There's a "new" old name suddenly in circulation that is both filled with ancient history and ripe with a revolutionary spirit for today's game-changing events.
Zahra.
Well-known to Muslims, Fatima az-Zahra was one of four daughters of the Prophet Muhammad. Today, Zahra is also the name of two important, outspoken women of Iran.
One is Zahra Rahnavard, the courageous and charismatic wife of the allegedly defeated Iranian presidential candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The other is Zahra Khanum, the equally courageous and charismatic woman portrayed in a new movie, The Stoning of Soraya M., about the death of an Iranian woman on trumped-up charges of adultery.
Beneath the surface of news blasts covering Iran's tainted elections, riots, protester deaths and government crackdowns, a subtext of women's rights is emerging. It is a subtext only to the extent that women's oppression isn't often acknowledged directly. But human rights are at the core of what is occurring now.
A government that oppresses its people can only sustain itself with violence, as the world is witnessing yet again as thousands take to Iran's streets. And, in Iran as elsewhere in the Muslim world, violence against women isn't only permitted, but justified with religious doctrine.
Mr. Mousavi challenged these notions - and the government, apparently, saw fit that he lose. Even in the midst of so much heat, Mr. Mousavi's wife Monday urged students at a Tehran University protest to hold fast in their resistance.
Zahra R., who holds a Ph.D. in political science and was an adviser to former President Mohammad Khatami, also has been vocal in urging reforms that would eliminate "morality police," as well as end discrimination against women.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that monument to self-confident masculinity, reportedly was so undone by Zahra's power on the campaign trail that he questioned whether her doctorate is legitimate.
Americans will begin getting a glimpse of the other Zahra soon as The Stoning opens in select cities. Based on a true story, the movie is adapted from French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam's 1994 novel of the same name.
In the film, the journalist-author is stranded in a small village when his car breaks down. Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) dodges the threatening stares of her fellow villagers and persuades the reporter to come to her house and record her story. Evil has visited her village, she tells him, and she wants the world to know.
