نشریه بانوان شیعه
پیاپی 6-7 (زمستان 1384 و بهار 1385)

Our Imams’ (p.b.u.t) mothers have perfectly performed their role as mothers, who brought up such children. Although they have not been mentioned a lot in the history, they certainly had effective social and political roles. Those Arab or Hashemi, as Fatemeh Bint Asad, Fatemeh Zahra (p.b.u.h), Fatemeh Bint Alhassan and Ommah Farveh, Imam Sādiq’s (p.b.u.h) mother, have been mentioned more in the history, for their well known families and being related to important tribes made them significant for centuries. Others, mostly non-Arab and slave girls, had also special roles and political participation. Thus, mothers of our twelve Imams (p.b.u.h) are the best practical models of proper and perfect political participation for Shiite women.

The concept of power is one of the primary concepts in political sociology and political studies. One specific sort of power typology is the well-known “Three Dimensional Power Model”. The presentation of this model, its distinction between itself and sub-models of its kind and its relationship with the concept of “Social Closure” form the conceptual framework of this paper. This paper seeks to benefit from the aforementioned issues in sociologically understanding the era after the passing away of the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h). We have used the sayings of Hadrat Fatima (p.b.u.h) in order to better understand the prevailing power of the deviation from the course of divine Imamate and the incident of the Saqifah plot. Accordingly, in regards to the mechanisms of social closure, sanctions and usurpation, we have discussed on one hand the relation between the historical foretelling of Hadrat Fatima (p.b.u.h) about the occurrences that will fall upon the Islamic society (after the deviation) and the concept of “Social Closure” and typology of power on the other.The disorganization of the social affairs of the Muslims, social inequality and the development of the autocracy and the injust atmosphere were the results of monopolizing the opportunities and resources under the rule of the third power holder among the claimants of Caliphate in the era predicted by Hadrat Fatima (p.b.u.h).

Iranian Muslim women, impressed by religion and culture, had effective roles in politics and governments during the history. Some of them, as Sayyidah Khātūn – Fakhr al-Dawlah Daylamī wife – Tarkān Khātūn – Malikshāh Saljūqi’s wife – and Jān Baygum Khātūn – Jahānshāh Qarāqūyūnlū’s wife – had special roles in the Islamic era of Iran’s history so that they can be best called women rulers and politicians. Sayyidah Khātūn controlled the dynasty and confirmed it. Tarkan Khaton joined Shicite rebellions that were against Nezam al-mulk and helped them enter Saljoghi reign. Jan Beigom Khaton had a leading role during her husband’s reign and even after him. They were not only effective in politics, but also served the culture of our country.

The global women’s movement and its outcomes can be seen as something organized within the 21st Century. However, with an eclectic approach, this led to the issuance of a statement that was not possible to implement in many countries, especially in Islamic countries. The presence of Shicite women in international arenas of women’s affairs, despite the prevalence of feminist thoughts, has clarified the importance of the policies. According to them it is necessary to have ties with such organizations and doing so provides an arena where Muslim women can overcome undesirable the decision making and decisive opinions on an international level. This paper, which is derived from the plan “Surveying the approaches of women’s cooperation in the Islamic Republic of Iran with international Muslim women’s organizations”, seeks to identify women NGO’s world wide and define the range of cooperation with them based upon the nature of their functions. The outcome of this paper, is the ranking of the Muslim women’s organizations based on their joint global trends in international decision makings.

Man lives in a society that needs someone to manage and control it. The most frequent type of government is a “democratic” one, in which the government is elected through elections.This essay studies women’s political participation and the importance of their role in elections. The authors consider historic evidence and the Koran on women’s social and political participation and explain some western and eastern scholars’ ideas on the matter.Then with respect to the Iranian Constitution, which provides no obstacle for women’s social and political participation, they examine obstacles women face in their participation.

Shicite women had a unique and effective political participation, defending Islam and Iran against attacks during Qajar era and fighting with dictatorship and colonialism. Their rebellion in the famine year during the Nasir Din Shāh era and leading to the anti-tobacco movement are good examples for Iranian society. They played a significant role in preventing unfair taxes and fighting the dependence of Iran on foreigners. They fully supported religious leaders, actively participated in civil wars and fought with dictators, highly impressed members of parliament and seriously disagreed with their corruptions, and confronted the invaders. All this perfect participation had its root in Shicite culture and doctrine.

Women are not just half of population, but the effective part of society during political reform. Scholars and jurists, especially contemporary ones, facing the subject “women’s participation in political development”, hold totally different opinions which lead to different approaches theoretically and practically.On the one hand, some disagree with women’s political participation and all its aspects, referring to tradition which defines women’s role to take care of the house and to bring up the children. They interpret some verses to mean that men should rule over women, and rely on hadiths to prohibit women from ruling or advising.On the other hand, some others believe women should take part in politics and their participation in all affairs is not only allowed but necessary. They refer to Imams’ (p.b.u.h) attitudes and criticize the former, whose opinion is irrelevant to them. There is also another group which considers women only to be unqualified for leadership and being rulers. This essay considers religious doctrines and works on provisions of women’s political participation and its levels and bounds, on the basis of policy making.

The standpoint of modern societies towards the position of women often goes from one extreme to the other and makes the societies unbalanced. However, some development plans which reflect on gender analysis and planning have made an effort to change the women’s situation; yet they failed to consider the nature and culture of any specific society and have faced enormous challenges, mainly in Western countries.However, the Shicites believe women should be considered due to their nature, characteristics, instincts and capabilities. They can be the best model for today’s world and families. The family, for which they are the cornerstone, is absolutely their best place. Therefore, in order to pave the path to a perfect society we need to pay special attention to the culture of the society and present a real model for Muslim women and clarify their absolute rights according to Islam. This helps to place “men” and “women” in their proper position in the world and leads the society to perfection and prosperity, which provides the human being with the position of divine stewardship.

What has happened to women in the past, including their fulfilled and unfulfilled rights, is often discussed. Yet, their forthcoming future is rarely discussed. This attitude can be easily observed in the works of Iranian writers, scholars and even politicians, both before and after Islamic Revolution of 1979. However, this essay discusses attitudes of Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian Constitution, which holds a specific attitude toward women’s future and their political situation and through which we can estimate the future political situation of Iranian women.

Global Zionism has designed a variety of policies that are offensive political and cultural organize policies designed to penetrate and influence Islamic countries, and within this they have made large investments in fields concerning the issues facing Muslim women. Among the schemes and devices of Zionism is the proliferating of liberal, feminist and humanistic thoughts, pornography, negating religion from the minds of Muslim women, sex trading and the expansion of prostitution among them, penetration of the areas of training and educational systems and damaging this social stratum through financial and economic pressures imposed upon them are all, in line with it’s ultimate goal of converting the world into one great Jewish state, putting the reins of leadership in the hands of the Zionists. The acquiring of comprehensive and precise knowledge of the Zionists’ goals and plans can play a significant role in forming the dimensions of the challenges facing Muslim women and arming them with appropriate defense mechanisms against these invasions.

Women’s political rights in Arab countries was a topic being discussed simultaneously with Islamic awakening in the region. Various attitudes of the bounds and limits of reaching these rights were presented by Muslim activists, including jurists, legal experts and politicians.Obviously, these countries needed drastic changes and in order to grant political rights to women, their governments should have become Islamic. But unfortunately Muslim women in these countries hurried to gain political rights without consideration of the invasive conspiracy western liberalism organized.In this way, although they succeeded to gain their political rights, dictators who totally obeyed the West still ruled over them.

The first point being introduced in this essay is the characteristics of political culture and principles of the tribal system in the pre–Islamic period, and then the effective factors in the foundations, structures and strategies of the society towards women are identified and women’s political growth in the early period of Islam and the decades before it is analyzed. The author has compared women’s political participation with the cultural atmosphere along with examining the roots of this positive change. Allegiance, institutionalization, migration, jihad, enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong are the main fields in which women showed active participation in early Islam. Principles of beliefs and worldviews helped these factors prepare the situation for the political participation of women in the reign of the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) and gave them important roles, along with a democratic system that ruled over the society and social institutions, like ‘Dar al-nadwah’ (the Council House) and the culture of counseling with tribal leaders helped to direct the society.

Kholeh Qazvini, the Kuwaiti writer, is famous for being the first female writer in Kuwait who writes to invite people to value Islamic values and principles. She discusses conceptual topics and clarifies women’s position in qlobalization. She succeeded to mention problems through concrete real examples about women’s sufferings. Religion is a significant factor in her life and she talks not only to Kuwaiti society, but also to all Muslim countries, introducing women as “Human Beings”, not less. She studies women as someone whose base is home and who believe nobleness, good character and humanity lies in the family.This essay tries to introduce her more and discuss the concept and method of her essays.

All through the history, the true followers of any religion made efforts and sacrificed their lives to confirm their beliefs. However, some aspects of these efforts and some of these true believers have been forgotten in history, not being mentioned in any of its pages. Women in early period of Islam had specific roles in the battles, expeditions, medicinal aid and even martial support. These records, although not being recorded in history under specific titles, can be found and studied in the works of historians.The author presents some examples of women’s political participation in the battle fields, specifically in Siffayn, in order to appreciate those noble women and encourage today’s women to have more successful participation in the society.

Iranian Muslim women now participate in political affairs, and they are becoming an important subject in Islamic countries and the whole world. Foreign countries have misused this point and have analyzed it according to their own wishes. On the one hand, they call Iranian women fanatic, homebound and reclusive; constantly urging that they should be set free and any kind of role they get in the society is admirable. On the other hand, they deny the dominant role women play in the Iranian society and the crucial positions they hold.This essay elaborates the Islamic attitude toward the participation of women in social affairs and provides practical examples of the political participation of women, using historical evidence from the time of the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) and the Imams (p.b.u.h). Through these analyses, we come to an illuminating conclusion regarding the political participation of Iranian Muslim women after the Islamic revolution of 1979.