Piety as Gendered Agency: A Study of Jalaseh Ritual Discourse in an Urban Neighbourhood in Iran Author(s): Azam Torab Reviewed work(s):

Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jun., 1996), pp. 235-252 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3034094 . Accessed: 02/12/2012 11:59
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PIETYAS GENDERED AGENCY A STUDY OF JALASEH RITUAL DISCOURSE IN AN URBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD IN IRAN
AZAM ToRAB

andAfrican Schoolof Oriental Studies,University of London

Piouswomen'sprayer meetingsin Teheran areoccasionsforwomen to interpret andtransform dominantIslamicconstructsof gender.My basicpremissis thatin lived experience,individuals andimplementtheirgenderedidentities aremultiplyconstituted becausetheyconstantly interpret according to context.My research attemptsto understand and analysean ethnographic situation in which an individual versionsof gender,yet also speaksand behaves acceptsdominantcultural in ways which contest them. I suggestthatpeople can engageboth with the established cultural models and with a range of other versions of their experience.Thus I present a paradoxical situationin which thereare simultaneousprocessesof complicityas well as resistance.

Introduction

Shi'ism is the principalreligionof Iran.Shi'a ritualsare gender-specific. Men's are mostly mosque-centred,while women organizetheir gatheringsmostly in theiraffairsindependently and to the exclusionof men. their homes, regulating Basedon fieldworkcarriedout in Iranbetween 1992 and 1993 on the collective rituals of groups of pious women, I focus on prayermeetings calledjalaseh which have increasednotablyas partof the religiousrevivalsince the revolution of 1979. The increasein a range of religious activitiesin urban centres was crucialto the success of the revolution(see Axjomand1988:91-3; Fisher 1980; Hegland 1983; Thaiss 1973). Women contributedsignificantlyto this, as could be seen from their demonstrations againstthe Shah and their displayof veiling, which many women adopted for the first time in a revolutionaryspirit. Although there are no accounts of jalaseh prior to the revolution, women as well as nowadaysdiscuss currentsocial and politicalissues in the gatherings, prayand worship (see Adelkhah1991; Kamalkhani 1993). The recent upsurge of women's gatheringshas provided new opportunitiesfor professionalfreelance female religiousleaderscalled 'speakers' (guyandeh), some of whom have gainedwide renown throughthe gatherings they lead. The pious women of my study are mostly mothers of grown-up children. Some are grandmothers. They live in a neighbourhoodof South Teheraninhabitedby lower-level income groups such as small shopkeepers,artisansand - which they define roughlyby lower civil servants. Their local neighbourhood the nearestmajorroads is their entireworld. They go beyond its limits only
Inst.(N.S.) 2, 235-252 J. Roy.anthrop.

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to shrines,to seek specialfor exceptionalreasons,such as to makepilgrimages in the cemeteries.Some dead for their pray or relatives visit ized medical care, duringthe warwith the wounded to attend front to the went also women of the Iraq as their contributionto what was declaredto be a holy war (jihad).The women adherescrupulouslyto prescribedreligiousinjunctions,as well as to a which they performwith dedicated host of other non-obligatoryobservances, fervour.Amongst these non-obligatoryobservancesare the jalaseh,which the by monthly rotationin their homes, mostly on an open-house women arrange basis. These are arenasfor competing claims by groups of pious women as to often on a daily basis, how to be good Muslims.1The women meet regularly, not only becauseof the social supportand freedomof expressionthese settings providein the absenceof men, but also becauseof the immense enjoymentthey derive from a sense of self-esteem, competency and moral and social worth conferredby attendanceat the gatheringsand by becoming more pious. In the field I was amazed at the secure sense of self and well-being of the pious women, and their capacityfor achievingrelativecontrol over their daily lives. recitethe Qur'an,discuss Thejalasehlast two to three hours. The participants religiouspreceptsand the meaningsof the verses of the Qur'an and conclude by consuming food and drink. The gatheringsare dedicated to Shi'a Holy Fatemeh,and his grandson,Imam Beings, most often to the Prophet'sdaughter, Hosseyn, the third Shi'a Imam. The women believe these beings are present during their meetings. By virtue of the belief in Holy presence,as well as the Qur'an recitals, participantsmaintain that the food which they consume is from barakat, 'divine blessing').The gatheringsare interactive, blessed (tabarrok and the discussions,which usuallyexpandto include wider social and political concerns of the day, reveal the women's criticalconsciousness.The speakers who preside over the gatheringsare chosen by the sponsoring hostess. The women have the choice of attending several gatheringsevery day, but they style by her popularity, generallykeep to the speakerof their choice, attracted and social and political orientation. Popular speakersattract about 100-150 women, or as many as spaceallows. Men's ritualsin Iranhave been shown to be effectiveat both supportingand challengingthe establishedorder (see Hegland 1983; Thaiss 1973).2I focus on culturalnotions regarding can be sites for interpreting how women's gatherings gender.I concentrateon a single woman, whom I will call Mrs Omid, a highly respected,establishedand influentialleaderof women's religiousgatheringsin the neighbourhoodof my study My concern is to highlighther multiple expeof gender, by focusing on certain aspects of her riences and understandings and the discourseshe employs duringthe gatheringsshe leads. biography discourses DominantShi'agender ScholarlyShi'a discoursetoday continuallydebateswhat it is to be female and male. Dominant legaldiscourses,which are underscrutinyand reinterpretation scholarsand feministsin Iran(see Mir-Hosseiniforthcominga), by progressive biologicaland constructgenderas being God's creation,and depict it as natural, hence fixed. Two key notions used in this discourse are 'aqland nafs.'Aqlis nafsis the animal part of human usually translatedas 'reason'or 'rationality'; nature,and includespassion,lust and desire.Many religiousscholarsarguethat

