A woman reportedly attacked an Iranian Muslim cleric after he ordered her to cover herself up completely.
CNN reported that Hojatoleslam Ali Behesti was on his way to the mosque in Shahmirzad for afternoon prayers when he encountered some girls. He told one of the girls to cover up.
“She responded by telling me to cover my eyes, which was very insulting to me,” Beheshti said. So, he asked her a second time to cover up and also to put a lid on what he felt was verbal abuse.
The girl then attacked the holy man, and he fell onto the ground. Behesti said that he could not remember what happened after that. “I do not know what happened after that, all I could feel was the kicking of this woman, who was attacking me,” he said.
Behesti was hospitalized for three days, and said it was his religious duty to implement the principle of “commanding right and forbidding wrong”. He added that he will continue to do so even after living through what he called “the worst day of my life”.
He chose not to file a complaint against the girls.
It’s quite rare to hear of women in smaller towns fighting against authority or religious figures who criticize them for their “immodest” dressing. Although it’s quite inspiring to hear of women who choose to stand up for their rights, we should never resort to physical violence.
