Abstract
Mansoureh Shojaee’s review of Sedigheh Vasmaghi’s book Why I Rebelled Against the Hijab is a multi-layered exploration of a narrative that moves between memoir, religious analysis, political manifesto, and feminist historiography. In this book, Vasmaghi, an Islamic scholar who emerged from the heart of religion, recounts the perilous path that transformed her from a believer to an outspoken critic of Sharia and the compulsory hijab.
The narrative of her life, from the fronts of war and university to Evin Prison and the streets of protest, in four seasons equivalent to the seasons of nature, is simultaneously personal and collective, poetic and documentary. With an analytical and empathetic perspective, Shojaee sees this work not simply as a protest against compulsory veiling, but as a historical document of the epistemological resistance of a generation of women who have engaged in intra-religious criticism and social activism within the context of the Islamic Republic. This book is not a record of an individual transformation, but rather the resounding voice of a woman who, from within the fortress of religion, opens a path to freedom.