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is overruledby emotion. They often use the attribwomen's,reasoningcapacity utes of 'reason'and 'emotion'in a highlygenderedway to define all dimensions of personhood and justify women's exclusion from leading religious posts. Women are,for instance,excludedfrom becomingjudgesand so-calledsources of emulation (mada'e taqlid), who definethe religiouslawsthatencompass everyday life. In effect, this legal discoursedenies women responsiblecontrol over their own lives, for, as Tappernotes (1991: 15), although the notion of 'aqlis it has wider implicationsof social as 'reason'or 'rationality', usually translated In dailylife, one consequenceof this discourseis that men often responsibility. and dismiss some of their denigratewomen's talk as maliciousgossip (qeybat) religious practicesas merely superstitious (khorafat) or un-Islamic novelties (bed'at) (see Betteridge 1980). Women themselves may in certain contexts reiterate these ideas,partlyin orderto confirman identityas a 'good Muslim' as defined by male scholars.Mrs Omid, for instance, declares that one of her majoraims is to educatewomen againstsuperstitiouspracticesand she always warnsparticipants in her gatherings againstengagingin maliciousgossip. The legal model of gender is partlybasedon, and endorsedby, Hazrat-eAli, the first Shi'aImam and son-in-law of the Prophet.In a sermon recordedin an importantsource-book,Ali declaresthat women are deficient in wisdom and faith.3Pious women such as Mrs Omid regardthis book of sermons as 'the brother of the Qur'an'. When I asked Mrs Omid about her views on Ali's statement,she expresslyconfirmedit by sayingthatshe could not deny what Ali had said so clearly. She takesAli's word as truth, becauseshe is devoted to him as part of her faith. Questioning his statement,she declared,would be tantamount to disbelief In compliancewith the receivednotions I have mentioned, Mrs Omid says that 'woman'and 'man'have naturalinbornqualitiesand are suited to different domains and activities.She advocatesstrictsegregation between unrelatedmen and women, includingrestrictionson visual, oral and verbalcontact.In one of with her, she said my conversations
In general, contact between men and women is not right. It is best that women remain amongst themselves.Women naturallywant to flirt with men, it is in their nature.Women have been createdwith a naturalinborn tenderness(letafat).Women's place is in the home, men's place is in society.Women are made for certainthings, men for others. The mixing of men and women in society leads to social disruption,becausethe laws of the Qur'anand the importanceand the dignitywhich it gives to women are neglected.There is no contradiction between stayingat home, takingcare of house and childrenand being educated.

Mrs Omid takesthe position she does, not only as a good Muslim loyal to the social orderand its values,but most importantly becauseof a sense of commitment to her faith.To exist, she must havefaith.It gives certaintyto her thoughts and actionsand is the foundationof her agency.The concept of agencyimplies that individualsare not predetermined by structurebut have the capacityto act effectivelyon their lives (Inden 1990: 23). Agency means autonomy of action, responsibilityand self-definition,and includes the capacityto reinterpretreceived gender models contextually4 My concem is with the relevanceof dominant gender models to the lived experience of women such as Mrs Omid. I argue that there can be several models of genderwithin the same culture, that these may varyboth contextuwithin the individual, ally and biographically and thatthey maybe contradictory

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(Comwall & Lindisfarne 1994; Kandiyoti 1994; Moore 1994; Sanday & Goodenough 1990; Strathern1987). A few exceptionalworks recognizedifferent discourses on gender within Iran, but they still treat women as undifferentiated individuals(see, for example,Mir-Hosseiniin pressa; in press b; Safa-Isfahani1980; Wiright1978). Even if individualsmay subscribe to a dominantgenderdiscourse,this discoursedoes not encompassa perparticular son's entire lived experience. Drawing on Strathern's (1988) notion of 'unbounded','partible'or 'divided'selves, and Moore's (1994) analysisof the experience of multiple subjectivities,I argue that a single subject cannot be equatedwith a single individual.In practice,pious women such as Mrs Omid entertainnotions of personhoodmore complexthanthatdefinedby the version of IslamicgenderdiscourseI havejust described.Their notions include a multitude of ideas concerningthe body, its anatomy,its substances,its sexual and reproductiveactivity,its senses. They also concern motives and intentions (niyyat),action or behaviour('amal),ascribedabilitiesand dispositions,religious knowledge and purity (paki),circumstancesof birth, as well as contactswith non-living beings.Becauseall of these areopen to interpretation, they only gain meaningin specificcontextsand in actualpractice. Individualsinterpretand reconstructtheir gender in a continuous process, picking and choosing from the availablemarkers,although not necessarilyin any conscious or manipulative way. Genderingis about how women and men make their femininitiesand masculinitiesknown to themselvesand each other through sayingand doing things in specific instances.As with identityin general, whether it concems class, age, ethnicity or race, gender is constituted through interpersonalrelationshipsand daily activities, as well as normative processes. Gender is not only fluid and changeablebetween individuals,but also within them: ir specificcontexts,constructionsof cross-sexgender attributes may be exchangedor may merge in a single individual(see vom Bruck in & Lindisfame 1994; Lindisfarne1994; Moore press a; in press b; Comnwall 1994; Strathem1988; 1989). and re-constructionof My other argumentis that processesof interpretation gender inevitablyfeed back into the more dominantmodels. As Moore argues (1994: 81-3), subjectiveexperienceand multiple understandings of genderprovide scope for change, in that the apparentlyfixed underlying schemes are This raisesthe issue of resistance,as constantlychallengedas well as reinstated. well as what is often referred to aswomen's 'complicity', wherebywomen enact and reproducethe stereotypical definitionsof their gender.Resistanceand complicity are not only types of agencybut are also forms or aspectsof subjectivity (Moore 1994: 50). By resistance,I do not necessarilymean overt resistanceor organizedprotest.Like Okely (1991) and Scott (1985), I am concernedprimarily with specificincidentsor communications which may be momentary, fragile and often not even conscious.I wish to highlightprocessesof interpretation and the appropriation of dominantnotions of gender,and to show how these notions are creatively modifiedby experiencing selves. I arguethatreformulations of gender are not only likely to spill over into everydaylife, but produce an effect on those in power.

