Important Vocabulary - Islam - a religion that is based on the Koran.
- Muslim - a person whose religion is Islam.
Compared to American values and beliefs, Muslim women may seem to be demeaned by their husbands and sons. However, it is important to note that Islam first provided women with certain rights hundreds of years before European societies. For example, Muslim women were and still are allowed to own their own property and in some cases are allowed to divorce their husband.
There is an "Islamic rule peculiar to Iran, according to which men could have four official wives and as many temporary wives as they wished.... A man could enter into such a contract for as short a period as ten minutes or as long as ninety-nine years."
--Azar Nafisi
In Iran Muslim women generally do not date, but rather they get engaged to a man who is interested in getting to know the woman. Through a series of gatherings and meetings of family the couple decides if they should break off the engagement or fortify the union with getting married. Some Muslim women have "been married three" or more times.
A woman "had married her first husband before she'd turned eighteen and had divorced him within a year. She never explained what had happened with her second husband. Perhaps she married so often because marriage was easier in Iran than having a boyfriend."
--Azar Nafisi
Muslim women are required to cover themselves when they are in public as a sign of modesty. Some Muslim women who are very religious may cover their whole body, while others who are less religious may wear a simple head covering. A woman's hair is deemed a form of beauty and sensuality in the Muslim religion and can only be seen by their husbands. Muslim women in America have a choice as to how they dress which reflects the teachings of their religion and thus they might choose to cover their bodies and not cover their hair. In a Muslim country, such as Iran, women do not have a choice on how they dress.
The way a Muslim woman presents herself depends on how she interprets the Koran, culturally accepted religious practices, and geographical location. Some women take the teachings of the Koran very literally and follow it down to the letter; while other women find a more loose translation.
In the United States, there is a separation between religion and the government. But this is not the case in all countries. The country of Iran is a Muslim country. That means that the laws of the government are based on the laws of Islam. Also, the country is segregated in schools, on buses, and even on ski slopes. Men and women have to be separated. Women who were not completely covered, except for their hands and face, would be punished by going to jail for up to 60 days, or by being whipped.
Despite their restrictions, women in Muslim countries are allowed to be educated. Today in Iran, almost 70% of science and engineering majors in college are women. There are also female police officers. Here in America, we have never had a female President, but in some Muslim countries, women have risen to the highest levels of government. In recent years, more and more Iranian women have been working to earn more freedom in their country.
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