Comments on: Iranian women continue to fight the system…

By: Rochelle

Rochelle — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:20:19 +0000

As we speak, I am writing an article/press release for Women Living Under Muslim Laws to communicate the real acheivement for the Iranian women’s rights movement. It really was quite amazing what happened. Should be published by the end of the day or tomorrow. Keep you posted.

By: Sobia

Sobia — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:40:10 +0000

I have to agree with cyads on this one. It seemed to me that they were presenting the issue of the legislation regarding polygamy as an example of a sort of victory for the work these women are doing – not talking about polygamy only. I thought it was balanced the way they made sure to mention that polygamy is actually not common and is frowned upon in Iranian society.

Overall, it seemed the article was talking about female activism in Iran.

By: Nizam

Nizam — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:41:47 +0000

What struck me about the article was that the lone “authority” figure on the haram/halal issue was a male.

I think that highlights the fact that Islamic law is the product of an ongoing man-made process of interpretation, and is not divine or fixed. When viewed in that proper light, it naturally leads to the question of who is doing the interpreting.

By: cycads

cycads — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:05:19 +0000

pardon my grammatical mistakes above!

By: cycads

cycads — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:58:59 +0000

I personally do not think that the attention on the Iranian activists was deflected by the issue of polygamy. The BBC news website is catered to a wide audience and yes, it seems like polygamy is a uniquely linked to Muslims, and there is a lot interest in it. What I find positive about the article is that it featured a male voice of reason (Ayatollah Yusef Sanai) in the midst of this – the “unexpected” opponent of polygamous marriages.

And no, this is not another news clip about how passive Iranian women are. And they are certainly not necessarily battling against the religion either. Instead what BBC failed to do was mention further ‘how’ these women are going against the system. As far as I know, a lot muslim feminists/women’s rights activists’ main aim is dismantling male interpretation of Islam that often leave women short-changed. It’s radical but hasn’t quite achieve enough influence yet to change many gender-biased laws yet.

By: jessyz

jessyz — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:47:10 +0000

This is usually what western media portrays. I think it is a lack of understanding more than anything. I believe they truly think Muslim women are oppressed and that Islam is an oppressive religion towards women and sometimes men too, so this kind of writing is expected. The problem is that Muslims have enough on their plate already to deal with, than to deal with western media as well.
Great post as usual.