Táhirih

Táhirih (ArB|طاهره "The Pure One") or Qurratu'l-`Ayn (ArB|قرة العين "Solace of the Eyes") are both titles of Fátimih Baraghání (b. 1814-1820, d. 1852), an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá'ís and Azalis, and often mentioned in Bahá'í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights. Her date of birth is uncertain, as birth records were destroyed at her execution.

Before becoming a Bábí

The daughter of Mulla Muhammad Salih Baragháni, a mullah, Táhirih grew up in Qazvin (near Tehran), where she married her cousin Muhammad ibn Muhammad Taqi at the age of thirteen. They had two sons and one daughter.cite book |author = `Abdu'l-Bahá |authorlink = `Abdu'l-Bahá |origyear = 1915 |year = 1997 |title = Memorials of the Faithful |edition = Softcover |publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust |location = Wilmette, Illinois, USA |id = ISBN 0877432422 |url = http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/MF/] Having acquired a religious education from her father, she began a correspondence with leaders of the Shaykhi movement which flourished in the Shi`ah shrine cities in Iraq. Ultimately she travelled there herself.

She is equally well-known under an alternate religious title "Qurratu'l-`Ayn", given to her by the second Shaykhi leader, Sayyid Kázim of Rasht. After his death in 1844, she, through correspondence, found and accepted `Ali Muhammad of Shiraz (known as the Báb) as the Mahdi. She was the seventeenth disciple or "Letter of the Living" of the Báb, and the only woman in that group and thus she is sometimes been compared to Mary Magdalene in that aspect. [cite web | first = Peter | last = Mazal | title= Selected Topics of Comparison in Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith | accessdate = 2006-06-25 | date = 2003-10-21 | url= http://bahai-library.com/?file=mazal_comparison_christianity_bahai.html&chapter=2 | publisher = bahai-library.org] Unlike the other Letters of the Living, Táhirih never met the Báb.

As a Bábí

While in Karbala in Iraq, Táhirih started teaching her new faith. After some of the Shi`ah clergy complained, the government moved her to Baghdad.cite book |author=Nabíl-i-Zarandí |authorlink=Nabíl-i-A`zam |year=1932 |title=The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative |edition=Hardcover |editor=Shoghi Effendi (Translator) |publisher=Bahá'í Publishing Trust |location=Wilmette, Illinois, USA |id=ISBN 0900125225 |url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/nz/DB/ | pages = pp 278-300] There she started giving public statements teaching the new faith, and challenging and debating issues with the Shi'a clergy. At this point the authorities in Baghdad argued with the Governor that since Táhirih was Persian she should instead be arguing her case in Iran, and the authorities escorted Táhirih and a number of other Bábís out of Baghdad to the Persian border.

During her journey back to Qazvin, she taught the Bábí Faith on stops in Kirand and Kermanshah, where she debated with the leading clergy of the town, Aqa `Abdu'llah-i-Bihbihani.cite book |first=Hasan |last=Balyuzi |authorlink=Hasan M. Balyuzi |year=1973 |title=The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days |publisher=George Ronald |location=Oxford, UK |id=ISBN 0853980489 | pages = 163-171] Aqa `Abdu'llah-i-Bihbihani, at this point, wrote to Táhirih's father asking his relatives to remove her from Kermanshah. She then travelled to the small town of Sahneh and then to Hamedan, where she met her brothers who had been sent to ask for her return to Qazvin. She agreed to return with her brothers after making a public statement in Hamedan regarding the Báb. Upon returning to Qazvin she separated informally (Enc. of Islam says "divorced") from her husband, whose family was hostile to the Báb and his mission, as well as her four children.

While she was in Qazvin, her uncle, Mulla Muhammad Taqi Baraghani, was murdered, and the blame for this placed on her; Baraghani had been an inveterate enemy of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i.cite web | url = http://bahai-library.org/articles/women.faith.html | title = Religion and Women | last = Maneck | first = Susan | location = Albany | publisher = SUNY Press | date = 1994] During Táhirih's stay in Qazvin, Baraghani had embarked on a series of sermons in which he attacked the Báb and his followers. There is no hard evidence as to the identity of the murderer, nor any proof as to Táhirih's involvement or lack of it. It was this event that led to her being taken to Tehran and placed there under house arrest.

