In this paper, A. Pistor-Hatam will show that although from the very beginning (C19th), the new religious movements of the Bābīs and later the Bahāʾīs in Iran were rejected and opposed by Shiite clerics in particular, there still exist(ed) instances of tolerance according to the disapproval-respect model of tolerance. Since both beliefs are considered to be outside the range of permissible and therefore tolerated 'deviations', many clerics react(ed) with disgust and rejection to such 'blasphemy'. Consequently, the persecution of Bābīs and Bahāʾīs has accompanied their history in Iran ever since. Yet, from the beginning of these new religious movements to the present, individual Shiite scholars in Iran have tamed their disapproval of the non-permissible religious other by respect for the believer, the fellow constitutionalist or the compatriote.