Mar 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.