Rage Against the Veil: The Courageous Life and Death of an Islamic Dissident [Hardcover]

Parvin Darabi (Author), Romin P. Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

On 21 February 1994, a gesticulating and screaming woman entered a crowded public square in Tehran, removed her government-mandated veil and full coat, poured gasoline on her body and lit herself on fire. The crowd watched in horror as this woman, who had shouted, 'Death to tyranny! Long live freedom!', committed a slow, painful suicide in a last, desperate attempt to make the world aware of the slave-like conditions of women living in Iran. A shockwave was felt in the American medical and feminist communities as well as in the Iranian political regime when the media reported that the self-appointed martyr was well-respected Dr Homa Darabi, a lifelong advocate of civil rights and the first Iranian ever to be accepted into the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Darabi had risen from a student activist to a civil rights leader and moved on to a brilliant career in medicine as a premier psychiatrist, teaching at the University of Tehran, and establishing the first clinic in Iran to treat children's mental disorders. Darabi's sister Parvin, an activist and writer since her immigration to California in 1964, was left with only questions the day her sister took her own life. And those questions led to a careful examination of Homa's life in the shadow of an oppressive Muslim regime, where the intelligent and outspoken Dr Darabi courageously tried to make a difference. Masterful storytellers, Parvin, and her son, Romin P Thomson, vividly recreate Homa's childhood in Iran in the politically tempestuous '50s and '60s - a time of limited resources, tensions, and religiously sanctioned child abuse. They remember Homa's early yearnings for justice; the battle for democracy during the Shah's regime; and her marriage, which began as a loving partnership and ended under Khomeini in disaster. They unflinchingly recount the stonings, beatings, rapes, and executions of women, all performed in the name of God - outrageous abuses that Dr. Homa Darabi tried to expose to the world through her own final act of desperation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As you read this heart-breaking story, you will find yourself, too, raging against the veil." -- American Association of University Women

"Dr. Darabi died to expose the world to the injustices surrounding her, and the authors brilliantly relay that final message to readers." -- Independent Publisher

"If you care about basic human rights, this scathing indictment of contemporary female oppression in Islam will enrage you." -- Contact Publications, February 2000

"a powerful story about one woman's heroic struggle that turned to despair and tragedy." -- Free Inquiry, Summer 2000

From the Inside Flap

Dr. Homa Darabi had been one of the most prominent child psychiatrists in Iran. She was married and had brought two successful, ambitious daughters into the world. She was licensed to practice medicine in Iran and in forty-nine states in the United States. She was the first Iranian ever to be accepted to the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She established the first clinic in Iran dedicated to treating children suffering from mental disorders that, until then, were thought to be incurable. She taught at the University of Tehran, worked at its hopsital, and managed her own private practice.

However, her life was haunted by the fact that she had no real home. The United States was very good to her in the years she lived here, but it was never able to replace Iran's small neighborhoods where she grew up. A sense of obligation--that she must do something to help her nation--bound her to Iran.

But Iran did nothing to welcome or appreciate her. She was mired in a society that placed little value on the rights of women. No matter what she did or who she became in Iran, she was destined to always be no more than a woman in a country in which being a woman meant little.

Dr. Darabi was appalled by the laws of the hijab--the Islamic dress code for women--which were being resurrected under Khomeini. These new laws required women to cover all parts of their bodies, with the exception of the face and hands, in public. These laws are often the most talked about throughout the world. But beyond the laws of the hijab existed other government-sanctioned rules. The testimony of a man was equal in value to the testimony of two women. Islamic women could not serve as judges. A woman could not travel, work, or go to college without her husband's permission. Yet a man could divorce his wife without even telling her. In family court, a mother could not be granted custody of her children unless the father and grandfather refused custody.

Throughout her life, she fought to change the inequities and reverese the injustices faced by all people in Iran. In the end, the obstacles proved too powerful for her to overcome. Those obstacles took the form of a husband who seemed apathetic to his wife, a government that treated her with contempt, and a combination of influences that affected her life from the day she was born until the day she died by her own hand--burning herself in a public square in Tehran to protest the oppression of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Haunted by the questions surrounding her sister's death, Parvin Darabi and her son, Romin P. Thomson, examine the life of this courageous woman. They recall a childhood of limited resources, tensions, and religiously advocated child abuse; Homa's early struggle for justice in the politically tempestuous 50s and 60s in Iran; the battle for democracy under the shah; Homa's stormy marriage; and the legacy of repression in the Islamic Republiic of Iran, including the stonings, beatings, and executions of both men and women, performed in the name of God--a legacy that Dr. Homa Darabi tried to expose to the world through her own final act of desperation.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573926825
• ISBN-13: 978-1573926829
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who is supposed to tell us what to read?, October 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rage Against the Veil: The Courageous Life and Death of an Islamic Dissident (Hardcover)

