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Our Story Is One: The Persecution of Baha’is in Iran

in Explore > Themes

June 18, 2023 will mark 40 years since 10 Baha’i women were hanged in Shiraz. Their only ‘crime’ was their refusal to renounce their beliefs in a faith that promotes the principles of gender equality, unity, justice, and truthfulness. This collection highlights Baha’i Blog content relating to the ongoing persecution of Baha’is in Iran.

Tahirih – The Force of a Pure Heart

March 5, 2015, in Articles > History & Tributes, by

Force, the old standard, is losing its dominance, and intuition, insight, glimpses of cosmic consciousness and the spiritual qualities of love and service in which woman is strong are gaining ascendancy. And you see that this new epoch is an age in which masculine and feminine elements of civilisation are becoming more evenly adjusted. Man and woman are as the two wings of the bird of humanity and this bird cannot attain its highest flight until these two wings are equally strong and equally poised. One of the important teachings of the Baha’i Faith is that women should be regarded as the equals of men and should enjoy equal rights and privileges, equal education and equal opportunities. Tahirih had to die for these ideals but today our task is to live for them.

Martha Root, Tahirih the Pure, Iran’s Greatest Woman, p. 20

To commemorate International Women’s Day, which falls on 8 March, I would like to honour a remarkable woman who lived a century ago. Her radical life was not only significant then but remains profoundly relevant today. She had passion, determination, guts and grit running through her veins. A warrior for the emancipation of women. A force to be reckoned with.

A life tragically cut short at the age of thirty-six, she was the first woman suffrage martyr. Put to death by strangulation, her immortal words ring through the ages:

You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.

Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 75

Her name was Tahirih – “The Pure One”.

Born in Qazvin, Persia in 1817, Tahirih lived at a time the Empire had sunk deep into dark savagery and callous brutality. It was against such a dismal and wretched backdrop that our heroine stood apart and stood out.

The appearance of such a woman as Tahirih in any country and in any age, is a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Iran it is a prodigy…nay, almost a miracle.

Professor Edward G. Browne, Cambridge University (Nabil (edited and translated by Shoghi Effendi), The Dawn Breakers, p. 651, footnote no. 38)

A woman of noble birth and immense wealth, Tahirih was the daughter of the greatest High Priest of her province. Gifted, exceptionally eloquent and highly accomplished in the literary arts, she showed rare intelligence and a penetrating mind from an early age. She outdistanced her brothers and passed all the examinations in theological studies.

Famed for her startling beauty, almost every historical record makes allusions to it. Even the Imperial Majesty of Persia, Nasirid-Din Shah upon casting his eye on her fair beauty, asked for her betrothal. This was surely a woman who had the world at her feet. Yet, Tahirih chose to walk away from it all without a second glance.

Tahirih is most remembered as the woman who appeared without her veil before an assemblage of men at the Conference of Badasht in 1848. She caused such an electrifying and instantaneous outcry, that one man, so aghast by her action slit his own throat. In doing so, Tahirih broke away from the time honoured twelve-hundred-year-old tradition of Islam.

This single act was more than just to produce a shock-effect on men. This act, a “sudden, startling, complete emancipation from the dark and embattled forces of fanaticism, of priestcraft, of religious orthodoxy and superstition,” signified the turning point in the world’s religious history. It was the “trumpet blast announcing the formal extinction of the old, and the inauguration of the new Dispensation.” 1

In studying the magnificent life of Tahirih, I have often paused and wondered at the significance of her bestowed title ‘The Pure One’. This was a woman unlike no other of her generation. There was nothing half-hearted about her. She was a pillar of towering greatness. She excelled men with her brilliant mind, charismatic eloquence, penetrating insight, extensive scholarship, formidable endurance and indomitable spirit.

Yet, Baha’u’llah chose to eternalize her legacy as ‘The Pure One’, the one single attribute deemed so worthy and precious. By bestowing such a title at Badasht, Baha’u’llah demonstrated in no uncertain terms that a woman’s purity and chastity are not conditioned by a veil.

