Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran

by Nina Ansary

  A NEW DAWN

  Throughout Zanan’s years in operation, Shahla Sherkat managed it with a small staff, mostly women, who labored tirelessly under extremely modest conditions in order to expose the oppression of women under the Islamic regime.8 As the country’s most popular and influential women’s journal, with an approximate circulation of 40,000 per month, Zanan signified a new dawn through its fearless coverage of forbidden topics and its brazen, alternative analysis—a much-needed antidote to the prevailing mind-set.9 Zanan made an indelible impression at home and abroad as its articles and editorials boldly traversed uncharted territory with a calculated, cutting-edge philosophy and the participation of a diverse group of contributing writers.10 Its credibility and influence among women was unprecedented, specifically when its endorsement and coverage of Khatami’s bid for the presidency were credited with mobilizing the support of this constituency for the reformist candidate.11

  Passionate, inspiring editorials written by an array of enlightened intellectuals filled the pages of Sherkat’s magazine, communicating the harsh realities of everyday life for Iranian women. Coverage of reformist politicians, women’s rights activists, and renowned Western feminists was both innovative and stylish. The journal’s “roundtable” deliberations on women’s issues provided a comprehensive road map for women handicapped by societal constraints.

  Under the astute leadership of its award-winning editor in chief, Zanan was distinguished as a “major voice of reform,” “challenging the foundations of the dominant forms of Shi‘ite jurisprudence” by demonstrating the multiple ambiguities in Koranic verses.12 Afsaneh Najmabadi, Professor of History and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University, contended that, “At the center of Zanan’s revisionist approach is a radical decentering of the clergy from the domain of interpretation … which challenges the foundational concept [of] deference to the rulership of the … velayat-e faqih [guardianship of the jurist].”13

  Zanan’s deliberate departure from the status quo has been widely applauded for inaugurating a “new chapter,” influencing “the evolution of ideas … and the progression toward a Sharia-based feminist discourse.”14 In communicating with her readers, Sherkat employed a diversified approach to her magazine, in which unorthodox opinions suggested the fluidity of women’s prerogatives in Islam. Her broadminded journalistic style was reinforced by a group of progressive clerics and intellectual dissidents, who “called for modern interpretations of classical traditions.”15

  In an assessment of all 152 issues of Zanan (from February 1992 to January 2008), the magazine’s penchant for confronting the disturbing and controversial realities facing Iranian women is immediately apparent. The publication’s front-page features, part of Zanan’s enduring legacy, include the following articles on these important topics:

  ♦Domestic violence

  ▸“Sir, Have You Ever Physically Assaulted Your Wife?”

  ▸“The Beating of a Woman Is One of the Areas of a Man’s Authority”

  ♦Gender discrimination

  ▸“Female Students behind Invisible Fences”

  ▸“Why Don’t Women Get Paid as Much as Men?”

  ▸“Women’s Issues Do Not Have Priority”

  ▸“Once Again—Limitations on Young Women Entering Universities”

  ♦Biases found in the Islamic Constitution

  ▸“Article 1133 of the Constitution: A Man Can Divorce His Wife Anytime He Wants”

  ♦Patriarchal laws

  ▸“Man: Partner or Boss?”16

  Provocative features also focused on such taboo subjects as “The Arrival of the New IUD” and “This Is Forbidden Love Street,” which dealt with the state’s infringement on the natural sexual desires of adolescent boys and girls.17

  Zanan’s monthly “roundtable” discussions provided insightful discussions by men and women from various intellectual fields on relevant topics, including “What Are the Most Important Issues Facing Women?” Their dialogue on such issues as “the necessity for women to develop themselves in all areas,” “the division of labor in the household” and “the state’s exaggeration of the importance of motherhood”18 provided a multidimensional overview of prevailing inequalities.

  Appearing in the magazine as well were numerous translated features on parenting and childrearing practices in Western nations, celebrating the virtues of the career-oriented wife and mother while chronicling the physical and emotional ramifications of confinement to the domestic sphere. Articles such as “Working Mothers and Feelings of Guilt,” “We Should Not Be Slaves to Our Children,” “Do I Have the Right to Enjoy My Job?” and “Mother, Why Do You Work?” exposed the personal and professional benefits of working women and the “normal” feelings of separation anxiety associated with this lifestyle.19

  The following excerpts from Zanan articles dealing with the challenge of balancing family and work enumerate the merits of finding fulfillment outside of the household and the importance of communicating this message to one’s children:

  ♦Do you always feel that all your time is at the service of your children and that you neglect yourself most of the time? Just because you are a mother does not mean that you have to sacrifice your entire life.… Your child needs to slowly take other matters into consideration, to be respectful towards your feelings and your right to accomplish what you want.20

  ♦For every moment that I feel good about my career, I have moments where I feel guilty.… But, in fact, the time that I spend at work provides me with the strength to perform household work. If I were to spend all of my time with my children, I would not appreciate them as much.21

  ♦The children of working mothers are more successful in the community as well as in group work. They are also better students in school.22

  ♦Your conversations about your profession with your children will help them feel proud of a mother who works. The working woman can be a role model for her child, in that she takes pleasure from both her family and her job.23

  Such articles originating from the West advocated the notion of personal fulfillment and were emblematic of a deliberate attempt to counter the antiquated gender ideology of the reigning conservative leadership.

