Tahirih Talk: Empowering Women Remembering the life of Tahirih, heroine, poet and feminist martyr who lived in 19th-Century Iran. She removed her veil in a male only conference, defying Shariah law and cultural customs, to announce that a new culture of equality had dawned. Her sacrifice, which ultimately meant she lost her life, became the blueprint for a new era of equality and justice.

1. The Life of Táhirih
EMPOWERING WOMEN

2. Born in 1817, Táhirih was an exemplar of
women’s strength in Persia, at a time when
most women were kept illiterate and hidden
from the public sphere.
It was against such a dismal and wretched
backdrop that our heroine stood apart and
stood out. The home of Tahirih in Qazvin
“The appearance of such a woman as Táhirih in any country and
in any age, is a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Iran it
is a prodigy…nay, almost a miracle.”
– Professor Edward G. Browne, Cambridge University

3. When Táhirih was young, she was
permitted by her father, one of the greatest
High Priests in the province, to secretly
listen in on his classes. She had to listen
from behind a curtain as women were not
supposed to be educated.
One day she heard her father make a
mistake and she couldn’t stop herself from
speaking out.
Everyone then knew she was there.
After that she was allowed to talk, so long
as she stayed hidden.

4. Gifted, exceptionally eloquent and highly
accomplished in the literary arts, she showed
rare intelligence and a penetrating mind from
an early age. She outdistanced her brothers
and passed all the examinations in theological
studies.
She was of such stainless purity, so reverenced
that even to gaze at her shadow was deemed
an improper act.

5. She was famed for her startling beauty,
almost every historical record makes
allusions to it.
Even the Imperial Majesty of Persia,
Naser al-Din Shah upon casting his eye on
her fair beauty, asked for her betrothal.
Naser al-Din Shah

6. She was a gifted and renowned poet. Her poetry illustrates an impressive
knowledge of Persian and Arabic literature rarely seen in a woman in mid-
nineteenth century Iran.
Look up! Our dawning day draws its first breath!
The world grows light! Our souls begin to glow!
No ranting shaykh rules from his pulpit throne.
No mosque hawks holiness it does not know.
No sham, no pious fraud, no priest commands!
The turban's knot cut to its root below!
No more conjurations! No spells! No ghosts!
Good riddance! We are done with folly's show!
The search for truth shall drive out ignorance.
Equality shall strike the despots low.
Let warring ways be banished from the world.
Let justice everywhere its carpet throw.
May friendship ancient hatred reconcile.
May love grow from the seed of love we sow!
- Táhirih, (translated by Amin Banani)

7. Through her theological studies, she
realized that the coming of a new
Messenger of God was imminent.
Many theologians were out
searching for Him.
Women were not permitted to travel
alone, so she could not search.
One night in a dream, a young man
appeared before her. He raised his
hands toward heaven and in a
beautiful voice recited many
wonderful verses, one of which she
wrote down.Táhirih’s handwriting

8. One day, some time later, a friend placed in her hands writings of the Báb. As
her eyes looked down upon a page, she discovered the exact same words she
had written down from her dream.
Táhirih wrote immediately to the Báb, telling Him that she believed Him to be
that promised Messenger foretold in all the holy Books.
Upon receiving her letter the Báb accepted her as one of His earliest disciples.
Thus Táhirih became the first woman to become a believer in the new Faith.
She never got the chance to meet the Báb.

9. One day she appeared before the men
without a veil.
In the Báb’s absence, as He was imprisoned at the time, some of the early
followers of the Báb held a conference in Badasht to discuss the new
religion. Táhirih was the only woman there.
She caused such an electrifying and instantaneous outcry, that many fled from
before her face.
In doing so, Táhirih broke away from the time honoured twelve-hundred-year-old
tradition of Islam. She announced that this was a new age.
Her actions showed that women would now be seen as equal to men.

