Marriage On the Street Corners of Tehran A Novel Based On the True Stories of Temporary Marriage eBook Nadia Shahram
Download As PDF : Marriage On the Street Corners of Tehran A Novel Based On the True Stories of Temporary Marriage eBook Nadia Shahram
At age twelve, Ateesh is forced into an arranged marriage with an abusive man. When she objects, she is told that she "needs a man's name on her, to protect her." While in one era that would have been the end of her story, here it is just the beginning for a young woman determined to make her own decisions. She engages the help of other strong women who, despite worries about family honor, eventually help Ateesh obtain a divorce and enter the path to a new life that leads to university. Learning there about modern relationships, independence and control become even more important to her. Rather than submit to the oppressive control of another man, she decides to use men to gain independence from them.
This decision leads her to enter into multiple "temporary marriages," a form of prostitution sanctioned by society and religion through a skewed interpretation of the Koran and Islamic law. We follow Ateesh in the coming years as her world becomes increasingly complicated and divided—one life behind closed doors as a siqeh and another as a university student and researcher working for women's equality.
Based on interviews conducted by the author, Ateesh's story represents the compelling accounts of legal and cultural injustices that prevail in modern Iran.
Born in Tehran, attorney and professor Nadia Shahram planned to be the Iranian Barbara Walters. Interrupted by the 1979 revolution, she moved to the United States where she advocates for Muslim women's rights.
Marriage On the Street Corners of Tehran A Novel Based On the True Stories of Temporary Marriage eBook Nadia Shahram
The author handles the graphic nature of the content gracefully. I enjoyed the moments of humor, when her protagonist, Ateesh, speaks broken Arabic with a thick Farsi accent, which you can tell when she mispronounces the word for 'and' as 'va' instead of 'wa'. It was helpful that the Farsi and Arabic phrases scattered throughout the novel came accompanied by their meaning in English.Ateesh draws a careful distinction between the original intent of the Prophet Muhammad in revealing the laws of Islam and how these were later interpreted by fallible human beings. In this way, the reader sees that the protagonist is unfailingly loyal to her Faith, at the same time that she criticizes erroneous interpretations which have crept into the corpus of Islamic jurisprudence over the centuries. In so doing, she demonstrates how to build strong legal cases for defending the rights of women in Islamic courts.
She also points out that Muhammad’s laws and some instructions of the Imams were best adapted to a different time and place. The method that Ateesh suggested to her students for reforming Islam was daring: to exercise Ijtihad, which Wikipedia describes in a Shiah context as “applying careful reason in order to uncover the knowledge of what Imams would have done in particular legal situations”. This activity is normally reserved to religious scholars qualified to be named Mujtahid; hence, it was a bold step to open it up to young law students.
The book leaves a more challenging question unanswered, however – what if the laws of the Qur’an are no longer appropriate for a later day and age like ours? For that, the only response, early in the book, is an indignant call to hasten the advent of the Twelfth Imam, a Shiah Messianic Figure equivalent to the Jewish Messiah or the Christian Return of Jesus. Ateesh does not mention that the Twelfth Imam might have the authority to supersede the laws of Islam with new laws. This is a concept brought out by Hasan Balyuzi in his biography of the Báb (George Ronald, 1973), and it merits further analysis in the light of relevant oral traditions.
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Marriage On the Street Corners of Tehran A Novel Based On the True Stories of Temporary Marriage eBook Nadia Shahram Reviews
One cannot read this book and not be appalled at what is passed off as socially and morally acceptable in Islamic society. While most of what we know in the west is limited to the objectifying of women most people do not realize the same happens to female children. To think or believe women accept this as their way of life or their station in life. Such thoughts do not address the basic tenants of individual expression or choice. This reality is made clear as the females in this book struggle with what is expected of them culturally and the knowledge that life has much more to offer. In following Ateesh you understand on a personal, emotional level what is like to be a female in this society. This is this books greatest virtue, it is a humanistic account rather than a documentary. I believe most people will finish reading this book feeling that in several thousand year's people have not progressed very far. That in today's day of age, equality is still a futuristic concept. I highly recommend this book to understand the culturally practiced injustices against women in countries such as Iran.
Ms. Shahram eloquently captures the unfortunate truths of life in Iran for women, while weaving a beautiful narrative of hope, love, family, and religion in "Marriage." Ateesh is a marvelous protagonist who makes decisions that readers will often disagree with, but ultimately admire. It is through the colorful characters, as well as the shocking predicaments these characters find themselves in, due to their culture, that enables "Marriage" to transform beyond the fictional novel.
What Ms. Shahram has created is the equivalent of a textbook that reads like a novel; a chance to look through the lens of women in Iran, understand the cultural, legal, and religious background of such a life, and ultimately relate to the characters in a way that would be impossible through a textbook. In that way, "Marriage on the Street Corners of Tehran" is a shining success.
The author handles the graphic nature of the content gracefully. I enjoyed the moments of humor, when her protagonist, Ateesh, speaks broken Arabic with a thick Farsi accent, which you can tell when she mispronounces the word for 'and' as 'va' instead of 'wa'. It was helpful that the Farsi and Arabic phrases scattered throughout the novel came accompanied by their meaning in English.
Ateesh draws a careful distinction between the original intent of the Prophet Muhammad in revealing the laws of Islam and how these were later interpreted by fallible human beings. In this way, the reader sees that the protagonist is unfailingly loyal to her Faith, at the same time that she criticizes erroneous interpretations which have crept into the corpus of Islamic jurisprudence over the centuries. In so doing, she demonstrates how to build strong legal cases for defending the rights of women in Islamic courts.
She also points out that Muhammad’s laws and some instructions of the Imams were best adapted to a different time and place. The method that Ateesh suggested to her students for reforming Islam was daring to exercise Ijtihad, which Wikipedia describes in a Shiah context as “applying careful reason in order to uncover the knowledge of what Imams would have done in particular legal situations”. This activity is normally reserved to religious scholars qualified to be named Mujtahid; hence, it was a bold step to open it up to young law students.
The book leaves a more challenging question unanswered, however – what if the laws of the Qur’an are no longer appropriate for a later day and age like ours? For that, the only response, early in the book, is an indignant call to hasten the advent of the Twelfth Imam, a Shiah Messianic Figure equivalent to the Jewish Messiah or the Christian Return of Jesus. Ateesh does not mention that the Twelfth Imam might have the authority to supersede the laws of Islam with new laws. This is a concept brought out by Hasan Balyuzi in his biography of the Báb (George Ronald, 1973), and it merits further analysis in the light of relevant oral traditions.
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