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Biographical sketch ofMrs Omid Mrs Omid is comfortableabout the variousarenasin which she lives and acts, as a dutiful wife, as a caringand loving mother,and as a respectedprofessional religiousleaderof severalhundredwomen in her local neighbourhood,sought out for adviceby men and women alike. She conveys a sense of completeness, Mrs Omid to her coherence,integrityand well-being. One day I accompanied house aftera meeting of about three hours.We sat cross-leggedon the floor in front of her modest library of religiousbooks, sortingout herbs for the evening meal. For the first time I saw her without a head scarf,exposing her full and shiny darkhennaedhair.Therewas hardlya creaseon her face even though she was almostseventy.As I tried to engageher in conversation, the telephonerang constantly.In that short time she gave advice over the phone on questions alliance.She also declined concerningreligiouspreceptsand a suitablemarriage an invitation to lead a gatheringbecause her time was alreadybooked, and unwillingly performed a bibliomancyfor the husband of a member of her gatherings concerningwhether he should embarkon a new businessventure. Mrs Omid attended school up to sixth grade, but her mother was against furtherstudy since, in those days, she said, it was consideredto be like giving one's daughterover to illicit sexualrelations(zena).Mrs Omid was chosen by her husbandwho had seen herwalkingto and from school with othergirls. She regrettedthat he was uneducated,but told me, 'I cannot complain,becausehe is very pious. He praysday and night'. She addedin a jocular tone, 'He never lifts his head in case his glancefalls on an unrelated woman. He has become so used to this that I think he cannot even rememberwhat I look like'. She told me that she alwayswanted to study and was lucky that her husbandcomplied with her wish and allowed her to continue her education at home with a clergyman.Being very pious, she would have had to adhere to the rules of genderavoidanceand strictveiling in this man'spresence.Islamiclaw regulates relationshipsbetween those who are mahram, permitted to interact without not permittedto interact rules of segregation,and those who are na-mahram, unless rules of strict veiling and avoidanceare applied.Avoidancewas clearly impractical duringregularface-to-facecontactwith her clergymanteacher.She took a bold initiativeandcontracted between him and her a temporary marriage child daughter, nim a marriage of the non-sexualkind calledcolloquiallysiqeh-e taneh bebala(lit. 'temporary marriage abovemid-body').In this way she created a permittedrelationship between herselfand her teacher,now also her son-inlaw. Legally,the permittedrelationshipremainsvalid between mother-in-law and son-in-law even after the marriagecontract is terminated.Although the institution of temporarymarriage bears a social stigma (see Haeri 1989; Mirand creativeuse Hosseini 1993), in this casea woman madea sociallyacceptable of it in order to furtherher educationand piety. It was not until her mid-thirtiesthat Mrs Omid devoted her life to religion. After the sudden death of two of her four children, she fell into a severe depressionand found solace by turningto religion.She has been a speakerfor twenty or more years.To her followers,her appeallies in her piety and moderation. Her strengthlodges in her forcefulpersonality. Her gatheringsare always crowdedby admirersdrawnby her verbaldexterity, her wit and quickness,and aboveall her ascribedspirituality. All this lends a qualityof truthto her speeches

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which are sanctionedby the and sayings,especiallyin the contextof gatherings, women's belief in the presence of holy spirits.Her authorityis accompanied People say she is humble, since she insists on being treated with camaraderie. as her friends, and indeed she like others. She refers to the other participants has known many of them from childhood. She herself leads a simple life. Her house, which has only the barenecessities,is open to all who wish to visit her and seek her advice. Faithand intention Mrs Omid is small, slim and full of energy.'I get my strength (niru)from my faith (inan)', she told me. I realizedthatshe perceivespower as spiritualenergy and well-being, constructingthe notion of power through her faith. By giving and holy her whole being to her faith, she hopes to acquiresalvation(rastegari) blessing, which have positive consequencesboth in this world and the next. in the gatherings,Mrs Omid constructsher piety Like her fellow participants the and faith aroundvariousritualpracticesand severalkey ideas, in particular as a conscious or unconscious intenwhich can be translated notion of niyyat, tion, wish, will or motive.5 For her, intention is crucial in constructing personhood, because she perceives niyyatas a means of understandingand her relationship to God, to others and to herself Without pure or transforming sincere intention one cannot hope to attainsalvationor acquireholy blessing. Pronouncing an intention is enjoined for many religious acts. For example, one must declarean intention.When I sought permission before a dailyprayer, from Mrs Omid to attend her gatherings,the first question she posed concerned my intention.Eachtime a personattendsor sponsorsa gathering,he or she pronouncesan intention.Intentionis consideredto be more importantthan the act itself For example,in certainsituationsa person canjustify actingcontraryto Shi'abelief and practiceas long as his or her intention is proper. Intentionis alwayspresent,consciousor not. Even fate (qesmat)is not without cause and can be controlledwith properintent. In fact, the women only talkof fate once an event has become inevitableand not before. For example, Mrs Omid says that the fate of an illegitimatechild is to have less predispositionto faiththan a legitimateone, becauseit inheritsthe untamedspiritof its procreawoman againstadoptinga child becauseof the tors. She advisedan unmarried risk involved. She also stressed,however,that such personscan transformtheir unrulydispositionthroughproperintent and action ('amal). Intentionis a bridgethat links the inner and outer self People'sbehaviouror action ('amal)is often takenas an indicationof their inner intent.7Participants in the gatheringsoften judge Mrs Omid by her purity of intentions (khulus-e niyyat).Purity and sincerityof intention are an importantsource of trust and respect between people, and advancea reputationfor piety. Since only God knows a person'strue intention- which can be good or bad - people'sjudgements can only be subjectiveand open-ended.In some cases, intention can be When somea device for negotiatingthe right to independentaction (ekhtiar).8 of an the outcome leadingto one declaresan intention,it has a bindingquality, act. As Mrs Omid says,an intention must be followed by action ('amal). Intention is established'in the heart',the seat of emotion, but only a person is thought to be capableof conscious intent. Intention 'ripein reason'('aql-res)

