(A series brought to you by Feminist Global Resistance)
The Series:
Patriarchy ensures that male (almost exclusively white colonizer) history is remembered though a few women shine through or are given a twisted footnote.
More often, women are relegated to lost tomes and forgotten lore. Some shine through in song and tales while others, more recently, are beginning to have their stories told (progress?)
Throughout history, women around the world have stood to fight patriarchy, some winning, some losing, but they often brought revolution and change, their lives given for the just causes of freedom, liberty and justice.
This series will focus on the stories of some of those women who have stood up to patriarchy fighting oppression and colonization; confronting violence and abuse; And sacrificing everything in a fight for freedom, justice, and human rights. There have been many. I have chosen just a few of those who inspire me by their bravery and resolve.
Learn their names, learn from them, let them inspire you to do great things.
Part 5: Ṭāhira – “The Pure One”
Ṭāhirah, Ṭāhirh, Ṭāhirih – “The Pure One”
The Bābī sect and the beginnings of the Bahāʾī Faith:
The Bahāʾī Faith originally grew out of the Bābī sect, founded in 1844 by Mīrzā ʿAlī Moḥammad of Shīrāz in Iran (born in 1819). Mīrzā ʿAlī Moḥammad proclaimed a new prophet will appear, overturn old beliefs and customs, and usher in a new era.
Mīrzā ʿAlī Moḥammad assumed the title of “the Bāb”. In 1847-1848, he released the “Bayán”, “the epitome of the teachings of the Bab”, also known as a “new code of holy law,” written in Persian and Arabic. Soon the Bāb’s teachings spread throughout Iran, provoking strong opposition from both the Shiʿi Muslim clergy and the government.
It is important to understand that many of the teachings of the Bāb were threatening to the social order imposed by Shiʿi Muslim clergy and government. The crackdown on those who followed this new faith was swift and extreme. The Bāb was arrested, incarcerated, then executed in 1850. Large-scale persecutions of his adherents, the Bābīs, followed.
A brief history of the role of women in Iran:
Women in Iran, throughout its long history from the Persian Empire to present day, have fought, with fierce resolve and tenacity, to determine their own fate. In fact, there have been periods in that history where they were free to forge their own path though those periods have been few.
Though, for the majority of their history, especially after the conversion to Islam, women have been relegated to an “inferior status” by society and governments that followed.
In spite of their oppression, women have a long history of activism to push against their diminished role and status in Persia. Women have led in protests that have helped to change policy and laws from the Constitutional Revolution in 1906 to today’s “Iran Revolution”.
This is the story of just one of those women. While those of us in the West may think of our own “evolution to the revolution” for women, starting with the 1848 Convention at Seneca Falls, a single woman in Persia was making waves in Persia at the same time …
HER story…
Fatima Begum Zarin Tajj Umm-i-Salmih Baraghani Qazvini is said to have been born sometime between 1814 and 1818 (though many references put the year of her birth at 1817) in Qazim, Iran. She was the daughter of a prominent Shīʿī mullah, Mulla Muhammad Salehi Baraghani (a founder of the Salehiyya madrasa in 1817 that included a section for women), and Amineh Salehi Baraghani, poet and teacher who was educated by her parents and brother then studied at the women’s section of the Salehiyya madrasa (at which she later taught).
Fatima was encouraged, by her father, to go beyond the basic elementary level education. Her father encouraged her studies of the Qu’ran, scripture, and Persian literature. He, also, allowed her to take part in male discussions, from behind a curtain, of course, which was relatively unheard of in Persia at the time.
Even this special treatment by her father did not relieve Fatima of her social and religious requirements. She was wed at age 13 to her first cousin, Mullá Muhammad, who later became a high-ranking mujtáhid (a person who has been certified as capable of interpreting religious law) in Persia.
