She is a commodity in the service of the ruling system and...

She is a commodity in the service of the ruling system and plays her part according to the dictates of the ‘establishment’. With the help of the above observations, the greatness of Imam Khomeini’s action in reviving the true identity of Muslim women can be seen, and the luminosity of his thought demonstrated. Imam saw for himself how the fossilised ideas of his generation viewed women as nothing other than the ‘weaker sex’ and wives imprisoned in the women’s quarters of the home.

On the other hand, with his special perspicacity he realised that the role the Shah and imperialism had in mind for women as beguilers and playthings would not lead to them enjoying a better position and would result only in the degeneration and corruption of Muslim societies, in Muslims becoming estranged from their own culture and in them losing sight of who they are.

In his position as an enlightened and crusading marja-i taqlid [^2] , he drew from the limpid waters of the heavenly fount of the teachings of the pure Islam of Muhammad and from his reflections as a mujtahid [^3] on the precious heritage of the traditions of the Prophet and the teachings of the infallible Imams, upon whom be peace, and arrived at such a correct understanding of women’s responsibilities and true role in society that we see this manifested in the revival of the Muslim woman’s identity in the Islamic republic system.

It was acceptance of his view of women that, despite years of endeavours by imperialism’s propaganda organs on one side and the presence of fossilised ideas that appeared in the form of devotion to Islam on the other, brought women onto the scene during the Islamic Revolution in Iran in such a way that it was nicknamed the revolution of the chador[^4]-clad by news agencies, observers and analysts.

And it was not only in the demonstrations to overthrow the Shah’s regime that the opinions of women were taken as sound and helpful, rather this was the case in all stages of the sanction, endorsement and establishment of the Islamic republic system.

Subsequently, despite the backwardness which had arisen from old-fashioned policies and views and which had hampered the legitimate development and blossoming of their talents and capabilities, women now rapidly made up for the past and made great strides along the road to securing their proper position in society.