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of maturity, responsibilityand reason,as thereforehas the basic characteristics well as emotion. It means that a person'saction is propelledby a combination of the intellect and emotion. Whilst according to most Islamic discourses of intenwomen's reasonis overruledby emotion, Mrs Omid's understanding tion implies that women are fully capable of rational thought as well as emotion. To her, intentionis not only a meansto faithand a way of establishing her relationshipwith God, but is also a rationaland controllingprocess. Although to Mrs Omid faith means being subjectto the will of God, she speaks of intention in ways that imply that individualsalso have wills of their own. Intention is thus her way of involdng an inner 'power', not in the sense of control or domination, but of enablement (cf Fardon 1985; Strathern1988: 119), of being a self-governingagent capableof independentthought and action. Mrs Omid conceives of intention as the source of decision-makingand ultimate responsibility,in a manner correspondingmore to the notion of or 'efficacy' than'powerover' (cf Nelson & Viight 1995:7-10; Strathern 'agency' 1988: 115 sqq.). Thus, to Mrs Omid, intention is enabling, generativeand transformative. It can transformnot only relationshipsbetween people, and between them and God, but also the personalexperienceof putatively'natural' facts such as gender.In other words, intention may be a key to understanding of, or in some respects even how Mrs Omid produces novel interpretations reverses,dominantculturaldefinitionsof 'reason'and 'emotion'. and 'emotion' Interpreting themodelof 'reason' of 'reason' During the gatherings,Mrs Omid provides novel interpretations ('aqi)and 'emotion' (nafs).She carefullydistinguishestwo sides of the notion of which 'emotion'. One side, she says, consists of a general desire (shahwat), women possess more than men, and the other side is an uncontrolled and men. instinctivesexuallust (qarizeh-yejensi), which generallyonly characterizes Sexuallust is encompassedin the notion of hiz ('lustfulgaze'),a word used only for men who gaze at women outside marriagewith lust and carnal desire.9 People do not only say that a man'ssight is hiz, but also that the man himself is hiz. Accordingly, Mrs Omid and her followers claim that becausemen are hiz they lack control, so that it is not men but women themselves who must control morality through modesty (hejab)and by keeping sexual segregation intact.For example,Mrs Omid and her followersinsist that all those who wish to attend their gatheringswear the long black veil, a particular expressionof modesty.They wear it well down over the foreheadand diagonallyacross the face, with only one eye free to see, in order to envelop themselves fully from the gaze of unrelatedmen. They scorn the overallsand headscarfintroduced afterthe revolution,sayingthatthey are undignifiedand disclose the full face to male gaze. This contrastswith the normativestanceMrs Omid offered me in in which she saidwomen want naturally to flirtwith men. Here, conversation, she subvertsthe behavioural constructthatwomen are the source of seduction and temptation (fetna),a doctrine often used to justify male control over women. I will illustratethe constructionof the genderedgaze (hiz) as a male attribute through a concrete example. During their gatherings,even the presence of smallboys, who may accompanytheir mothers,is at times controversial. In one

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case, some participants in a gatheringdecided that a six-year-oldboy had to leave the room where the women were meeting. Mrs Omid defended this decision. She recalled that a boy of that age had once told his father, after returningwith his mother from a gathering,that he had found one woman particularly attractive.She meant that once a boy is capableof making such distinctions,he must be excludedfrom the femaleworld, even if not yet physically and legallyadult. Here is an instanceof how the categoriesof 'child' and 'adult'are contextual.By making 'gaze' an issue, the women defined personhood by partialembodiment,takingan attributeof a body to indicatea moral state and masculine identity.In other words, they implied that gaze is a genderedintention,the capacity for distinguishing femaleanatomysubjectively and In this context the women were, in effect, takingpartin a process qualitatively. of gendering.They made masculinityknown to themselvesby constructingits associationwith attributes such as lust and desirewhich scholarshave conventionallyassociatedmore with women. Accordingto Mrs Omid's teachings,a morallyproper person is one who is balanced.She privilegesneitherreasonnor emotion, but considersthatboth are necessaryfor faith. This is suggestedby the terminologyshe uses, which indicates that bodily locations such as the heart are sources of both thought and feeling, as in the case of intention. Mrs Omid scorns those religious leaders who elicit exaggerated emotionalreactionsor inspirefear by warningsofJudgment Day.During ritualsof mourning,insteadof franticor vehement weeping and shrieking,which Mrs Omid thinks have an element of artifice,she advocates control of emotions and the proper emotional state encompassedin the notion of huzn, which includes elements of pure inner grief and sorrow, a stirring of the heart, and may evoke tears. Such tears are a response to the spiritualawarenessand intent of the worshipper,as well as a response to the pleasing sounds of proper Qur'inic recitation.Huzn is associatedwith terms God such as humility (khushu'), conveyingan awarenessof one's state vis-d-vis (see Nelson 1980: 184 sqq., 198). By emphasizinghuzn, Mrs Omid confirms women's abilityfor self-controland the need to mastertheir emotionalstateby Mrs Omid also emphasizesthe use of reason channellingit towardsspirituality. and intellect,employingconcepts such as understanding (shenakht), perception as means towards spirituality(c? Adelkhah 1991: (dark)and logic (mantegh) 108-9). She teaches that one should aim to create an inner virtue through proper intention, in order to be a religiouslyinformed, highly self-controlled and responsibleperson.This way of constructingspirituality operatesas a form of enrichment,in that a person can engagein reasonedassessmentas well as an unquestionedfaith. If scholarsconstructthe category'woman' as deficient in reason,Mrs Omid offers a differentevaluationin this context. Mrs Omid constantlyreaffirmsthese new interpretaDuring the gatherings, tions of gender through debate, questions and answers, and notably also through humorous anecdotes.No matterhow monological Mrs Omid's talk are not may be, it has a dialogicalovertone (cf Bakhtin1986: 92-3). 'Listeners' passive, but take an active part in assessingand interpretingwhat they hear. Their comments, questions, smiles or laughter,and often loud choruses of of Mrs Omid's talk,are signs salavat (greetingrituals)which show appreciation In the following example,Mrs Omid of an activelyresponsiveunderstanding.

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parodiesmale piety and reason.Her humour alwaysdelights her largecongregations,myself included.

