Molla Nasreddin and Women (Analyzing Molla Nasreddin Magazine Approach towards Women)

The focus of the present study is on the issue of women in Molla Nasreddin magazine. Since Molla Nasreddin magazine was one of the leading magazines in the first quarter of the twentieth century in the East, analyzing its approach toward the issue of women can provide first-hand knowledge of the situation of Iranian and Muslim women in the early twentieth century. One can also learn more about the attitudes of Muslim intellectuals towards women. The present paper seeks to answer the following questions: “how did Molla Nasreddin magazine reflect the status of Muslim women?”, and “what was its view towards the status of Muslim women?” The results showed that with a pathological approach Molla Nasreddin magazine had examined women's issue in five areas: women marriage, the veil (Hijab), the education of women, violence against women and the emancipation of women. Under the influence of the new ideas that were common in the Caucasus, the way out of the situation was women's education and continuous criticism against those who disagreed with the women liberation.