The position of human rights in Islamic states raises issues that have serious implications for political thought. The roles women take in public life, in particular, have been curtailed by the rise of fundamentalism, with gender discrimination pursued through a number of retrograde laws. The correct response to these problems, and especially the role of Western powers, has been much debated by Islamic thinkers.

Shirin Ebadi is a Nobel Prize-winning human rights activist. A practicing judge prior to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, she was forced to cease legal work as the result of a series of laws enacted by the new regime, which restricted the rights of women. Despite this, Ebadi sees women’s rights as entirely compatible with Islam, and suggests that the previously strong position of women in Iranian society points to the regime as the problem, rather than Islamic law.

  The role of Western nations and values in promoting human rights in this environment is hotly contested. Ebadi argues strongly against Western intervention in Iran, suggesting that, despite the regime’s poor human rights record, gender discrimination, and a lack of democracy, any involvement by foreign powers would be undesirable and unhelpful—and would simply make matters worse. Instead, she believes change must come from within, and points to the relatively strong women’s movement in Iran compared with other Islamic states.

Iranian women protested in 1979 against new laws requiring them to cover up in public. Ebadi believes that the oppression of the regime can only be reversed by Iranians themselves.