A devout hermit, envious of a man whom he saw prayingwithout a breakfor food and water, decided to ask how he managedto do this. The man replied that he had engaged in illicit and then repented,and since God favoursthose who repent,it was God's sexualrelationships will that he can now prayday and night. The hermitset out to find the town's harlot,in order to commit a sin and then repent, so that he would likewise be favouredby God. When he arrived,the surprisedharlot asked him what had led a pious man like him to her. When he told her the story,she told him, 'Don't you see that that man who prayednon-stop could not be anyone else but the devil himself who wanted to lead a pious hermit like you astray?'

In this anecdote, a woman, and a sinner at that, is shown to possess more reason than a pious hermit. It revealsthe ambiguityof the notions of 'piety'. here it is presentedas 'Whilst asceticismis otherwisethought to be praiseworthy, and hypocritically pious ratherthan motivatedby being ridiculouslysuperficial properintention and faith. to contradicther own In the contextsI havedescribed,Mrs Omid may appear of the sayingsof Imam Ali regardingthe deficiency of previous interpretation women in wisdom and faith - sayingswhich she otherwise accepts without question. She is merely switching to anotherlevel of experiencedtruth. Here, in literaltruth,but as a kind Mrs Omid seems to treatfaithnot as belief (e'teqad) of parable conveyingsymbolictruth.To have faithdoes not mean that she must content of that faith. True 'commitment'or be persuadedby the propositional faith means there is no need to reasonwith the content of that to which one is profoundlycommitted.10This certainlyseemed true of Mrs Omid's attitude towardsthe sayingsof ImamAli. Mrs Omid often uses examples from her personal life, and these have a in her gatheringsknow each special resonancesince most of the participants husband are a favouritetheme. She preStories about her elderly other well. sents him as simple-mindedbut exceedinglypious. 'My husband,as you know, is very pious and goes to the mosque daily for his prayers.One day he came backand told me that he counted all the backcushions, so I askedhim, "What did the preacherhaveto say?" She impliedthat,pious as he is, he could not have attendedto the sernon if he spent his time countingthe cushions.Mrs Omid's male piety.It also countof her husbandis a way of parodying joculartreatment ers the usual displaysof deferenceby the women towardsmen, and is made woman. The privacyof female space easierby her statusas a post-menopausal and the absenceof men allowswomen to judge and assessmen's inadequacies. Mrs Omid particularly enjoyed recounting an incident in which, during a a point in sermon at their local mosque, the male preacherhad misinterpreted the religiousprecepts.Her pupils reportedthis to her and Mrs Omid contacted the preacher and convinced him of his mistake. In his next sermon, the for his mistake,acknowwas obliged to apologizeto the congregation preacher ledging Mrs Omid for pointing it out to him. Thus Mrs Omid not only assertedher superiorknowledgeof a religioustext, but in this instanceopenly challengedthe usuallymasculinizedreligiousauthority. when she gets annoyed- for instance,at One of Mrs Omid's catch-phrases or question- is, 'Weare "empty" what she considersto be a stupidor irrelevant This, as with the phrase 'just like a "total" women' (zan-e khali,tamam-zan). woman' in British society,says everythingyet tells us nothing (Moore 1994:

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83). Its implicationis that there must also be other contexts in which a woman is not quite 'total'or 'empty'.Moreover,when I challengedMrs Omid about women having less rationalcapacitythan men, she retorted,'There are exceptions!' She acknowledgesthat not all women are the same, and that different situations call for women to express different qualities and modes of being, We havehere, as Strathwith masculinity. even those qualitiesusuallyassociated ern puts it (1989: 166), a contrast between the categoricaldenigration of women. Mrs Omid's denigrafemales,and a contextualevaluationof particular tion is not so much of 'women' but of the qualities that they stand for in emotion and other feminized attributes. dominantdiscourse:irrationality, relationships through ofgender Ascriptions As soon as Mrs Omid enters a meeting, moving quickly to her place at the stops as soon as she announcesquietly, front, everyonestandsup. Conversation 'In the name of God', in her deep, strong voice. During the gatheringsher followers and friends sharplyrebukethose, mostly newcomers,who converse whilst she is deliveringher talk.They breakher sugarlumps so she can place them with ease in her mouth, they watch for her every move and mood and notice the slightest signs of strain. It is on such days that she usually allows herself to smoke a cigarettewhen the gatheringis concluded. She is the only one who smokes. Although some of the participantssmoke when amongst themselves,they generallydo not smoke in front of men, nor in the presenceof of modwhilst women abidestrictlyby the requirements Mrs Omid. Similarly, esty by wearing veils in the presence of unrelated men, I have frequently observed that even outside the context of a religious gatheringwomen cover their head with a veil in Mrs Omid's presence,althoughless strictlythan they unlike men, these women do not would in front of unrelatedmen. Ordinarily, behave in a deferentialmannerin any markedway when amongst themselves. They do so in front of Mrs Omid not only becauseit is their way of showing becausein theirview Mrs Omid possessesattributes respect,but also, implicitly, which Islamiclegaldiscoursesmasculinize- in this case,authorityoverwomen. has here become In Strathem's(1988: 111) terminology,a male characteristic by a woman. In otherwords, the exclusive detachedfrom men and appropriated female world is not wholly detachedfrom the male world. Relationsbetween women rest partlyon relationsbetweenwomen and men. at gatheringsalwaystold me that Mrs Omid is just My fellow participants ('adel)and knowledgeable.By virtue of her community standing,she is often in familydisputes.During one gathering,I heardparticipants askedto arbitrate which, accordingto the Shari'a ask her to act as a prayerleader (pish-namaz), law,women are not allowed to do. An importantcondition for being a prayer as too emotionalfor the leaderis to be recognizedasjust. Women are regarded task. Identityis, however,an outcome of interactionand not of some attribute one is supposedto 'have'.In this context,Mrs Omid is recognizedby her fellow Nonetheless, Mrs participantsas having qualities of justice and rationality. Omid felt obliged to refuse, sayingthat it was a male taskand therebypublicly conforming to the religious injunctions and the corresponding notions of she saidjestingly,'Don't you see, I womanhood. In answerto the participants am a woman like you, I sew, I knit and I cook; moreover,I'm not just; if you