In our contemporary society, purity is often viewed with scornful disdain or at best laughingly tolerated as being prudish and old-fashioned. Yet, even as Tahirih exemplified assertiveness and strength, what is most noteworthy was that underlying everything she did, was a spirit infused with purity.

For above all else, Tahirih was a “spotless emblem of chastity.” 2

Purity in the Pursuit of Truth

Tahirih was unwavering and single-minded in her quest for truth. She was relentless and purely undistracted in her independent investigation of the truth. “The finest trait in Tahirih, or at least the one that helped the world most, was her fidelity in searching for the truth! She began as a little girl and continued until the day of her passing from this world.” 3

Purity of Courage

Tahirih was stoned, imprisoned, and physically attacked by her own family but never once did she falter. Shoghi Effendi called her an “unsubduable spirit” 4 in the face of attempted poisoning by her own husband Mulla Muhammad and violence from her uncle Mulla Taqi.

Purity from Man-made Tradition

She was openly defiant of the customs of her land which “relegated women to a rank little higher than animals and denied them even the possession of a soul.” 5 Interrupting her friend Vahid when he was reciting Islamic traditions, she said “Cease idly repeating the traditions of the past, for the day of service, of steadfast action, is come.” 6

Purity of Speech

She not only spoke with eloquence and without fear at a time when it was forbidden for women to speak up. She also openly challenged the clergy which meant certain death. Her talks drew large crowds especially those from the upper echelon of society. Once at a wedding, she spoke and guests flocked to listen to her, abandoning the merriment of the festivities.

Purity of Deeds

The heroism of Tahirih went beyond words. Tahirih laboured for social, cultural and religious reforms in her land. She condemned the perversity of her generation while advocating a revolutionary transformation in the habits and manners of her people. She said “Let deeds, not words, be our adorning.” 5

Purity of Character

The Mufti of Baghdad, Ibn-i-Alusi, who later wrote a book in Arabic in which he speaks of Tahirih during her stay in his home states: “I see in her such knowledge, education, politeness and good character as I have not seen in any great men of this century.” 7

Purity from Temptation

Tahirih mingled with princesses and the cream of high society in Persia. As a measure of their wealth, her father once presented a village to Tahirih as a gift which she named “The Abode of Happiness”. While mankind is obsessed with physical beauty and wealth, and narcissism is the idol of our age, Tahirih chose to walk away from the ease of life – aloof to attention, admiration and adulation.

Tahirih showed us all, both women and men, that our real strength lies in the excellence of our character, selfless service, independent investigation of the truth and the untiring promotion of universal peace.

Could it be that in this day and age, the advancement and progress which marks the force of any woman or man to move and shake the world is not a brutish and brazen force but the force of a pure heart?


Footnotes & Citations

  1. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 33[]
  2. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 32[]
  3. Martha Root, Tahirih the Pure, Iran’s Greatest Woman, p. 21[]
  4. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 73[]
  5. Ibid.[][]
  6. Abdu’l-Baha, Memorials of the Faithful, p. 72[]
  7. Martha Root, Tahirih the Pure, Iran’s Greatest Woman, p. 25[]
Posted by

Sharon Karvonen

Sharon Karvonen is a mother, a wife and an aspiring warrior. She is inspired by kindness. And nobility found in unexpected places. After being away for twenty years living in Finland and Afghanistan, she is back in Penang, Malaysia, the island where she was born.
Sharon Karvonen

Discussion 8 Comments

A Superbly written piece..very moving and inspiring.

Ruhiya

Ruhiya (March 3, 2015 at 11:12 AM)

Tahirih’s unprecedented sacrifice for the equality of rights for women, prompted me to write the following article on her behalf.
By using the Writings, I hope to alleviate the misconception of equality of the sexes which wrongly is being practiced in today’s societies. Enjoy…

