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The Role of the Babi/Baha’i Movement in Empowering Women in Qajar Iran
Abstract
In the 2022/1401 Iran Revolution, the government arrests a range of populations, from those directly protesting in the streets to environmental activists, bloggers and musicians. Among them are religious minorities, Sunnis, Gonabadi Dervishes and Izadis from Baluchistan and Kurdistan, and Baha’is from different cities. While the Kurds and Baluches are directly involved in the protests, the Baha’is are not. So, why does the regime target Baha’is? This paper argues that the Babi/Baha’i revolutionary ideas impacted Iranian society and created sentiments later echoed in the Constitutional Revolution. Furthermore, it argues that the Baha’is were among the pioneers of empowering women in the Iranian community long before the emergence of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. The paper focuses on the Qajar period from the rise of the Babi movement (1844) to the Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911). It reviews the institutional and individual acts of the Babis/Baha’is, which helped empower women at the time. The paper showcases how Sheykh Fazlullah Nuri’s supporters were partly right to object to the constitution, parliament, Muslim/non-Muslim equality, and women’s rights by relating them to Babis/Baha’is. Some instances of these acts, such as Tahereh Qorrat al-‘Ayn’s hijab removal in public for the first time, are more recognized in the collective memory. Others are less discussed, for example, emphasis on women’s education, their election rights and membership in the administration electoral bodies, equal rights for divorce, child custody and heritage. This presentation employs an array of primary and secondary sources, especially journals, parliamentary minutes, Baha’is writings, and documents from Iranian and European archives. It also uses some theories for its comparative approach. Foucault’s ideas about “institutions” and “policing” the subjects to create “docile bodies” (Discipline and Punish) resonate with male guardians controlling women in Iran. At the same time, the Babi/Baha’i principles deconstructed those masculine “power networks” by creating new institutions and redefining women’s role in society. The presentation also discusses how minority groups, including Baha’is, have been the “scapegoats” of Iranian society during episodes of turmoil (René Girard’s Le Bouc Emissaire). The paper’s conclusions imply that the Baha’is are being arrested today in Iran, partly as scapegoats and partly because of their lifestyle and social activities. Their acts contradict the standards the regime wants to establish in society, similar to what Sheykh Fazlullah Nuri believed about the Babis/Baha’is during the Constitutional Revolution.
Discipline
History
Religious Studies/Theology
Sociology
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
None