10. This single act was more than just to
produce a shock-effect on men.
In the words of Shoghi Effendi, the great-
grandson of Bahá’u’lláh, this act was a
“sudden, startling, complete emancipation
from the dark and embattled forces of
fanaticism, of priestcraft, of religious
orthodoxy and superstition.”
It signified a turning point in the world’s
religious history.

11. Táhirih was placed under house arrest.
However she continued to tell people
about the Báb, even after the Báb’s
martyrdom, sharing His teachings,
particularly those regarding the
emancipation of women, until
eventually the religious leaders
decided that she too must be killed.
The home Táhirih was placed under house arrest

12. Whilst under house arrest at the Governor's
home she had a vision that she would be put
to death. That day she dressed herself in
snow-white silk, perfumed herself and
waited.
That night guards approached the house
demanding Táhirih come with them.
They brought her into a garden, where the
headsmen waited. The men wavered and
refused to end her life. A drunken slave was
found and instructed to strangle her.

13. “You can kill me as soon
as you like, but you
cannot stop the
emancipation of women.”
Táhirih is historically recognized as “the first woman suffrage martyr.”
This was the result of the Báb’s teachings for the new age.
In 1852, at the age of 35, Táhirih was strangled with her own scarf, her body
was tossed into a well and covered with dirt and stones.
Before her death she declared:
Garden where Táhirih was martyred

14. One of the Báb’s early followers was Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh declared that
He was the one foretold by the Báb, whom the Bábi’s were awaiting.
Bahá’u’lláh founded the Bahá’i Faith and suffered imprisonment, torture
and exile for His claims.
Táhirih was given the title of the ‘The Pure
One’ by Bahá’u’lláh. By bestowing her such
a title, Bahá’u’lláh demonstrated in no
uncertain terms that a woman’s purity and
chastity are not conditioned by a veil.
Her purity embodied all aspects of her life.

15. Purity in the Pursuit of Truth
Táhirih was unwavering and single-minded in her quest for truth. She was
relentless and purely undistracted in her independent investigation of the
truth.
“The finest trait in Táhirih, or at least the one that helped the world most,
was her fidelity in searching for the truth! She began as a little girl and
continued until the day of her passing from this world.”
- Martha Root

16. Purity of Courage
Táhirih was stoned, imprisoned, she was divorced, her
children were taken away from her, her husband Mulla
Muhammad attempted to poison her and she was
physically attacked and abused by her own family,
but never once did she falter.
Shoghi Effendi called her an “unsubduable spirit.”

17. Purity from Man-made Tradition
She was openly defiant of the customs of her land which
relegated women to a rank little higher than animals and
denied them even the possession of a soul.
`Abdu'l-Bahá', Bahá’u’lláh’s son, recalls being a young boy
seated upon Táhirih’s lap, and hearing her interrupt her
friend Vahid when he was reciting Islamic traditions, from
behind the curtain she declared:
“Cease idly repeating the traditions of the past, for the day
of service, of steadfast action, is come. Let deeds, not
words, be our adorning!”
`Abdu'l-Bahá'

18. Purity from Temptation
Táhirih mingled with princesses and the nobles of high society in Persia. As a
measure of their wealth, her father once presented a village to Táhirih as a gift
which she named “The Abode of Happiness”.
Táhirih chose to walk
away from the ease of life
offered to her and chose
to labour for social,
cultural and religious
reforms in her land.

19. We will end with one of Táhirih’s poems put to music, where she depicts the Sufi theme
of separation and her longing to meet the Báb,
which was denied to her in this lifetime.
I would explain all my grief
Dot by dot, point by point
If heart to heart we talk
And face to face we meet.
To catch a glimpse of thee
I am wandering like a breeze
From house to house, door to door
Place to place, street to street.
In separation from thee
The blood of my heart gushes out of my eyes
In torrent after torrent, river after river
Wave after wave, stream after stream.
This afflicted heart of mine
Has woven your love
To the stuff of life
Strand by strand, thread to thread.
— Táhirih, (translated by Farzaneh Milani)

20. The Life of Táhirih
EMPOWERING WOMEN