Women’s Sexuality: the Safavid Legacy

Authors

  • Faegheh Shirazi Dept. of Middle Eastern Studies University of Texas at Austin

Keywords:

Safavids, Iran, Shi`i Islam, Ritual, Talisman, Medicine of the prophet and spiritual medicine

Abstract

Literature from the Safavid era suggests that issues of female fertility, sterility, and sexuality were controlled by a well-entrenched patriarchy. Muslim women placed trust in the learned hakim or male “healersâ€- believing that they were following religious doctrine established by the Prophet himself. Consequently, women who could neither read nor interpret the Qu`ran deferred to the hakim, participating in elaborate ritualistic practices to promote fertility and to win their husbands’ affection. Some would suggest that this collective dependency on and submission to patriarchal control–sealed during the Safavid era–springs from a historical trinity comprised of the Prophet Mohammad, his son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Majlesi, the 16th century Shi`i alim.

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Published

2016-06-16

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

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