WUNRN
Iranian
women attend the 28th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran, Jan. 7,
2015. (photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Atta Kenare)
IRAN
– WOMEN - INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN SHARIA RELIGIOUS LAW,
INTERPRETATIONS, & THE NORMS OF MUSLIM SOCIETIES
Author: Leila Alikarami* - Posted March
11, 2015
Iranian women suffered legal discrimination
both before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The main justification for discriminatory laws against women is that they are
based on Sharia, and therefore cannot and should not be challenged. For
decades, Iranian women have struggled to prove that Sharia does not discriminate
against women per se. They challenge the discriminatory rules, arguing that the
patriarchal norms and traditions inserted into Islamic law deprive
women of equal rights.
For these women, the problem of inequality
lies in tradition and the internal contradiction between the ideals of Sharia
and the norms of Muslim societies. They stress that the religious
edicts harming women’s rights are limited reading of flexible Islamic
legal thought. The tactic of involving Reformist scholars to provide
alternative interpretations of Sharia has been effective to a large extent in
raising public awareness of the origin of these discriminatory laws.
However, there is an important question that
arises here: Should women in the Muslim world rely on Islam to bring about changes
in the current legal status of women? The majority of Iran’s population is
Muslim, at over 90%. The demographic reality makes it essential to use
religious discourse to tackle the gendered nature of Iranian laws. For example,
the Quran provides for "mutual divorce," balancing the
rights of spouses in the case of divorce. This teaching should be used in
addressing unequal treatment of men and women in divorce cases.
In 2008, I defended a case in which my client
filed for divorce on the basis that she hated her husband, and this placed her
in an undesirable situation that was very harmful for her as well as for the
family. In court, in addition to the civil code, I discussed the ruling of
"denial of harm," which is acceptable to Islam as a way to
prevent hardship. I also referred to the Quran, which allows for
"mutual divorce," and discussed the opinions of some Islamic jurists,
such as Shaheed Sani, Mirzaye Qomi and Yousef Sanei, to ask the judge
to implement the civil code in line with the Quran and grant my client a
divorce. Fortunately, after some prolonged court sessions, the judge granted
the divorce on the basis that the continuation of marriage would be harmful to
my client. Although many similar cases are quickly rejected by family court
judges on the basis that there is insufficient evidence to grant a
divorce, this precedent should be used in addressing unequal treatment of
men and women in divorce cases.
Islam introduced the right of women to
receive a fixed share of inheritance at a time when no such system was in
place, bringing about a massive change in Arab societies. While Iran is a
society with rapidly changing norms in relation to women’s social
status — literacy and primary school enrollment
rates for women and girls are estimated at more than 99%
and 100%, respectively, and gender disparity in secondary and tertiary
education is reportedly almost nonexistent — discourse with respect
to women’s rights has its place in Islam. It is a discourse
that challenges hard-line Muslims who oppose women’s rights on
the grounds that they are not Islamic, and also speaks to a government and
legal system that claims it is based on Islamic law. But Islamic discourse is
important for the average person who wants to marry his or her religious
beliefs with a belief in human rights, equality and dignity. These people are
empowered to stand behind their human rights principles, without abandoning
their religious beliefs. So to build a broad movement and unite like-minded
people, it is important to be able to argue that Islam and human rights are not
mutually exclusive and that Islam supports human rights.
This is not a fringe discourse.
Many religious leaders and grand ayatollahs have issued fatwas that seek
to reform the current discriminatory laws. Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi, general
secretary of the Organization of Researchers and Scholars of Qom Seminary, has
said that laws that are discriminatory against women could be reformed. In
2007, he said, “We have many laws that address the status of women or even
that of men that have to be reformed in accordance to current needs in order to
come in line with and meet the needs of citizens. Concerning women, laws such
as [fines for physical harm], inheritance, child custody, divorce … can in fact
be changed, and these reforms and changes are in no way in contradiction to Sharia.” In January 2008,
Grand Ayatollah Mazaheri, a renowned religious scholar based in Isfahan, issued
a fatwa to legitimize abortion for women who became pregnant out of
wedlock. In February 2008, Sanei issued a fatwa proclaiming women should
inherent land from their deceased husbands. The fatwa was issued in response to
the question: “If a man passes away and his only heir is his wife, how much of
his assets should be given to his wife?” Sanei responded that when a man with
no heirs besides his wife passes away, his wife becomes the sole heir of
his assets. This is explicitly derived from the Quran, which states: From what
is left by parents and those related the closest, there is a share for men and
a share for women, whether the property be small or large — a determinate share.
Garnering the support of these high-profile
clerics was an important achievement for Iranian women’s rights activists, one
that enabled them to respond to the government’s claim that their activities
were "un-Islamic." Some Islamic scholars have expressly stated
that the demands of Iran’s women’s movement do not contravene Islamic
principles at all and that the old laws should be changed in light of the
current situation of women. Ayatollah Fazel Meybodi, a member of the Central
Council of the Organization of Researchers and Scholars of Qom Seminary,
said in 2007, “The principles related to civil and criminal codes can be
reformed … as well as the principles related to traditional
jurisprudence.” He added, “If 13 centuries ago polygamy was customary or
the marriage of girls at nine years old was recommended, in this day and
age, given the principles of justice and current social conditions, we have to
acknowledge that these practices are no longer acceptable.”
These religious decrees have put pressure on
the political system to change. In 2009, for example, the Iran parliament
finally approved a law that allowed women to inherit land holdings from
their deceased husbands.
Women’s rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize
winner Shirin Ebadi said in an 2004
interview, “Islam does not cause the problems of Iranian women; rather,
they are due to patriarchal practices that are rooted in Iranian culture and
transferred from one generation to another.” She suggested that women
themselves have played an essential role in keeping patriarchal practices
alive.
Despite these small victories, women’s rights
is an issue that cannot be easily or quickly changed even within the legal and
political system of the Islamic Republic. This was also a lesson from
Iran’s Reformist era of 1997 to 2001, during which women’s rights activists and
Reformist politicians tried unsuccessfully to bring about Iran’s
accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, the primary human rights treaty safeguarding the rights and
equality of women. And born out of political contention, there is a lack
of political will that hinders women’s rights reforms in Iran’s legal system.
Adopting a Sharia-based strategy supported by well-known clerics to combat
discriminatory laws justified by the government’s interpretation of Sharia,
nonetheless, has proven to be an effective way to gain the support of the
public. Naturally, this is not a matter that can be resolved overnight, but
requires a steady and systematic approach.
*Author Leila Alikarami is an Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate who
has represented dozens of prisoners of conscience in Iran's
Revolutionary Courts. She is an active member of Iran's One Million Signatures campaign, which collects signatures in support
of changing discriminatory laws against women. In 2009 she accepted
the RAW in War Anna Politkovskaya Award on behalf of the women of Iran and the
campaign.