Word: hijab
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1991-1991
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...indirectly endorsed by President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who came to power two months after Khomeini's death. Rafsanjani has not actually called for a reversal of strict Islamic injunctions, but in oblique ways he is signaling that he favors a more relaxed approach, especially in the enforcement of hijab. In a much publicized sermon last November, for example, Rafsanjani chided fellow clerics who make a virtue of "austerity" and argued that "appreciating beauty and seeking embellishment are serious feelings. To fight them is not God's desire...
...remarks ignited a debate among the country's mullahs that is still blazing. Two weeks ago, Ayatullah Abdul Karim Mousavi Ardebili, a conservative religious figure and former chief justice, said in a televised sermon that he was ashamed by the way hijab was being flouted and that "the revolution was headed for destruction" if the people did not step forward. Within a few days the Revolutionary Guards, who sometimes act independently of government wishes, began rounding up young women in the street whose dress they found objectionable. On Vali Asr Avenue, the capital's main shopping boulevard, a guardsman tried...
...illustrates a revolution running low on zeal. Today Rafsanjani faces a population exhausted by eight years of war with Iraq, domestic political turmoil and a severe economic slump. The President seems to realize he must respond to those hardships, and thus has tried to ease the harsh enforcement of hijab. More important, Rafsanjani wants to end Iran's pariah status in the world community and gain desperately needed aid. "We are in a period of reconstruction," says Rajaie Khorassani, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Majlis (parliament). In a more terse analysis, a Western diplomat concludes, "The revolution...
...inadequately "Islamic," and last week a similar motion against his Education Minister was under discussion. Still, Rafsanjani is gradually consolidating his authority. The Komiteh, the police equivalent of the Revolutionary Guard, is being merged with the regular police, which should limit their ability to act as independent enforcers of hijab...
...falls. There are still severe human rights abuses, due to a combination of poor accountability in the courts and Islamic injunctions and punishments, including the widespread use of the death sentence for offenses like drug trafficking. Iranians are still scared, even as they dare to test the limits of hijab. Says a young woman who strongly opposes the Islamic regime: "If this is a transitional stage, if we have learned from past mistakes, this may be the beginning of something good." The challenge for Rafsanjani is to turn a revolutionary regime into a popular...