  Zanan also featured the writing of internationally recognized Western feminists—a defiant and audacious undertaking for a publication in a post-revolutionary climate. In presenting her readers with a collection of translated feminist writing, bringing to their attention the powerful voices of historically disempowered women in Western nations, Sherkat connected Iranian women to a liberation movement that stood in stark contrast to the Islamic Republic’s ideology.

  Excerpts from Western feminist classics that poignantly articulated women’s struggles in Europe and the United States in many ways echoed the predicament of women in post-revolutionary Iran. Among the revered writers whose work was featured in Zanan:

  ♦British novelist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), whose A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) disclosed the manner in which “religion” and “the language of men” have devalued women and deprived them of their “natural prerogatives in life.” Wollstonecraft addressed the “pernicious effects arising from unnatural distinctions established in societies,” and how “man” has manipulated the system in order to impose “an unconditional obedience,” reducing a woman to “a slave in every situation.”

  ♦American novelist Kate Chopin (1851–1904), whose short story “The Story of an Hour,” published in 1894, covers one hour in the life of Louise Millard, who appears to be in a distressed state upon hearing the news of her husband’s sudden death. The reader learns, however, that Louise is in fact invigorated at the thought of regaining her freedom: “FREE, FREE, FREE! …” Her euphoric episode is short-lived, as she abruptly has a heart attack and dies upon being informed that Mr. Millard is in fact sill alive. The story of this despondent housewife held captive by social norms symbolizes that the only way for a woman to hold on to her newly-found freedom
would be through death.

  ♦British novelist Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), whose acclaimed 1929 essay, “A Room of One’s Own,” included her bold declaration: “Lock up your libraries if you like, but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of the mind.”

  ♦American feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860– 1935), who wrote The Home (1903), The Man-Made World: Or, Our Androcentric Culture (1911) and Herland (1915) as a response to the male-centered ideology of divine scriptures, declaring that there is “no female mind, as the brain is not an organ of sex.” Perkins advanced the notion that “a normal feminine influence in recasting religious assumptions will do more than any other thing to improve the world.”

  ♦French feminist and author Simone de Beauvoir (1908– 1986), whose revolutionary treatise The Second Sex (1949) significantly contributed to feminist rhetoric by challenging a woman’s “assigned” role as “the second sex.” Critical to her argument is her infamous adage, “One is not born, but rather becomes, woman” (On ne naît pas femme, on le devient). The author contends that women have the ability to destroy the fabricated social distinctions between the sexes: “When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy it implies, then the ‘division’ of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form.”

  ♦American writer Judy Syfers, whose essay “Why I Want a Wife” appeared in the inaugural issue of Ms. magazine in 1972.24 In her sarcastic monologue, Syfers enumerates the enormous benefits of being a married man: “It suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife? I would like to go back to school, so that I can become economically independent, and support myself.… And while I am going to school, I want a wife to take care of my children.… I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs.… I want a wife who cooks the meals.… I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints.… I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs.… My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” With her sardonic wit, Syfers shrewdly communicates the slave-like existence of the average American housewife and mother.

  ♦African American author Alice Walker, whose In Search of Our Mother’s Garden (1983), a collection of thirty-six essays, presents a gripping portrayal of survival and women’s solidarity amidst unimaginable injustice—the degrading, inhumane treatment of the enslaved woman and the multiple burdens of racial and gender oppression.

  These and countless other feminist articles, excerpts, and essays published in Zanan revealed a forbidden ideology and language in which “prescribed social roles based on biological identity are replaced by representations of ‘real’ women as they actually are or can be.”25 For a generation deprived of access to many facets of Western culture, these published accounts by Western women revealed the universality of women’s struggle to overcome male dominance.

  It is also quite likely that Zanan played a significant role in the social awareness and identity formation of its younger readers.26 Social psychologists have long confirmed that adolescents often acquire the ideals of womanhood from a variety of women’s publications. Beauty and fashion magazines are implicated for propagating an unrealistic feminine ideal during a vulnerable phase when young women may be conflicted by contradictory information concerning their role as women in society.27 However, the opposite can also be argued; that is, the messages conveyed by more serious women’s publications, such as Zanan, may have the ability to diminish the impact of “unhealthy societal messages.”28 Mary Pipher, clinical psychologist and bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia, validates that exposure to strong female role models in cultures where women are expected to “sacrifice” and “relinquish” their “true selves” can profoundly alleviate many of the anxieties associated with a subordinate existence.29 Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development attests to this as well. He emphasizes the value of acquired knowledge in the development of “morally autonomous” individuals and the formation of their capacity to emerge as agents of social change in societies that devalue and degrade freedom.30

  Adolescent girls (and women) were introduced to the “voices, visions, and lived experiences” of women through articles in Zanan that chronicled female oppression, and such content was potentially a potent means of consciousness-raising. Just as we learned of the liberating impact of single-sex education on female adolescents, the ideas expressed in Zanan can be considered an empowering influence as well. The magazine’s pervasive feminist content has likely been part of the socialization journey of countless adolescent females in Iran. By presenting articles to a generation of women fascinated by Western culture, yet for the most part deprived of access to it due to censorship, Zanan has introduced its readers to a prohibited ideology of enhanced freedom and infinite possibilities.

