Dar al-Zahra

Dar al-Zahra was the first women's Shia seminary to be opened in Qom. It was established by grand ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, who opened it in 1973 as a section of his hawza Dar al-Tabligh.^[1]

By 1975, Dar al-Zahra already counted 150 female students, taught by male teachers from behind a curtain.^[2]

With the fall-out between Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari and Khomeini, the seminary was closed and Shariatmadari was placed under house arrest.

Dar al-Zahra was run by Fatemeh Amini. After Dar al-Tabligh was closed, she opened a number of other women's seminaries in Tehran.^[3]

References

1. Michael M. J. Fischer, Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003, p.84ff.
2. Michael M. J. Fischer, Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003, p.84.
3. Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut, “Women’s Religious Seminaries in Iran”, ISIM Newsletter, No. 6, October 2000, p. 23.