Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The authors have woven a haunting story of life in the Islamic society of Iran.The story centers around Homa, the sister of Parvin Darabi, who was a lifelong advocate of human rights and the first Iranian ever to be accepted into the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Homa raged against the legacy of stonings, beatings, rapes and executions of women, performed in the name of God.She took her own life setting herself ablaze in Tehran as her last resort of protest. Her outcry "death to tyranny, long live freedom" will change your life. I couldn't stop reading the book and I was feeling terribly sad and moved. I recommend this book to all fighting for human rights all over world especially against the abuse of women in non-secular Islamic countries.

RAGE AGAINST THE VEIL is extremely powerful--every anecdote describes how patriarchal violence is made manifest not only in social, but in famial relationships, as well. Men perpetuating acts of violence against women in the name of God is a given; what was especially heart-rending is how the patriarchy corrupts the bond between women. Dr. Homa Darabi self-immolation was a couragegous declaration of independence by a woman who could only--and would only--live free & die free. This book is a must read for anyone interested in redressing violence against women.

Parvin Darabi writes in this book about the life and heartbreaking death of her sister Homa, a psychiatrist, who married an Iranian Muslim, lived for a time in the U.S. and finally returned to Iran, driven by her desire to help the poverty-stricken people there.

The book is indeed courageous. Unlike Jean Sasson's Princess, which I read when it came out in 1992, this one reveals real identities to go with the very disturbing details. For courage alone, I give Parvin Darabi four stars.

The book is an anecdotal personal story, based entirely on experiences. That's fine, as far as it goes. Clearly, based on this account, Iranian men control women's lives, offering them little freedom. But enormous abuses are also described here, and one comes away wondering how pervasive these might be. Most likely, no studies exist.

But I most missed political and social context. The authors did not report, for example, the UN General Assembly resolution condemning Iran's corporeal punishments (flogging and stoning), often meted out to youngsters under 18--or that Iranian figures such as former Attorney General Ayatollah Morteza Moqtadai and Judiciary Head Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi approve of these punishments for moral crimes. They also omit Iranian constitutional provisions requiring the government to export radical Islam.

Poor writing and a weak structure also detract from the work.

Nevertheless, the book is worth reading. It opens a window on the sorrow that afflicts many, perhaps even most, Iranian women.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

If you want to feel what it's like for a woman to live in Iran under the current conditions there, this book is a must-read. It brings you into the too short life of Homa Darabi directly. A talented and accomplished woman, Dr. Darabi was erased by the inhumane and oppressive regime. All this is told in detail through the eyes, feelings, heart and words of her sister, Dr. Parvin Darabi. A moving story, told well. I couldn't put it down.

Parvin Darabi describes the tragical life of her sister Homa Darabi from their common childhood in Iran, their growing up, their studies in the US etc, to the point, when Homa, who had become a gifted doctor in the meanwhile and had returned to Iran, was that brutally opressed by the Islamic regime that she did not see any other way out except for commiting suicide by setting herself on fire.
At every page I was reading I had to think: "Gosh, this is true, this r e a l l y has happened." And it s t i l l is happening for the brual repression of the islamic regime is going on every day, as you can see in the news. In no way the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 can be compared to the French revolution, since the French revolution started with the declaration of human rights and individual civil liberties, like the right for free speech, and there has never been anything like that in Iran. In Iran the "revolution" was a backward religious dictatorship right from the beginning.

For many years, I wondered what happened to Dr. Homa Darabi, my coworker and friend. Recently I saw her name in a letter to the editor in Ohio Dispatch from her sister Parvin. I immediately purchased the book, Rage against the Veil and when I saw her picture on the back cover I could not believe that such a thing could happen to my friend. I remembered my friend, Dr. Darabi, the best physician I have ever known. What a waste, such a lively, compassionate and beautiful human being she was. I read the book without putting it down from cover to cover and cried all through out. I remembered how much I had asked her to stay in America and how she had insisted that she must return to her native country to help the children in need. I am just flabbergasted to realize what religion can do to people. I recommend this book to all who want to become aware of the dangers of fundamentalism. Dear Dr. Darabi, I feel so priviledged to have known you.

The heart of this book is family squables. Actually, more like family battles. Sisters fighting, in-laws fighting, children fighting, spouses fighting. If i didn't know better, I'd think Iranians have really crappy families (except of course all the American families are know are no better). Anyway, this book opens dramatically -- the suicide of an Iranian woman doctor -- but then all you'll find yourself reading is a bunch of anecdotal family drama. And of course, we only get the author's version; if you've ever been in a family fight, you know there are always five versions!
I was expecting a very different book. i thought it would be a political/social account of how awful conditions are for women in Iran -- and how one woman fought back. These matters are there, but mildly so. In other words, all the info about the treatment of women in Iran is anecdotal and while harrowing and disturbing, it isn't a solid account by any means. Then you have the woman who killed herself. Why did she do it? As an act of political rebellion -- or was she just suffering from major depression? It appears to be the latter, for sure. She was a depressed, withdrawn, shell of a woman when she finally killed herself, not a valiant freedom fighter -- as the book implies on its cover text.
I did enjoy reading it. I learned a lot. It is a good read. But just not what I was expecting. I would have preferred more analysis of Iran and less family bickering.