Imam Khomeini said about the role of Iranian women in the sacred defense: “Victori-ous and glorified be the Islamic Movement of the great Iranian women. How honorable is this magnificent class of society who, through their worthy and coura-geous presence at the scene of the defense brought victory to the Islamic homeland, the Holy Qur’an, and the Revolution and who are now active and ready for self-sacrifice both at the war-fronts and behind the warfronts.” Iran’s contemporary history is a clear witness to the all-sided and active presence of the Muslim Iranian women in various social, political, military, and defense scenes; the women who have been and are ready to sacrifice all their belongings in the way of their faith and ideal and to ignore their own wants and feelings. Following the school of ‘Ashura, women played a profound and valuable role and created unfor-gettable epics in the course of the sacred defense. The devout Iranian women’s role in the eight-year-long sacred defense is unde-niable and shows that their spirit of self-sacrifice was based on full awareness. The women, who rushed to the help of the brave combatants to protect the sacred system of the Islamic Republic, strengthened their spirit through exhibiting their own spirit of self-sacrifice, thus, adding the golden pages to the history of the honor-able struggles of this country. Be-sides, they have raised children who grew up to be well-aware defenders of Islam and the coun-try.

It can rightfully be said that the resistance and cooperation shown by the heroic Iranian wom-en in the course of the imposed war have been unprecedented in the world, as Imam Khomeini (ra) has stated: “We take pride in our-selves for the resistance shown by our high-spirited women in the front ranks, in the face of the oppressive ex-regime and then in fighting against the superpow-ers and their agents. The self-sacrifice and resistance rendered by these great women in the imposed war have been really amazing, so much so that words cannot express them.”

One of the most significant manifestations of the women’s presence during the years of the sacred defense was their role in supporting and preparing the provisions for the combatants at the warfronts. In the early days of the aggression of the Ba’athist en-emy, most of the women’s activi-ties were in a less organized form and in centers like mosques, Hus-sainiyas, and schools, where they cooked, made clothing, gathered donations made by the people and… for the brothers who were fighting at the warfronts.
Really, it is necessary for the Muslim Iranian women to try to follow the spiritual model pre-sented by those women and the mothers of the martyrs in order to be able to help in the second phase of the Islamic Revolution efficiently.

In short, it can be said that the Muslim Iranian women created epic during the sacred defense years beyond description. In fact, at various junctures of the his-tory of the Islamic Revolution, in particular during the years of the sacred defense, they successfully played the role and mission as combatants, and as supporters and patrons of their men.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has enjoyed such lofty models pat-terned after the Muslim women models of the early history of Is-lam. Indeed, Iranian women fol-lowed in the footsteps of Hazrat Zahra (sa) and Hazrat Zeinab (sa), in trying to fulfill their Divine and humane duties in the years of the sacred defense. And the moth-ers and wives of martyrs, inspired by the lessons learned from the heroines of ‘Ashura managed to perform their responsibilities through coping with the prob-lems, losses, and emotions grace-fully. Certainly, no such victorious resistance could be formed in those days, had it not been for their steadfastness, self-sacrifice, and ceaseless help.

By: Mohammad Assadi Movahed