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don't believe me, then try me out by getting my husband a co-wife'. This attracted a sympathetic chucklefrom those present,for they all know the plight of most women who have co-wives. Thus Mrs Omid supportedthe establishedorderby declining the requestto act as prayerleader,but also underminedit. By makingajoke of her refusal,she subtlycriticizedand challengednotions of malejustice by alludingto a law that allows men to take more than one wife and therebyto cause women distress and anxiety.The reactionof all those presentshowed that they understoodthe double meaningsinvolved.Here we have a playwith ideas ofjustice: justice as defined by the male legal discourse,versus women's actualexperienceof this justice in interaction. We can speakof the existenceof multiplefemininitiesand masculinitieswithin the same context. There is a play between the dominant gender dogma - that only men can be just because they can control their - and women's actualexpeemotion throughtheir superiorreasoningcapacity rience that a woman such as Mrs Omid can be just. Dominant categoriesare challenged, as well as endorsed, through reference to a fixed relationshipof differencebetween women and men (c? Moore 1994:60-1). In a culturewhich defines strictgender norms, conformityprovidessecurity for agency. As Holloway (1984: and the social recognitionthat is a prerequisite 238), Kandiyoti(1988) and Moore (1994: 64) suggest,one reasonwhy people takeup one subjectposition ratherthan anotheris a vested interestin being, for instance, a good mother, wife or, in this case, a good religious leader who conforms to male-defined injunctions. The idea is neatly expressed by one pious woman in witty rhyming verse: At times accordingto God/ at times accordingto the Prophet/at times accordingto situation/at times accordingto logic' (gahibakhoda/gahi barasul/gahi ba 'ada/gahi ba 'usul).Complianceis often the result of rationalassessmentof the situationand its viable alternatives. It is not alwaysa matterof simple choice, nor does it automatically entailagreement. In order to maintaincontrol over her life, a pious woman such as Mrs Omid submits to the will of God and to male authorities on divine laws on this earth. Even compliancecan be a source of power if it is convertedto one's advantage. Participants in Mrs Omid's gatheringsarriveearly in order to sit directlyin front of her. They say they want to see her face, which they consider imbued with spirituallight (nur);in Islamic discourses,an expressionof divinely inspired knowledge. Mrs Omid says that this knowledge is a light which God guides into the heart of those that He wills. Participants say Mrs Omid is favouredby divine blessing. Although Mrs Omid pursues her own religious considerthat intellectualpursuitand education,both she and other participants experiencealone are not adequatepaths to knowledge and truth, which only God possesses.In their view, faith in the Qur'an is the basis of all reasonand a It prerequisitefor full personhood.It enhances selfhood by creatingcertainty. means having faith in God's laws, which only those considered inspired by in Mrs Omid's gatherings divine blessingare able to impart.Participants do not generally study religious texts themselves. Truth is establishedthrough their relationshipswith her. They say that looking at her face opens up their own baz besheh), that Mrs Omid inspires them (elhammibakhsheh), spirit (ruheshan that her presence brings their spiritjoy (ruheshan shadmisheh), or literallythat their heart,stomachor soul becomesjoyful when joined with her (ruh,delshad

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Thus, an importantaspect of personhastand). khanom vaqti misheh peypasteh-e which is constructedthroughembodimentand can hood concernsa spirituality by proximity. be transmitted throughfood, touch and particularly can be transmitted Perceivedspirituality breath(as a carrierof the sound of Qur'anicverses).A follower of Mrs Omid once insisted that I eat a piece of cake left over on her plate, sayingthat it had been 'blessed'.One woman recalledhow at a religiousgatheringin the recent past, women drankfrom the tea cup of a clergyman,because they believed he had infused the tea with 'blessing' by drinking from it. In normal circumstances,one would never drink out of someone else's cup, because liquid can often ask Mrs Omid to prayfor Participants carrypollution as well as purity.11 the sick, or to place her hand over an achingbody partand recite a prayer,and at times they place a bottle of medicine in front of her so that it becomes imbued with Holy Words as she recites the Qur'an. All of this Mrs Omid Amongst unorthoherselfconsidersunorthodox,but lets herselfbe persuaded. male streetprocessionsinvolvingecstatic dox practicesshe counts the elaborate These are the highlight of male religious activityin the lunar self-flagellation. month of Moharram,when people commemorate the martyrdomof Imam Hosseyn (see Hegland 1983;Pinault 1992;Thaiss: 1973). Because of her ascribedqualities,Mrs Omid can act as a mediator,offering commentarieson the Qur'an verses and hadith(the sayings attributedto the of how religious injunctions Prophet). She offers spontaneousinterpretations should be implementedin specificsituations,in line with modern realities,and accordingto the problemsfacedby women who pose questionsduringgatherwho do not at present have to have any ings. In this way, freelancepreachers, bypassthe requirementthat only offito lead gatherings, official qualifications ciallyrecognizedscholarshavethe rightto interprettexts and mediatesalvation. of the same texts on the This gives rise to a varietyof differentinterpretations part of competing local female religious leaders.Mrs Omid, for instance, denounces those leaderswho, she claims, are not sufficiently grounded in the religious source-booksto be able to offer informed commentariesand explain in Mrs Omid's the precepts,so thatthey only misleadpeople. Since participants gatheringsregardher as informed and her intentions as anchoredin faith, any she may make are respectedand seen as leamed novel textual interpretations ratherthan as un-Islamicnovelties.Thus local leadersare an importantsource in dailylife. of rules as practised For example, Mrs Omid told the following story during a gatheringin response to a question concerning the religious injunction of tamkin.This injunction, which has various interpretationsin legal discourses (see MirHosseini 1993; in press a), demands that women obey their husbands. A askedwhether a woman had to obey a husbandwho did not abide participant neglect of religiouspracticedoes not mean by religious injunctions.Generally, the pious women consider any Muslim. be a to However, one ceases that to be or unbeliever(kafar), infidel an who obligations Muslim neglectsreligious She a historical example. avoided. Mrs Omid answered indirectlyby giving of when the Protest leading Tobacco 1890, referredto an occasion during the who opposedthe Shah'spolicy of the time, Ayatollah Shirazi, religiousauthority of giving tobacco concessions to Britain, issued a religious decree (fatwa),