Conference of Badasht

After the Báb's arrest in 1848, Bahá'u'lláh made arrangements for Táhirih to leave Tehran and attend a conference of Bábí leaders in Badasht. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in public without her veil in the course of this conference signalling that the Islamic Sharia law was abrogated and superseded by Bábí law. It was at the Badasht conference that she was given the title Táhirih (Bahá'í sources indicate by Bahá'u'lláh) which means "the Pure One".

Death

After the conference of Badasht ended, Táhirih was captured and once again put under house arrest in Tehran. During this time many people, especially women would come and listen to her talks. Two years after the execution of the Báb, three Bábís, acting on their own initiative, attempted to assassinate Nasser-al-Din Shah as he was returning from the chase to his palace at Niyávarfin. The attempt failed, but was the cause of a fresh persecution of the Bábís, and on the August 31, 1852 some thirty Bábís, including Táhirih, were put to death in Tehran. She was in her early to mid 30's and was killed in the garden of Ilkhani in Tehran. A prominent Bábí, and subsequently Bahá'í, historian cites the wife of an officer who had the chance to know her that she was strangled by a drunken officer of the government with her own veil which she had chosen for her anticipated martyrdom. Afterwards her body was thrown into a well located in the garden.

One of her most notable quotes is her final utterance, "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women."

While the historical figure of Táhirih is most well-known among Baha'is, her influence has extended far beyond the Baha'is, as attested to by Persian scholar Azar Nafisi on PBS's NewsHour on October 10, 2003: "The first woman to unveil and to question both political and religious orthodoxy was a woman named Tahireh who lived in early 1800s... And we carry this tradition." [ [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec03/nobel_10-10.html Táhirih mentioned on PBS NewsHour] - Mention of Táhirih as founder of Persian feminism by renowned scholar Azar Nafizi in a discussion on PBS about Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.]

In fiction

Bahiyyih Nakhjavani published her "La femme qui lisait trop (The Woman Who Read Too Much)" in 2007. It tells the story of Táhirih. The writer adopts the revolving points of view, of mother, sister, daughter and wife respectively, to trace the impact of this woman's actions on her contemporaries and read her prophetic insights regarding her times, and perhaps ours too.

A note on sources

With the exception of an entry in the Encyclopedia of Islam (under "Kurrat al-'Ayn"), English-language sources are almost exclusively Bahá'í, or reliant on Bahá'í material. These consist of narrative accounts of her life (typically devotional in character) and, in a few cases, translations of poetry selections.

Notes

References

*cite book
editor= Afaqi, Sabir (Ed.)
year= 2004
title= Tahirih in History, Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Vol. 16: Perspectives on Qurratu'l-'Ayn From East and West
publisher= Kalimat Press, Los Angeles, USA
id= ISBN 1890688355

*cite book
first=Hasan
last=Balyuzi
authorlink=Hasan M. Balyuzi
year=1973
title=The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days
publisher=George Ronald
location=Oxford, UK
id=ISBN 0853980489

*cite book
author= Banani, Amin (Tr.)
year= 2004
title= Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry, Selected Poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn
publisher= Kalimat Press, Los Angeles, USA
id= ISBN 1890688363

*cite book
first=Shoghi
last=Effendi
authorlink=Shoghi Effendi
year=1944
title=God Passes By
publisher=Bahá'í Publishing Trust
location=Wilmette, Illinois, USA
id=ISBN 0877430209
url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/GPB/

*cite book
author=Nabíl-i-Zarandí
authorlink=Nabíl-i-A`zam
year=1932
title=The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative
edition=Hardcover
editor=Shoghi Effendi (Translator)
publisher=Bahá'í Publishing Trust
location=Wilmette, Illinois, USA
id=ISBN 0900125225
url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/nz/DB/

*cite book
author=Nakhjavani, Bahiyyih
authorlink=Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
year= 2007
title= La femme qui lisait trop (The Woman Who Read Too Much)
publisher= Actes Sud
location= France
id= ISBN 978-2-7427-7036-6
publisher= Actes Sud

*cite book
author= Root, Martha L.
year= 2000
title= Tahirih The Pure
publisher= Kalimat Press, Los Angeles, USA
id= ISBN 1890688045

ee also

*Tahirih Justice Center

External links

* [http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/tahirih/tahirih.htm Directory of Táhirih's Arabic and Persian writings at h-net ]
* [http://www.rozanehmagazine.com/julyaugust02/Mayjune02new/wotahirih.html Translation of Táhirih's poetry to English by Martha Root]
* [http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/MF/mf-64.html Táhirih] - Táhirih's biographical entry from "Memorials of the Faithful" by `Abdu'l-Bahá