It is a well-known fact that Arabs have been provoked by anti-Arab phrases written or hanged on Iranian shop fronts before, but it is surprising to see a shop in the northeastern city Mashhad, where Arab visitors from the Gulf flock to visit the shrine of Imam Reza the 8th, a Shi'ite imam, being distorted by racism.

Social media users have shared a photo of a shop sign written in Persian, Arabic and English hanging on the front of a food store reading: “Arabians not allowed”.

It is a known fact that Sunni and Gulf Arabs do not visit the city of Mashhad and that the absolute majority of Arabs visiting the city, which is located in northeastern Iran, are Arab, Gulf, Iraqi and Lebanese Shiites, which shows anti-Arab sentiment regardless of doctrine.

The Iranian anti-racism activist Mohsen Rasooli shared the picture from the page of Arab activist Abdul Karim Dahimi. One social media user wrote: “Why do we allow ourselves to write things like this? Even though we have a history and a civilization that goes back 2500 years ago we still allow ourselves to be affected by the atmosphere,” alluding to the atmosphere of racism that has strongly spread among some circles.

Al Arabiya had previously shed light on poems, songs and anti-Arab banners, including a sign at the door of an ophthalmologist apologizing for not accepting Arab patients, and a poem by a well-known Iranian poet which describes Arabs with ugly and offensive characterization as well as an anti-Arab rap song called "Kill Arabs".

Iranian thinker and Professor Sadiq Ziba kal asserts: “I think that many of us, whether religious or secular, hate Arabs, unfortunately many of us are racists,” adding “If you look at other cultures and how they behave towards other nationalities, you will find that we abuse and ridicule others, mainly Turks and Arabs.”

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:49 - GMT 06:49