  In publishing the writings of esteemed female authors, Zanan highlighted in a poignant and powerful way the common concerns of Western and Iranian women. Given Iran’s extremely youthful population, this powerful and credible discourse in the nation’s foremost women’s publication has most likely had an extraordinary impact over a period of nearly two decades.

  Having been exposed to feminist articles and literary excerpts in Zanan, young Iranian women raised in an intolerant environment had the opportunity to engage in a powerful learning experience through which they might understand the similarities between their own struggles and those of women from other cultures. Introduced to the experiences, challenges, thoughts, and opinions of renowned female writers from Europe and the United States, they were exposed to an illuminating and liberating gender ideology.

  First issue of Zanan Magazine, February 1992.

  Zanan Magazine endorses Mahmoud Khatami’s presidential bid.

  One of Zanan’s infamous cover photos.

  Another of Zanan’s infamous cover photos.

  IS ISLAM OPEN TO RE-INTERPRETATION?

  Zanan magazine had a major role in advancing a new interpretation of Islam—one that eschewed patriarchal and misogynistic beliefs. Laying the foundation for this liberating theological perspective were a number of influential thinkers.

  Abdolkarim Soroush, Hujat ul-Islam Muhammad Shabestari, Seyyed Mohsen Saidzadeh, and Hujat ul-Islam Mohsen Kadivar were among the architects of theological theory expressing “equality and empowerment in Islam’s true spirit.”31 These and other individuals, referred to as “neo-religious thinkers” (no-andishan-e dini), elucidate a more tolerant and liberal Islam by arguing “that the Qur’an and hadith are part of divine and eternal religion,” and therefore “the interpretation of these texts is a matter of human and religious knowledge and is thus open to debate.”32

  Abdolkarim Soroush, a professor and nonclerical religious intellectual, who was chosen by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, is possibly the leading “intellectual force behind the Islamic Republic’s pro-democracy movement.”33 Drawing from both Western and Islamic sources, Soroush laid the foundations for “Islamic pluralism” by challenging Ayatollah Khomeini’s concept of the guardianship of the jurist. One of the leading ideologues of the Islamic Republic, he was one of the original seven members of the Council for Cultural Revolution assigned to Islamize all universities in the aftermath of the revolution.34

  Soroush, born Hossein Dabbagh in 1945, was raised in a religious household and pursued higher education in both Iran and England, where he studied the history and philosophy of science after earning degrees in pharmacology and analytical chemistry.35

  In his monthly publication Kiyan (1991), Soroush began to revise and reinterpret Islamic theology, based on his extensive knowledge of philosophers such as Hegel and Fromm, without sacrificing the essence and sanctity of divine principles.36 Greatly admired by women and youth, Soroush’s argument that “our comprehension of religion is scientifically, socially, and culturally constructed, and hence open to interpretation,” supports a rapprochem
ent between Islam and democracy, and accordingly facilitates the disclosure of feminist ideals in religious dogma.37

  In a 2000 interview with Zanan, Soroush articulated his belief that “God manifests himself in each historical period according to the understanding of the people of the era,” and thus justified Islam’s harmony with modern conceptions of scientific knowledge, human rights, and democracy.38 Anthropologist and author Ziba Mir-Hosseini confirms that “Soroush’s approach to sacred texts has not only enabled women in Zanan to frame their demands within an Islamic framework, but also encouraged clerics for whom gender has become a ‘problem’ to address it from within a ‘fiq‘h’ framework.”39

  Like many of his progressive-minded counterparts, Abdolkarim Soroush eventually fell victim to the tide of conservative backlash. His liberal sermons were often disrupted, and he was persistently harassed and eventually forbidden to teach. Since 2000, he has continued his new age discourse as a visiting scholar and lecturer at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, where he remains an icon of enlightened religious theory.40

  High-ranking Shiite clerics Mohsen Kadivar and Hujat ul-Islam Muhammad Shabestari undertook paths similar to that of Soroush and disputed the absolute authority of the clerical establishment. In a 2008 interview in the German online publication for dialogue with the Muslim world, Qantara, Shabestari stated that “Islam is a religion in every sense, not a political agenda.… The first priority for the Islamic world today is that it should become aware of the present state of humanity.”41

  In 2004, Mohsen Kadivar, the brother of former parliament member Jamileh Kadivar and brother-in-law of politician Ata‘ollah Mohajerani, declared: