The Silence of Qom, the Warning from Najaf, and the Issue of Iranian Women's Hijab

Once again, an official of the Islamic Republic traveled abroad, and once again, the issue of Iranian women's hijab was raised during this trip. However, this time it was not about the presence of female chess players in Iran or the enforcement of hijab for foreign female diplomats. In a meeting between the head of Iran's judiciary and one of the most prominent students of Ayatollah Khoei in Najaf, Ayatollah Is'haq Fayyaz warned Iranian officials that despite the expansion of hijab culture in many Islamic countries, the problem of improper hijab and lack of hijab in Iran still exists. According to Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the Arab-African deputy foreign minister, Ayatollah Is'haq Fayyaz stated during a meeting with an Iranian delegation headed by Ayatollah Amoli Larijani that using force and coercion to promote hijab is ineffective. Sediqe Vosoughi, a religious scholar residing in Sweden, noted that this is the first time that non-Iranian Shia scholars have warned about the hijab situation of Iranian women. She stated, 'Shia scholars have always tried to present their views and policies differently from Sunni scholars and Salafi thought. However, when these Shia scholars came to power in the Islamic Republic, they did not pay attention to the important point of showing those differences in practice. One very important issue is the mandatory hijab and women's rights. When Shia scholars came to power, they adopted policies that are no different from those of the Salafis. Even scholars outside of power did not criticize or oppose this issue. I think this is the first time that a high-ranking Shia scholar has opposed this policy of mandatory hijab, and this is significant.' Ayatollah Fayyaz referred to the issue of improper hijab in Iran and the expansion of hijab culture in many Islamic countries, emphasizing the need for appropriate use of media to promote hijab and avoiding the use of force and coercion, which he stated is not an effective method. When asked why the hijab of Iranian women has become so significant that it is mentioned in official meetings of the head of Iran's judiciary, Mohammad Javad Akbarin, a religious scholar residing in Paris, responded: 'Authorities face a dual scene regarding Iran. On one hand, they see that among countries with a concentrated Shia population and strong leadership, such as Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran, Iran is the only country where hijab is mandatory, and there is a police force enforcing it daily, arresting individuals for not adhering to hijab. On the other hand, they observe that the hijab situation of Shia women in Lebanon and Iraq is much stronger and progresses more peacefully and effectively, unlike in Iran. It is interesting that Ayatollah Fayyaz, as a Shia authority in Iraq, opposes mandatory hijab and explicitly tells Iranian representatives that this method does not work. Moreover, the Shia authority in Lebanon, Ayatollah Fadlallah, who passed away recently, was also against mandatory hijab, and Iranian officials visiting him were told to stop this method in Iran. We see that when Shia authorities look at the situation from outside Iran, they are concerned about the damage that symbols of Islam, including hijab, are suffering from, but apparently, there is no such perspective on the issue within the country.' The concern of Shia scholars about the un-Islamic image of Iranian women comes at a time when adhering to Islamic hijab was one of the first official orders of Ayatollah Khomeini after coming to power in Iran. According to Asieh Amini, a journalist residing in Norway, this order faced minimal opposition among the revolution's companions and clergy at the time. Amini stated, 'Ayatollah Khomeini was always opposed to women's presence in public spheres. We should not forget that years before the revolution, many of the conflicts Khomeini had with the Pahlavi monarchy were about women. The first time he entered social and political spheres was regarding women's voting rights. After the revolution, we see that his first practical order was about hijab.' Amini believes that from the very beginning, the Islamic Republic focused on an issue it has not been able to escape from until today. The warning from Ayatollah Muhammad Is'haq Fayyaz comes at a time when no similar advice or warning has been issued by scholars residing in Qom. The seminaries of Qom and Najaf have been competing for years to take the lead in the Shia world, each trying to influence a broader range of Shia followers. In this context, scholars from Qom have always emphasized the responsibility of the government, judiciary, and media to impose stricter measures on women. Meanwhile, one scholar from Najaf has called for the abolition of mandatory hijab in Iran in the first warning. But why have the two Shia seminaries pursued such different policies? Mohammad Javad Akbarin believes that the distance of Qom scholars from non-Iranian Muslim communities is one reason for this. He states, 'Those scholars who remained in Iran and Qom have become completely isolated. The cultural restrictions in Iran have directly impacted them, and they may not even see the damage that the mandatory hijab has caused to Islamic symbols. However, those who are abroad, when they compare their communities and the impact of freedom on the prevalence of Islamic symbols with Iran, naturally notice the differences. I remember one guest at an Islamic conference expressing astonishment at the hijab situation in Iran, saying that in the streets of Iran, I did not feel that I saw even one woman committed to Islam. He was amazed and said how, after several decades of revolution, this situation exists, and it seems that all the hijabs and all the cloths on women's heads are a form of protest. In other words, he felt that this was mockery of hijab and a form of protest against mandatory hijab.' What has been termed mockery of Islamic hijab, according to the Islamic Republic's police, is the result of tens of thousands of written warnings and millions of verbal admonitions that have been prevalent in most years following the Islamic revolution. Nevertheless, is it possible that the Islamic Republic will change its previously unproductive activities and reduce its pressure to enforce hijab? Asieh Amini believes the likelihood of such a change is low, stating, 'Firstly, the Islamic Republic has tied its foundation to the issue of women's hijab, and there may be a perception that loosening this tie could endanger the life of the Islamic Republic. Secondly, I think there is a gap between the leaders of Iran and the people in social, political, and cultural domains. For this reason, people are somewhat going their own way, and the government is going its own way. People coexist with the government but follow their own path; the Islamic Republic also ignores many issues under the surface. Perhaps this is why they try to tolerate the hijab issue in this way. The reality is that in Iran, we do not have peaceful coexistence; rather, we have a tolerable coexistence between the people and the government. Therefore, I think the Islamic government believes that if it revisits this issue, it will be forced to respond to many other demands of the people in all areas. For this reason, it tightly holds onto this first knot so that it does not have to respond to other demands.