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banningthe use of tobacco.The Shah, however,continued to smoke his water pipe. The Shah'swife, a pious woman, told him, 'The same man that rendered our relationship legal throughbindingour marriage contracthas now rendered our relationshipillegal through this decree'.In other words, she withheld her sexualfavoursfrom her husbandas a way of inducinghim to comply not only with the religiousdecree,but also with her own wishes. We are here talking about a precept that demands that women should not withhold sexual favoursfrom their husbands,except in special circumstances relating,for example, to their physicalcondition or to times of prayer.Pious women would totallyadhereto this injunction.But, by virtue of her authority and the degreeof ambiguityof this injunction,Mrs Omid was, by means of this a way of resistance story, sanctioning open to women,butwithoutopenlychallenging the injunction.The ensuing discussionamong the women pointed out that At the same time, Mrs Omid's obediencedoes not necessarily mean agreement. story subtlyquestionedthe authorityof politicalleaders,in this case the Shah. In the years immediatelyafter the revolution, Mrs Omid declined official invitations,accompaniedby promise of financialreward and widespreadrenown, to conduct largepublic gatheringsfor women. She prefersthe relative autonomy provided by gatheringsheld in private homes. 'I don't do it for afterthe revolumoney or fame, but only so that people learna little; anyway, I did not want to become an tion they have mixed politics with religion and official spokesperson'.Although she draws a strict line between politics and religion,her talksalwaysencompasswider social and politicalissues, which she weaves into her commentariesusuallyby subtle allusion and innuendo. Ambiguous speech or doubleentendre is a device that not only protects her, if overheard by inquisitiveears,but allowsopen-endedinterpretation of her statements. Mrs Omid often revertsto speech forms such as anecdotes,jokes and rhetoricalquestioning, or avoids politicallyloaded questions by replying, for instance, 'I don't know, ask the source that claims this'. Martyrdom,for instance,is a highly prized Shi'a ideal. But the followingjoke, which Mrs Omid told in a gathering,subtly shows the folly of invokingthe notion of martyrdom as an image of masculinity.
A young man was encouragedto go to the war front between Iran and Iraq.He was told, 'If you fall you will be a martyr and then you will go directly to paradisewhere beautiful paradisal nymphs awaityou'. The young man replied,'In this case I see no need to go to the front, becauseat home I have my own paradisal nymph awaitingme'.

The wry smiles or laughterwhich followed such jokes, do not, as Douglas observes (1991: 91-116), occur in a vacuum but flow from an awarenessat some level - conscious or not - of an element of subversiveness and momentary freedom when other ways of structuringreality are being suggested. A 'joke'concerningmartyrdomalso has a specialtragicresonanceamongst these women, many of whom have sons who fell in the war. Even though Mrs Omid's talks funnel interpretation in a certain direction, ambiguityallows those present to specify their own meaningsand form their own conclusions by implicitlydrawingon their own stock of knowledge and experience.As 'listeners'searchfor the meaningof statements,they createthe meaning they themselves discover.This is a way in which people construct social reality(see Schieffelin 1985). Once the women in these gatheringsdraw

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their own conclusions,these may spill over into everyday life. The effect of this on those in power is highlightedby the recent official plans to bringwomen's gatheringsunder state control, for instance,by introducingcertification for the speakers.These plans indicatethat for the first time, women's talk is gaining wider politicalimportanceand those in power recognizethe subversivepotential of women's ritualdiscourse. Conclusion Pious women such as Mrs Omid commit themselves to religious practicein single-sex gatheringsas a way of securing holy blessing and gaining relative control over their lives. They constructideasof faith and intention in ways that sustain and dignify their actions, and also allow a sense of well-being and agency. Throughtheir ritualdiscussionsand performances, the women can alter themselvesand their circumstances, as well as those of others, in a positiveway in this world and the next. The ethnography of Mrs Omid shows how multiple femininitiesand masculinitiescan exist parallelto each other accordingto context. Similarly, unquestionedfaith and intellectualactivitycan co-exist happily. The contextualplay between these seemingly contradictory manifestationsof identity constantlychallenges,but also reinstates,the establishedorder. This play entails different types of agency and different aspects of subjectivity.I suggestthat notions of intentionand faith can constituteforms of resistanceby versionsof genderwithin certainstrucinterpreting and challengingestablished 'Subversion' turalconstraints. may be too stronga word, and it is never used by the women concerned. Rather than contest the dominant discourses, the and transcendthem through their particular constructions women appropriate
of piety.

NOTES This article is part of my PhD researchin progress.Earlierversions were presented at the in Economic and Social Historifourth seminarof the EuropeanGraduateSchool for Training cal Research(ESTER) held at the University of Bielefeld in October 1994, the Development StudiesAssociationconferenceheld at the University of Yorkin May 1995, and the seminarof Researchon Women at the Universityof Oxford in June 1995. I the Centre for Cross-cultural at these meetings as I am to Gabriellavom am gratefulfor the comments made by participants for their helpful Bruck, TanyaHarrod, Mary Hegland, Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Susan WTright readingsof earlierdrafts.My special thanks go to Nancy Lindisfarneand RichardTapperfor their continued intellectualsupportand criticalinsights into all my works throughoutmy rein their searchtraining.I am entirelyin the debt of the women who allowed me to participate gatherings. I Two other studies have been made ofjalasehgatheringsin Iran, revealingthe multiple self(1993). Other studies focus definitions of a 'good Muslim'. See Adelkhah(1991); Kamalkhani see Hegland on similar rituals amongst Muslim women in Pakistanand former Yugoslavia; (1995a;1995b;in press) and Sorabji(1994). 2 There are as yet no extended ethnographicstudies of women's rituals in Iran. The main eNistingstudies are, to my knowledge,Adelkhah(1991: 131-155); Betteridge(1980);Jamzadeh (1980). (1993); Safa-Isfahani & Mills (1986); Kamalkhani 3 Imam Ali's saying is recordedin the 79th sermon (khotbeh) the collecof Nahj-ol-Bataqeh, youngtion of his sayings.It was deliveredfollowingan incidentin which Ayesheh,the Prophet's est wife, took to battle againstAli. This sermon has been much debated.Some commentators

