Sunday, December 31, 2006

"Precursors

Because we commonly and mistakenly think of feminism as a Western idea and activity, I wanted to briefly tell the story of a nineteenth-century woman who lived at the dawn of modern feminism.

As a child, I learnt the tale of the Persian poet, feminist and martyr Tahirih who proclaimed "you can kill me as soon as you like but you cannot stop the emancipation of women." The daughter of a Muslim mujtahid Tahirih was born Fatimih Baraghani in the Persian city of Qazvin and originally better known as Qurratu'l-'Ayn, meaning "Solace of the Eyes". Famous for her beauty, intelligence, poetry, allegiance to a messianic revolutionary movement and women's rights activism, Tahirih's most celebrated moment occurred on a fateful day in 1848 at a conference in Badasht. As the story goes she tore off her face-veil, appeared in front of a group of men, and announced that she was the trumpet blast for the dawn of a new age signalling equality for men and women. Stunned by both her beauty and the fact that she had appeared in public with her face unveiled, one man slit his throat in horror. Eventually in 1852, Tahirih was strangled to death for her cause. (3)"

Extracted from Dervish's article about Feminists Movements in Islam.

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3:37 am