Quite a few people have been commenting on the proposal of the Iranian government that Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians in Iran wear special badges (stripes) of yellow, red, and blue, respectively, to indicate their faiths.
This is not a new custom. Here’s a snippet from R. F. Burton’s translation of “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni” from The Thousand Nights and a Night:
“The Fisherman looked into the water and was much astonished to see therein vari-coloured fishes, white and red, blue and yellow…
It is later revealed that the fish are ensorcelled people: the white fish Muslims, the others Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians.
…and the citizens, who were of four different faiths, Moslem, Nazarene, Jew and Magian, she transformed by her enchantments into fishes; the Moslems are the white, the Magians [ed. Zoroastrians] red, the Christians blue, and the Jews yellow.
In the footnote Burton observes:
Lane finds a date for the book in this passage. The Soldan of Egypt, Mohammed ibn Kala’ún, in the early eight century (Hijrah = our fourteenth), issued a sumptuary law compelling Christians and Jews to wear indigo-blue and saffron-yellow turbans, the white being reserved for Muslims. But the custom was much older and Mandeville describes it in A.D. 1322 when it had become the rule. And it still endures; although abolished in the cities it is the rule for Christians, at least in the country parts of Egypt and Syria.
UPDATE: At this point there is no independent corroboration for the story, the original author of the story in the Canadian National Post seems to be retreating from it, and it is most likely untrue.
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The entirely fictional proposal mate, although it obviously made great agitprop to build the “Iranians are Nazis” snow job for the Americans. See http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6626a0fa-99de-4f1e-aebe-bb91af82abb3
Again, see me post about Blogs, jumping to conclusions and writing about countries one doesn’t know….
Let me also refer you to a somewhat more substantial AP report reproduced in Forbes
Note that I took no position on the truth or falsity of the proposal nor even on whether it was a good or bad thing. My comment was strictly limited to the pre-20th century historic precedents. Actually, I thought the reaction from (mostly the Right) blogosphere was rather overblown.
Yes, Dave, but I think (i) it would behoove you to note that this is a pure fabrication – your current phrasing accepts it as factual, (ii) the ‘custom’ is hardly universal over the Islamic world, nor over time.
The reaction among the American Right Islamophobe sphere is no surprise. They specialise in over-blown exagerated and ill-informed ideologically driven whanking. It’s why I made up my little phrase “Right Bolsheviks.”
Fair enough.
Further to the issue, I believe that this post, True Lies?, adequately documents “appears to be untrue” is an understatement. Perhaps you might consider revising?
Updating you again the story has been declared untrue by the Canadian paper.