Fatima gave birth to two sons and a daughter but the marriage was plagued with problems from the start, Fatima’s husband was displeased by Fatima’s boldness. She began to get attention in the community for her beauty, knowledge and charm.
It was during her marriage that Fatima became familiar with the teachings of the Shaykhí movement (or Shaykhism). While in the home of her Shaykhí cousin, Mullá Javád Valíyání, she was introduced to the movement and, with the help of her cousin and her uncle, Mullá ‘Alí , she began corresponding with Sayyid Káẓim al-Rashtí, the leader of the movement..
It was Káẓim that soon named Fatima, “Qurrat al-`Ayn”, or “Solace of the Eyes”.
Fatima’s husband, father-in-law/uncle and father were not pleased. Fatima, however, convinced them to allow her to go on a pilgrimage to the “Holy Cities” of Karbilá (aka, Karbalā) and Najaf.
In 1843, Qurrat al-`Ayn made her pilgrimage Karbalá, leaving her husband and children, to join Káẓim’s circle. By the time she reached the city, she found Káẓim had died but she did meet the now widow of Siyyid Káẓim and studied many of Káẓim’s unpublished works. It is there she became familiar with the Báb (who had been a student of Siyyid Káẓim).
Now estranged from her husband resulting in a forced separation from her children, Fatima or Qurrat al-`Ayn, began teaching her new faith in the city of Karbalá.
Qurrat al-`Ayn Ṭáhirih, the Bābī
Qurrat al-`Ayn spent three years successfully teaching the new Shaykhí doctrine in Karbalá. She rapidly became a prominent leader of the Shaykhí sect. Although she never met the Bāb, she embraced him and his teachings whole-heartedly. It was her writings and her teaching; Her strength and her conviction that garnered the Bāb’s attention; She received acceptance, by the Bāb, as one of his eighteen disciples (17 men and just one woman were chosen as his disciples), known as Ḥurūf-i Ḥayy (“the letters of the living” )
It was the Bāb that described her as “Janab-i Ṭāhirah” (“her excellency, the pure”) and she, soon, became known as “Ṭāhirah”.
Ṭāhirah’s writings were extremely anti-clerical – She claimed that much of Islamic law was no longer binding upon Babis; She refused to perform the daily ritual prayers; and probably her most audacious behavior, she would, on occasion, appear unveiled in gatherings of believers.
The Shi’a clergy began complaining about Ṭāhirah, so the government moved her to Iraq. She continued her teachings there, becoming more well-known and more controversial with every statement and act. Followers and detractors argued her worth, her intent and her knowledge. She was developing a following in her own right; By no means, was she accepting the “inferior status” imposed by societal and religious norms on women in Persia.
While in Hamadan, she was met by emissaries of her father (to include her brothers) asking her to return to Qazvín to which she, reluctantly, agreed. Along the way, she continued to teach the Bābi faith.
Upon Ṭāhirah’s arrival in Qazvín, her uncle and father tried to convert her from her chosen faith but she was not deterred.
Ṭāhirah’s husband asked her to return to his home. She refused responding:
“If your desire had really been to be a faithful mate and companion to me, you would have hastened to meet me in Karbilá and would on foot have guided my howdah all the way to Qazvín. I would, while journeying with you, have aroused you from your sleep of heedlessness and would have shown you the way of truth. But this was not to be. Three years have elapsed since our separation. Neither in this world nor in the next can I ever be associated with you. I have cast you out of my life forever.”
At this, her husband soon “divorced” her and his father, her uncle, Muhammad Taqi Baraghani, became enraged, declaring her a heretic. Stories proliferated about her “immorality” and her “deviant behavior” with “wandering Bābis”.
Táhirah had now made very powerful enemies.
Táhirah’s husband placed the blame on Táhirah. Even with no evidence as to who killed his father, Baraghani, nor proof of Táhirah’s involvement, and in spite of her denials, Táhirah was arrested.
