The Islamic Republic of Iran has made many concessions in its long decline. Until now, it stood firm on one rule: women must remain covered. The veil, it has insisted since the 1979 Revolution, was a divine instruction. But apparently divine instructions can lapse.
This summer, a young woman appeared at a pro-government rally in a pink top and acid-washed jeans, her hair loose on her shoulders. She addressed the camera while standing among a crowd of women veiled from head to toe. Rather remarkably, the footage went on state television. Five years ago, that footage would have been evidence for a prosecution. Now, it is propaganda.
The veil used to divide the pious from the impious. It now divides the loyal from the disloyal
At a similar gathering in Rasht, in the north east of Iran, the Friday prayer leader Rasoul Fallahi said that unveiled women stood against ‘the system and the Quran’, and that their fathers and husbands were ‘dishonourable’. If the public chose to confront them, he said at that meeting in May, they would not dare to leave their homes again.
So does, or doesn’t, the regime, still demand that women wear the veil? There is a cold logic behind the apparent contradiction.
