Not Feminism, Human Solidarity: Qurrat al-'~Ayn Tahirih in Early Historical Drama

Qurrat al-'Ayn Tahirih has long been associated with feminism and early agitation for women’s rights in Iran and elsewhere. These articulations fly in the face of her repeated construction in the historical work of her contemporaries as the condition of the new. Qurrat al-'Ayn Tahirih was a dramatic and messianic player. And it was out of the messianism on which she acted that “the new” came into being. This essay studies her unveiling at the Badasht conclave in the work of her chroniclers as a sacred performance.

Duke Scholars

Author Negar Mottahedeh Literature