my statement (which may be inaccurate), the popularity of Esperanto in Iran is more because of the Shia sect than the Bahai sect.

Thanks for the link.

RhysH:Why on earth would you think the Iranian regime would base its policies on a long dead Jew from the Russian Empire?

This information is a from a link you provided for me:

"Iranian authorities realized that the language was favored by Baha'is, and that they also may have disliked Esperanto's possible links to Judaism..."
https://www.reddit.com/r/iranian/comments/3qkr0l/e...

It appears that they are bases there policies on a long dead man and his family from the Russian empire. This is the link that you sent me.

Don't take it personal. The onus is on my to provide proof for what I say because I am the one making the statement. So I am just backing up my opinion.

I can be wrong. I am not a historian. I am simply regurgitating the mainstream narrative.

Alkanadi:Not everyone knows that Iran is a Shia state. In fact, I think most people can't even distinguish between Iraq and Iran. Most people don't even know the differences between Shia, Sunni, Sufi, Ahmadiyya, Qurani, Alawites, Ismailis, Deaboni, ect...

I saw a tv show where people thought Australia was Iran. Not everyone is this ignorant but most people just don't care to know.

Where was this group of "most people"? I've never met anyone who doesn't distinguish between Iran and Iraq.

The different sects is another matter, but I don't see why non-muslims ought to know about those. I doubt Iranian schoolchildren and the general populace are taught about the detailed habits of Baptists, Anabaptists and Methodists.

Alkanadi:You said that the popularity of Esperanto is because of the Bahai. I wanted to be extra clear that it was also because of the Shia sect.

The popularity of Esperanto has nothing whatsoever to do with Shia Islam. I'm not sure why you would make that statement.

If the Ayatollah says that eating oranges is healthy, does that mean that Shia Islam has a special connection with oranges, and that any popularity of oranges is due to Shia Islam being the main religion in the place? That would be absurd.

Furthermore I've seen no proof whatsoever that there was ever support for Esperanto from the Iranian government or religious establishment, and even if this were the case, it would still have zero influence today on whether Iranians of today would choose to learn it (most of whom are hardly hanging on the ayatollahs' every word, particularly the educated urbanites who tend to be the Esperanto speakers). There is this persistent mythology in Esperanto, that such and such famous person supported or opposed Esperanto. 90% of the time such stories have only the weakest of historical basis and are based on a vague statement of support or lack thereof, or else they are totally apocryphal.

One ought not to report such stories as fact. Not everything you read on the internet is true, these "too good to be true" things should be taken only with a huge grain of salt, unless you have actually seen the historical documents. It's more than likely that use of Esperanto in the academies of Qom is either a complete fabrication, or with a weak basis (like someone once heard that one theological student at Qom was learning Esperanto, and this could have morphed to a story far out of proportion with the truth).

Esperanto has also been used on Capitol Hill at the US Congress and in the US Library of Congress so Esperanto must be receiving so much government support in the USA and that must be where the US Esperanto movement comes from!!!! (but the truth is, there were Esperantist tours of these places during the 2010 LK in Washington DC, so while the bare fact of my story was true regarding use of the language, the conclusions based on that were absurdly misleading)

erinja:The popularity of Esperanto has nothing whatsoever to do with Shia Islam. I'm not sure why you would make that statement.

We were talking about Iran. Not the whole world.

erinja:One ought not to report such stories as fact.

If you have a wikipedia account then I suggest you correct this text so that more people don't get the wrong idea about Esperanto in Iran:

"Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran called on Muslims to learn Esperanto... it began to be used in the seminaries of Qom. An Esperanto translation of the Qur'an was published by the state shortly thereafter."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

I have no interest in correcting random Wikipedia articles and I do not know the truth of the statement one way or the other (however, the only remotely scholarly sources I've seen that have included this assertion have included a statement like "It is said that...", indicating that they also do not have a firm source for it, and that it's only hearsay). But you would have to be a fool to believe everything you read on Wikipedia. You're going to see a LOT of these kinds of anecdotes in Esperanto and it would be naive to believe them and spread them around without seeing an actual historical source, just as it would be naive to go around telling everyone that Esperanto has 2 million speakers, just because this number is plastered all over the internet, particularly if you have not read the original study on which this number has been based (spoiler: no one has, it has seemingly been lost to the mists of time).

And I would actually talk to some Iranian Esperanto speakers about their community before you go splashing all kinds of statements around about why Iranians do or don't learn Esperanto. Otherwise you're just spreading misinformation, which is the very last thing we need in Esperanto right now. I recommend "Esperanto sen mitoj", which discusses many of these kinds of persistent myths in the Esperanto world.

erinja:I have no interest in correcting random Wikipedia articles...

This is the number 1 website that comes up when you search google for the word "Esperanto".

It is also the main wikipedia page on Esperanto.

Therefore, it isn't random and I thought you would be interested in correcting the information because you are concerned about misinformation.

It's a finger in the dyke, I can't possibly go correcting all misinformation on the internet, not enough hours in the day. I haven't the time or the energy to go around correcting everyone who is wrong on the internet.

However, since you suggested it, I invite you to go and change this entry yourself. Should be simple for an internet-savvy person such as yourself to put a "needs citation" marker on that fact in the document. Or else you can continue to go along quoting random "facts" that were posted on Wikipedia without any sort of reliable citation, drawing all kinds of conclusions based on these "facts" whose reliability is in extreme doubt.

My main point is that you shouldn't believe everything you read online, and go quoting it in internet forums as if it were fact, particularly when it deals with a topic that you have little or no experience with (such as the Esperanto movement in Iran). It's like a too-good-to-be-true news article that you see on someone's Facebook feed. You need to check it out to see if it's accurate before blindly reposting it.