Say What Your Longing Heart Desires : Women, Prayer, and Poetry in Iran

Following the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government set out to Islamize society. Muslim piety had to be visible, in personal appearance and in action. Iranians were told to pray, fast, and attend mosques to be true Muslims. The revolution turned questions of what it means to be a true Muslim into a matter of public debate, taken up widely outside the exclusive realm of male clerics and intellectuals. Say What Your Longing Heart Desires offers an elegant ethnography of these debates among a group of educated, middle-class women whose voices are often muted in studies of Islam. Niloofar Haeri follows them in their daily lives as they engage with the classical poetry of Rumi, Hafez, and Saadi, illuminating a long-standing mutual inspiration between prayer and poetry. She recounts how different forms of prayer may transform into dialogues with God, and, in turn, Haeri illuminates the ways in which believers draw on prayer and ritual acts as the emotional and intellectual material through which they think, deliberate, and debate. "Following the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government set out to Islamize society. Muslim piety had to be visible, in personal appearance and in action. Iranians were told to pray, fast, and attend mosques to be true Muslims. The revolution turned questions of what it means to be a true Muslim into a matter of public debate, taken up widely outside the exclusive realm of male clerics and intellectuals. "Say What Your Longing Heart Desires" offers an elegant ethnography of these debates among a group of educated, middle-class women whose voices are often muted in studies of Islam. Niloofar Haeri follows them in their daily lives as they engage with the classical poetry of Rumi, Hafiz and Saadi, illuminating a long-standing mutual inspiration between prayer and poetry. She recounts how different forms of prayer may transform into dialogues with God, and, in turn, the ways in which believers draw on prayer and ritual acts as the emotional and intellectual material with which they think, deliberate, and debate"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Contents 8 Note on Transliteration and Translation 10 Preface 12 Acknowledgments 16 INTRODUCTION 22 CHAPTER ONE: Where Do Ideas Come From?: An Education in Classical Poetry 49 CHAPTER TWO: Fixed Forms and the Play of Imagination: Everyday Ritual Prayers 90 CHAPTER THREE: What Are We Up To When We Pray?: Spontaneous Conversations with God 120 CHAPTER FOUR: Movable Mosques: Prayer Books, Women, and Youth 145 CONCLUSION 175 Glossary 184 Notes 188 Bibliography 208 Index 216 A 216 B 216 C 216 D 217 E 217 F 217 G 217 H 217 I 218 J 218 K 218 L 219 M 219 N 219 O 220 P 220 Q 221 R 222 S 222 T 223 U 223 W 223 Y 224 Z 224 Following the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government set out to Islamize society. Muslim piety had to be visible, in personal appearance and in action. Iranians were told to pray, fast, and attend mosques to be true Muslims. The revolution turned questions of what it means to be a true Muslim into a matter of public debate, taken up widely outside the exclusive realm of male clerics and intellectuals.__Say What Your Longing Heart Desires__