The political and civil unrest in the land of the Mullahs is heating up. The trigger? A young girl named Mahsa Amini. She has become the face of Muslim women’s resistance to oppressive modesty laws in Iran and has ramified Muslim women in other parts of the world. Her tragic tale has become viral among Muslim citizens and netizens and ignited a tsunami of protest in major cities of Iran and elsewhere. It has shaken the ruling Mullahs and ruffled feathers in Muslim society worldwide. Who is she?
Mahsa was a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the northwestern city of Saquez. While visiting the capital Tehran with her brother, she was arrested by the so-called Morality Police for an improper way of wearing the hijab which covers the head and shoulders of Muslim women. She collapsed while being taken to detention and brought to a hospital. After 3-days she died. Authorities claimed she died of “sudden heart failure.” But testimonies and other evidence were showing that “officers beat Ms. Amini’s head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles.“ In fact, Acting United Nations Human Rights Chief Nada al-Nashif had allegedly “received numerous, and verified, videos of violent treatment of women by Morality Police who have stepped up their enforcement of hijab rules.” Al-Nashif likewise called for a “prompt, independent, and impartial investigation into Amini’s death.
In a past article, I wrote: ”Hijab is a traditional head covering of thin cloth (usually white) over the head and chest worn by Muslim women in public. The headscarf is ordained by the Holy Koran and the Hadith al-Sharif or tradition established by Prophet Mohammad, PBUH. It is more than a dress code for Muslims. It is a strong statement of faith, an act of worship and obeisance. It makes Muslim women conscious of their identity and adherence to the core Islamic values of piety, modesty, simplicity, humility, and abhorrence of the corrupt practices of the western world and modernity. It reminds them constantly that the critical parts of their body should only be visible for their husband to the exclusion of others.”
Protests and demonstrations against the reported maltreatment and death of Amini have engulfed the former Persian Empire like wildfire. According to reports, more than a hundred have died during the protests. It has gained global attention.
It was reported that “in an address to the UN General Assembly, United States President Joe Biden said Americans stood with the ‘brave women of ‘Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights.” And the US, flexing its muscles as the self-appointed Policeman of the world, has imposed economic and financial sanctions against top government officials of Iran. It has frozen the assets in American banks, of the head of the prison which houses political prisoners and officers of the Iran Revolutionary Guards. This is a prima facie indication of the seriousness of the ramifications of the death of Amini.
It is an irony that while other Islamic societies are easing restrictions on stringent cultural and religious taboos, Iran has remained steadfast and stringent in interpreting Islamic tenets to the letter. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the de facto capital of Islam which houses Islam’s two Holy Mosques once reclusive with restrictive and ultra-conservative religious culture, is now opening up and has lifted some restrictions imposed within the Kingdom. Tehran, on the other hand, has continued its strict adherence to the letter of the Holy Koran. It is not compromising on Islamic traditions. This is not surprising. The two countries represent the two sects dividing Muslims — the Sunni of Saudi Arabia and the Shia of Iran.
The dichotomy in the manner of wearing the hijab is happening in the Philippines. There are Filipino Muslim women who follow strictly the restriction on hijab by wearing a chador or burka where the whole body is covered by usually a black cloth with only the eyes visible to the public, while another group believes that wearing a veil over the head similar to how deceased Benazir Bhutto donned it satisfies the requirement of the religion for modesty.
Amid animosity spawned by the death of Amini, are you surprised that Iran had always been tagged by the West as a pariah state?
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