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Baba Taher
Marriage
Tonboon-e faati
With so few rights, Iranian brides-to-be are extra cautious
By Nasim Bagheri
Mr. Soroosh:
I read your article "Marrying
an Iranian woman" with interest. There are two faces to a coin,
the Persian saying goes. Although you are very much attached to your heritage,
I am surprised at your naivete when approaching such a delicate subject
as marriage with an Iranian woman. Perhaps it is the idealism and the romantic
in you that beckoned your loved one to let go of all the traditions and
the "strings" that hold her to her roots, and to join you in
the land of the free. Things are not that easy in the real world and especially
in today's Iran. In the words of Hafez:
... Eshgh aassaan nemood avval, vali oftaad moshkel-haa!
Under Iranian law (which incidentally predates the current regime) a
woman has limited rights to her husband's assets either during her marriage
to him or in the event of divorce or death. In case of his death a woman
will inherit one eighth of her husband's cash assets (excluding land, building
or stocks). After the belongings are all divvied up among the man's offsprings,
siblings and parents, the wife's share comes LAST. A woman's only "security"
in case her husband decides to divorce her or dies is her mahriyeh
(dowry)... GO TO FEATURE
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who have not recieved the chance to see Iran very well, e.g. me in New
Zealand. Dast-e shomaa dard nakoneh!
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mother with 3 kids from Virginia. I would like to give many thanks to you
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* Women: International conference
The Tenth International Conference of the Iranian Women's Studies Foundation
(IWSF) "The Iranian Woman at the Threshold of the Year 2000"
will be held at the University of Montreal on July 2-5,1999 in Montreal,
Canada.
Foundation: IWSF, PO Box 380882, Cambridge, MA 02238-0882, USA, Tel:
617-492-9001, Fax: 617-492-0111, Email: IranianWSF@aol.com
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H3G 2L1, CANADA, Tel: 514-735-7776, Fax: 514-934-9912, Email: Machouf@magellan.umontreal.ca
Book of the Week
The Assassin Legends : Myths of the Isma'Ilis
By Farhad Daftary
Since the twelfth century fantastical tales of the Assassins, their
mysterious leader and their remote mountain strongholds in Syria and northern
Iran have captured the European imagination. These legends first emerged
when European Crusaders in the Levant came into contact with the Syrian
branch of the Nizari Ismailis, who at the behest of their leader were sent
on dangerous missions to kill their enemies. Elaborated over the years,
the legends culminated in Marco Polo's account according to which the Nizari
leader, described as the 'Old Man of the Mountain', was said to have controlled
the behaviour of his devotees through the use of hashish and a secret garden
of paradise.
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Quote Unquote
Just in case
The mahriyeh (dowry), will not make a good person out of an ill-intentioned
individual but perhaps may be viewed as a token of good will. If the laws
in this country were similar to those in Iran, I dare say, you would witness
very few women rushing to the altar without a pre-nuptial agreement.
Nasim Bagheri
"Tonboon-e faati"
The Iranian
December 2, 1998
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