Tooba Khokhar & Nila Ahmad
‘It was the night before Shab-e-Yalda, an ancient Persian festival marking the longest night of the year. I was a British student on my ‘year abroad’ thousands of miles away from home, sitting inside a tent sharing traditional sweets with local and foreign students of the University of Tehran. It was the night an earthquake had struck Iran’s capital, Yalda desserts notwithstanding.’
That night, Tooba Khokhar witnessed a side of Iranian life often ignored in Western media coverage. She saw women step into their authority and take care of displaced students and manage relief efforts. She saw students gather together and celebrate their traditions despite the circumstances. It was a snapshot of Iranian life she wishes more people could see.
‘When the quake struck that winter night, Iranian women’s civil society organizations sprung into action and immediately set up large tents in the sprawling, leafy Laleh Park, which is located close to the girl’s dormitories of the University of Tehran. I watched as ladies commandeered teams of volunteers and set up a small tent site late into the night while others ticked off the names of female students in each tent.
That night, we stayed in the makeshift tent site, with a few foreign students humorously making use of an expression they had picked up in Farsi classes: ‘Zindeh bashid’ or ‘May you live’.’
In the West, Iran is seen as an absolute oppressor of women. The hijab is mandated, Vice and Virtue police patrol public spaces, and abortion is illegal. Thus, one might question the purpose of the above account and where it sits in the larger narrative of a regime which killed thousands of protesters in the streets in the early weeks of 2026, where Mahsa Amini died while in police custody for violating the government’s dress code, where females of minority groups face particular discrimination.
When viewed through an Islamic lens, the purpose is a nation’s self-assessment. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) stated, ‘A wise person is one who watches over himself and restrains himself from that which is harmful.’ In other words, if Iran has committed injustices against women, it should correct those wrongs. If it has established infrastructure or initiatives to benefit them, it should continue on that path. Laying out one’s strengths and weaknesses side by side gives clarity, lest the good committed by the right hand is unraveled by the left.
A nation is beholden to its inhabitants and women make up half of the population. If they are not treated justly, cracks will begin to appear on the surface. The importance of giving women their due rights is so vital that Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (ra), the Second Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, cautioned, ‘When a woman is treated with such injustice, one of two possibilities will certainly follow. Either she will become as if a hollow shell … or else her inner self will rebel. Women should be accorded their legitimate rights and they should be made to feel that man will never hesitate to grant them the rights which Shariah has accorded them.’
This is the goal, simply put. Women deserve a government which will ensure their rights. And when assessing whether this goal is being achieved, a nation’s citizens and government are bound to consider all lived experiences. Western media would have you believe that Iranian women live an oppressed existence across the board, whereas the truth is more varied. In her time in Iran, Ms. Khokhar witnessed Iranian women as community leaders, mobilizing resources for those in need. She said, ‘I visited the offices of an NGO run mostly by women, who were working to support women and children affected by an earthquake that had taken place in western Iran. Women were on the frontlines gathering funds and materials to send to those affected.’
She also witnessed the importance of education during her time studying at the University of Tehran. She found, “In Persian culture, women’s intellectual endeavours are encouraged. In my classes, the majority of students were female and many of my teachers were women too. Women were also visible in healthcare, bureaucracy, and retail.” This experience is supported by data. Before the Islamic revolution, less than 30% of women were literate. Since then, the number has increased to 84%. Higher education has boomed with 60% of enrolled students being women. The expansion of Payame Noor University, which is an open, public university and Islamic Azad University, a private institution, has created pathways for more Iranians, and specifically women, to attain higher degrees.
The increase of women in education has also spilled over into the workforce. 70% of university graduates in STEM are women. Many of these women go on to create and innovate, with more than 24% of new inventions in the country registered by women. In addition, 19% of board positions in startup companies are made up of women.
These statistics indicate the progress made in education and the professional fields. In fact, the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayotallah Khamenei stated in an address on Women’s Day, “Therefore, women can and must enter these fields in some cases. They can enter these fields, and in certain areas, it is necessary and obligatory for them to do so. This includes politics, economics, international issues, scientific matters, as well as cultural and artistic fields- everywhere.” (Khamenei, 2024).
These are all good steps towards creating a fair and just environment for Iranian women. In addition, the government has established infrastructure to safeguard women, such as women’s only transit cars. Public transit is a hotspot for sexual harassment and women’s only compartments provide a safe alternative, especially during evening commutes. Ms. Khokhar remembers, “Each bus in the city is split in half; one half for men, the other for women. The underground trains are also divided, with certain carriages for women only and others open to both men and women. There are also dedicated waiting areas for women in bus stops and stations, so I felt completely safe even in a rush-hour commute. I only ventured inside a ‘mixed’ carriage once when I was accompanying an older Iranian couple who wanted to remain together. As soon as we stepped inside the carriage, a group of men stood up from their seats and offered them to us.”
But, if with the right hand the Iranian government has made significant strides in ensuring women can advance in the educational and professional spheres, its left hand has committed violence against its female citizens. The UN reported, “Iranian security forces have escalated pre-existing patterns of physical violence, including beating, kicking, and slapping women and girls who are perceived as failing to comply with the mandatory hijab laws and regulations.” This kind of response by the government degrades the strides they have made to treat women justly. Islam unequivocally states, “There should be no compulsion in religion” (Holy Qur’an, 2:257). Therefore, the burden of practicing a religious commandment is not upon the government, but rather up to the individual practitioner.
In addition to the state’s treatment of women in these instances, its treatment of ethnic minorities also bears a closer look. The death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who died while in police custody, brought worldwide attention to the treatment of ethnic minorities within Iran. The Iranian state does not allow ethnic minorities to register their own cultural names. In addition, the Minority Rights Group reported, “Girls from ethnic minorities are doubly marginalized, facing both economic exclusion and gender discrimination.”
All this is to say that when a nation assesses itself, it cannot paint with one broad stroke. Its wrongs and rights will live side by side, fundamentally affecting its citizens. It is for this reason Islam encourages regular self-assessment. If weaknesses run unchecked, if a nation does not act justly towards its women in all areas of life, those actions will drive fissures through its inhabitants, the fractures creating a tectonic shift. Sometimes even all the good it does cannot save it from being buried under the debris.
About the Authors:
Tooba Khokhar is a writer and translator. A graduate of Arabic and Persian, she is interested in the literary and religious traditions of the Islamic world.
Nila Ahmad is the Editor of the Women’s Section of The Review of Religions. She lives in the southern United States with her family. Having graduated with an art degree, she has participated in the illustration of children’s books, as well as serving on the team for US magazine Al-Hilal. Her particular interest is in dispelling misconceptions around women’s status in Islam.
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