Tahirih has been inspiring writers, human rights activists, and artists for generations. Now a new book about the Persian poet and champion of women’s rights examines her life and her links with suffragettes in the West and pays tribute to her legacy.
Tahirih’s shameful murder itself gave her an opportunity to express her hopeful spirit. As she was strangled, and just before being thrown down a well, she uttered these dying words: “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women!”
The stakes cannot be higher. These historical narratives serve as a jolting reminder that, in 2021, hundreds of millions of human beings continue to live their daily lives in constraints – physical, psychological, political, religious, and traditional. Too many women still have their feet bound, are kept hidden and veiled, are married as children, are mutilated at puberty, are denied education, and are forced to be silent prisoners within their own lives. The entire human race needs to be emancipated because it is not just women who are suffering. All humanity pays a price for so many women being denied freedom and denied the chance to contribute their share to the betterment of the world and the advancement of every family.