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focus on the context, saying that Ali's words concerned only Ayesheh; others focus on the appliesto all women (Mir-Hosseiniin press a). wordingof the sermonand say his statement 4 It is unfortunate that even recent accounts of Muslim women continue to focus on between the two as a given ratherthan attempt'women' and 'Islam',and treatthe relationship ing to understandthe interactionsbetween gender and the different manifestationsof Islam within the same society. See, for example, some of the contributionsto Afkhami & Friedl (1994) and El-Solh & Mabro (1994). For criticalreviews of these see Lindisfarne(1995); Torab (1995; in press). 5 Littleattentionhas been given to the notion of niyyat. See Fischer(1980:63-4), Mir-Hosseini (1993: 169, 184) and for the Moroccancontext see Laghzaoui(1992: 89-97) and Rosen (1984: 47 sqq.). 6 The Shi'ite doctrine of taqieh('dissimulation')allows dissimulationfor certain purposes, such as to avoid disputesbetween Shi'itesand Sunnis (see Fischer1980 68-70; Fischer& Abedi 1990:291-2). 7 Shi'a tradition,includingmysticalpoets such as Farid-al-din Attarand Hafez, gives the inpredominanceover the outer meaning (zaher)(cf Pinault 1992: 31 sqq.). ner meaning (baten) Beeman (1986) has made an extensive study of Iraniannotions of the 'external'(zaher),the constant'core' of changeablepublic aspectsof social action and speech, and the 'inner' (baten) integrityand piety. In Beeman'sview, the 'inner/outer'paradigmis the key to understanding interpersonalrelationships,and the ways in which notions of self and other are relative to of particularsituations (see also Bateson et al. 1977). Beeman's evaluationand understanding accountrelies solely on local perceptionsof the inner and outer dimensionsof the self without frameworkto explore personhood.The notions of 'divided providingan independentanalytical (Moore 1994), which I adopt in this article, selves' (Strathern1988) and 'multiplesubjectivities' of the 'inner'and argueagainstthe idea of an impermeableinner 'core' and the rigid separation 'outer'self 8 For instance, a woman may declare her intention to go on pilgrimageto a shrine. Her husbandcan legally forbid her if he disagrees,becausein many cases her right to independent is curtailedby law (see Wright1978 for other contexts of the notion of ekhtiar). action (ekhtiar) strongerpoHowever, if the woman tells him of her intention, she is placed in a considerably sition than if she were merely seeking his permission.Mir-Hosseini (1993: 169, 184) presentsa case in which intention becomes an importantcriterionfor evaluatingthe outcome of an act and for passinglegaljudgments. 9 Religious leadersconstructthe eye as an active sexual and corruptingforce. They have issued 'commandmentsfor looking' based on the idea that certainlooks are not permitted.In a speech, AyatollahKhomeyni said: 'By means of the eyes they [the Shah's government] corruptedour youths. They showed such and such women on televisionand corruptedour youth' (Naficy 1994: 132). AyatollahAli Meshkini makes a similar statement: 'Looking is rape by means of the eyes ... whether the vulva admitsor rejectsit, that is, whether actualsexual intercourse takesplace or not' ( Naficy 1994: 141). Lorius (in press) demonstrateshow the eye can subvertgenderedidentities. 10Much anthropological writing opposes belief and knowledge.For an extensive overviewof suggestedthat religionis, of its essence, not perthis opposition,see Good (1994). Kierkegaard suasion of the truth of a doctrine,but 'commitment'to a position.We cannot attainour identwist that links faith to identity by just believingsomethingplausible.This is the existentialist tity ratherthan to evidence. If commitmentis the issue, there is no need to be reallytroubled by any logical difficultiesattachingto the content of that to which one is committed (Gellner 1992:3-4). 11Purity (pak-i)and impurity(nejasat) - which correspondto permitted(halal)and forbidden between unrelatedmen and women that are permitand, by extension,to relationships (haram), - can be transmittedby various conduits such as and not permitted(namahram) ted (mahram) liquids (milk, water, blood). Details of these rules are part of the religious preceptsset out in taqlid(lit. 'source the treatise(resaleh) of leadingreligiousscholarswho have the rankof matja'e of emulation').For example,when a pure object comes into contactwith a wet impurity(such as blood), the pure will be contaminated. Conversely,ritualablutionwith water rendersimpurity into purity.Accordingto an account attributedto the Prophet, in order to profess their

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allegiancesome women placed their hands in a bowl of water instead of touching the Prophet himself,who was in a prohibitedrelationship with them.

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La pi6t6 comme force sociale marquee par la difference sexuelle: etude du discours ritueljalaseh dans un quartier urbain en Iran
R6sumu C'est au cours des assembl6espour la pri6reque les femmes pieuses de Teheran interpr6tent et transformentles sch6mas dominants de la pens6e musulmane sur la difference sexuelle et l'identite de genre. Partantdu principe que les individus interpretent et r6alisent leur identite a partirde leur experience v6cue et en fonction du contexte social dans lequel ils voit laconstitutionde l'individucomme un ph6nomene multiple. se trouventengag6s,l'auteur L'auteurcherche a comprendre et analyser une situation ethnographique caracteris6epar une acceptationdes versions culturelles dominantes de la diff6rencesexuelle qui n'empeche pourtant pas la contestation au niveau de l'expression et du comportement. Il est sug6r6 que les gens peuvent comprendreleur exp6riencetantI partirde modeles culturelspr66tablis que de versions alternatives.Cet article pr6sente donc une situation paradoxaled6termin6e par l'6laborationsimultan6e de processus de complicit6 et de resistance.

Street, School andAfrcan Studies,Thornhaugh and Sociology, of Oriental ofAnthropology Department LondonWClH OXG, U.K Square, Russell

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