Táhirah’s father intervened in an attempt to convince the authorities that, instead of killing Táhirah, they should allow her to be imprisoned in his home, under house-arrest in his cellar, with her maids acting as spies. Her father was convinced of her innocence but her husband was vehemently and violently against her.
Táhirah was imprisoned, along with a maid (the authorities hoping they could force her testimony against Táhirah) and tried. During her trial, she was questioned for hours about her involvement in the murder; threatened with branding and torture. The trial soon fell apart with the perpetrator of the murder, seeing the violence and murder of the Bābis in Qazvin, after Baraghani’s death, confessed to the murder.
Táhirah was returned to her father’s home to live under house-arrest.
Though the accusation of involvement in the murder was never proven, Táhirah’s life was still in danger. With the assistance of fellow Bābi, Baháʼu’lláh, Táhirah escaped to Tehran.
In June through July, 1848, in a small hamlet called Badasht, a conference was held with 81 Bábí leaders. The conference convened to discuss the Bāb who had been arrested and imprisoned for his beliefs and teachings as well as the future direction of the Bābis and the growing persecution.
Tensions grew between two factions: 1) the radical Babis Bābis, led by Táhirah, advocating for a complete break with Islam as well as militant defense of their community and, 2) the more conservative Bābis, led by Quddus (prominent disciple of the Báb. He was the eighteenth and final Letter of the Living.), who initially advocated policies aimed at the rejuvenation of Islam and prudent accommodation with religious and secular power. It was during this conference that Táhirah, made dramatic displays that shocked and angered the men present.
In a symbolic act, Táhirah is said to have entered the meeting of men, brandishing a sword, declaring “Now is not the time for prayers and prostrations. Rather on to the battle field of love and sacrifice.”.
On another occasion, Táhirah reportedly ripped off her veil. One account of her behavior:
“Táhirah, regarded as the fair and spotless emblem of chastity and the incarnation of the holy Fatimih, appeared suddenly, adorned yet unveiled, before the assembled companions, seated herself on the right-hand of the affrighted and infuriated Quddus, and, tearing through her fiery words the veils guarding the sanctity of the ordinances of Islam, sounded the clarion-call and proclaimed the inauguration of a new Dispensation. The effect was instantaneous. She, of such stainless purity, so reverenced that even to gaze at her shadow was deemed an improper act, appeared for a moment in the eyes of her scandalized beholders, to have defamed herself, shamed the Faith she espoused, and sullied the immortal Countenance she symbolized. Fear, anger, bewilderment swept their inmost souls, and stunned their faculties. Abdu’l Khaliq-i-Isfahani, aghast and deranged at the sight, cut his throat with his own hands. Spattered with blood, and frantic with excitement, he fled away from her face.”
It was at that conference, Táhirah declared:
“I am the Word which the Qa’im is to utter, the Word which shall put to flight the chiefs and nobles of the earth!”
Táhirah caused a “stir” with many of the Bábís renouncing their faith while others became more fervent believers.
After the conference, Táhirah travelled with others to the Mazandaran province. During their travels, they were met with harassment by the local villagers and government forces. Táhirah went into hiding, moving from village to village under the protection of local Bābis.
In 1849, Táhirah was captured and put under house-arrest in Tehran, placing her in the home of the mayor (some accounts say it was the home of the chief of police). She continued her teachings from that home with the assistance of the mayor’s wife. Women flocked to hear her words..
In 1850, the Báb, who had been imprisoned for some time, was executed in Tabriz by order of the Shah. The Bábís reacted by attempting to assassinate the Shah but they failed. General violence ensued against all Bábís, in response to the assassination attempt. The government decided they would execute Táhirah as well.
She had been convicted of “corruption on earth,” a charge we hear invoked by the Islamic Republic even today.
If she had been a man, like the male Bābi leaders, she would have been executed in public. Instead, she was taken to a small private garden and strangled to death, her body thrown down a well.
Her final words are reported to be:
“You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”