The confusion and misunderstanding of the differences between the “Equality of Rights” and the “Equality of Functions” between men & women – particularly husbands & wives, has played a role in ignoring this subject. Sadly, it has caused women to try to play the roles of fathers and mothers to the family, which has caused them to suffer from fatigues and stress disorder, which statically, are double in numbers in women than men, while it has caused men to suffer from apathy and confusion, leading them to become oblivious to the needs of their families, which has caused increase in the number of family break ups, alcoholism, and drug abuse among the children.
Many Baha’is make the mistakes of confining and enforcing the concept of equality to the finances rather than looking at the broad aspects of functions, rights and responsibilities of the sexes according to the designs and purpose of God.
To overlook these unavoidable natural functions and the current unjust social status of genders are obviously gross injustice to women as wives and mothers, and subsequently as daughters and sisters.
The following quotations explicitly confirms that the principle of “equality of men and women”, does not elude to the “equal functions and equal responsibilities”, and that to provide financial support to the family is the husband’s “primary function and responsibility”, and that to provide education to children is the women’s “primary function and responsibilities”. It also clarifies that“it is the wife’s RIGHTs to be financially supported by her husband”, and that “the husband has no explicit right to be financially supported by his wife.”
Shoghi Effendi – “Lights of Guidance” p. 613: “From the fact that there is no equality of functions between the sexes one should not, however, infer that either sex is inherently superior or inferior to the other, or that they are unequal in their rights.”
The Universal House of Justice – “The Relationship Between Husband and Wife” – December 28th, 1980: “The members of the family all have duties and responsibilities towards one another and to the family as a whole, and these duties and responsibilities vary from member to member because of their natural relationships…..although the primary responsibility for supporting the family financially is placed upon the husband, this does not by any means imply that the place of woman is confined to the home….A husband has no explicit right to be supported by his wife.”
The Universal House of Justice to the NSA of USA – “Developing Distinctive Baha’i Communities: The basic principle of Bahá’í Law is that the husband is responsible for the support of his wife and children so long as they are married.”
The Universal House of Justice, “Compilation on Women” No. 74: “With regard to your question whether mothers should work outside the home, it is helpful to consider the matter from the perspective of the concept of a Bahá’í family. This concept is based on the principle that the man has primary responsibility for the financial support of the family, and the woman is the chief and primary educator of the children.”
The Universal House of Justice – “Lights of Guidance” p. 625-626: “You ask about the admonition that everyone must work, and want to know if this means that you, a wife and mother, must work for a livelihood as your husband does… You will see that the directive is for the friends to be engaged in an occupation which will be of benefit to mankind. Home-making is a highly honourable and responsible work of fundamental importance for mankind.”
I hope the above Writings causes our women to wake up from their slumber and stop carrying their husband’s responsibilities as well as theirs. And further, it is also my hope that learning these quotations causes our men to rise from slumber and learn to function as“men” characterized by not only our beloved Faith, but also by the bygone religions.
It is my wish that our Institutions, Assemblies and Groups make efforts to educate our members of our communities on this important aspect of gender equality to achieve healthier Baha’i families and as prerequisite to Great Peace, promised by Baha’u’llah.
Bahiyyih Ruhizadegan Zareian

Bahiyyih

Bahiyyih (March 3, 2015 at 8:17 PM)

Dear Bahiyyih,
Thank you so much for your valuable and thought-provoking comment so essential to understanding the essence and meaning of true equality of women and men in today’s world. Your article is deeply appreciated. With loving regards, Sharon

Sharon Karvonen

Sharon Karvonen (March 3, 2015 at 9:58 AM)

thank you for this !!!

steve mclean

steve mclean (March 3, 2015 at 5:15 AM)

Who is Tahirih.Send photo for the 8th March women’s day.

Mohammad Baig

Mohammad Baig (March 3, 2015 at 4:17 PM)

what a life to live … And how it has been presented beautifully is just makes it perfect. Thanks

Madina

Madina (March 3, 2015 at 10:07 PM)

The comments posted in the principles of the Faith of equal rights are indeed thought provoking in their insight and perspective thank you!

Vasudevan Veerasamy

Vasudevan Veerasamy (March 3, 2015 at 8:06 PM)

Ganz herzlichEn Dank für diesen interessanten Artikel von Tahirih. Ich habe ihn in der Nacht noch gelesen und war begeistert Punkt.Kann man das- zuviel lesen? ich kann ja die Sprachen auch nicht; aber irgend jemand wird es schon verstehen.

margritritahurni

margritritahurni (May 5, 2016 at 1:59 PM)

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