I am a Christian and I started reading Rage Against The Veil before the Islamic Human Rights Commission banned it in Europe. I wanted to learn a little more about Islam and Iran. I don't know why the book is so offensive to the IHRC, except perhaps because it speaks out for free thought and choices for citizens in Iran, especially women. The biography is a somewhat personal account of sisters Parvin and Homa Darabi, growing up in Iran, and the decisions and choices they have to make. To a westerner this day to day living gives a little glimpse inside of an Islamic country. The marriage laws of the country are very important in the book, especially if one is a woman. Planned marriages at an early age, are the norm for girls. Thirteen or sixteen years old might be the average age of a bride, but a nine year old girl can be married to a fifty year old plus man. Muhammad himself married a nine year old girl, and the nine year age for wives is written into the Koran. Obviously the girl has no choice. She might be the first wife for her husband, or the fourth wife. A married woman has to have permission from her husband to go anywhere, and permission from her husband to get a divorce. Another book, The Princess, by Jean P. Sasson, is somewhat comparable to Rage Against The Veil, except in The Princess the main character and her sister are princesses, and the location is Saudi Arabia. Much abuse of human beings is mentioned there. A Phillipine national is hired to work as a housecleaner in Saudi Arabia, and then finds out she has to do her work and also sexually satisfy two young men in the family. She did get back home to the Phillipines alive, after two years. I do not see why Rage Against The Veil was singled out to be banned. Once one starts to ban books there is no limit to what should be banned. A nine year old girl in Iran is considered a woman and can be given a sentence by a court of law to be executed. One such execution is mentioned in the book. The best thing to do is to read Rage Against The Veil yourself and see what it says.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching story, shows that there is still so much oprression, May 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rage Against the Veil: The Courageous Life and Death of an Islamic Dissident (Hardcover)

This book describes the life of a female Iranian doctor, Homa Darabi, who was highly gifted and eager to help the people in her country, and whose only intention in life was to sacrifice herself for others. Since she also was sensitive and fragile, she was broken by the oppressive system in Iran which forced her to become a housewife, also she probably had been one of the most qualified doctors in Iran - as far as can be told from the book she was e.g. both morally and intellectaully far superior to her husband who also is a doctor. Her desparation left her only one way out: burning herself.
We all have to be grateful to Mrs. Parvin Darabi, who is Homa Darabi's sister, and her son Mr. Romin Thomson that they prevented her story from being forgotten. A word to muslim readers:
The problem islamic countries is not whether or not to wear a veil etc. but whether or not a woman (or a man) can be f o r c e d to follow the rules of a faith not shared by her (or him). In western countries you have the right to be islamic, but in many islamic countries freethinkers, homosexuals etc. seem not to have the right to pursue t h e i r way of life.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book banned by Islamic Human Rights Commission!!!, October 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rage Against the Veil: The Courageous Life and Death of an Islamic Dissident (Hardcover)

I read this book and as a Muslim-born woman in an Islamic society, it could have been my life. Except that I was not able to achieve as much as the Darabi sisters did. I was married off to a much older man when I was only sixteen years old. I never got the opportunity to develop myself into a doctor, a writer, a lawyer, a judge or even a teacher. I have lived a sad life most of the time. Never had anything in common with my husband and never learned to love a man as a man. To me men are either fathers, husbands, brothers or sons and never a partners, friends or lovers. I don't understand why the Islamic Human Rights Commission recently banned this book. I did not find anything Islamophobic in the book. I believe Muslims should read books to learn what is happening to people in the name of their Allah and their religion so that they can stop these brutalities rather than just stop the sale of books that are not in their liking. Why doesn't Islamic Human Right Commission stop the brutality in Afghanistan, Sudan, Algeria, Iran and others. Just campaigning to stop a distributor from distributing a book such as Rage Against the Veil is not a move for the acceptance of Islam. But Islam always promotes violence and wants to conquer with sword. The book is a true life story of any woman in Islamic countries except that most women in these countries are not as courageous and outspoken and accomplished as Dr. Homa Darabi. Most women in Islamic countries, in many ways like myself, live an unhappy life of working as domestic help for our husbands and children. We have no life of our own.