The Introduction situates the book in its historical time and place and establishes the framework for the chapters that follow. It explains the focus on the period from 1891 to 1911 and shows how debates about the Iranian nation entered public discourse more prominently during and after the Tobacco Movement. The book examines four non-Muslim communities in Iran – Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Babis/Bahaʾis/Azalis – and provides a brief overview of their historical presence in the country. The Introduction also analyzes the various names and labels applied to non-Muslim individuals and communities during this period, as well as the meanings and assumptions embedded in these terms. A historiographical section reviews the existing scholarship on the subject before outlining the theoretical approaches that inform the study. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Henri Lefebvre, Giorgio Agamben, and James C. Scott, the Introduction briefly presents key concepts used throughout the book, including discipline and punishment, heterotopia, the production of social space, homo sacer, the state of exception, and shatter zones.