Women and bicycling in Islam

The primary concern of religious scholars is that bicycling, especially in public spaces, could lead to increased sexual promiscuity.[4] This belief is based on the Quran's requirement that women should protect their chastity. It initially led to the prohibition of horseback riding and was later extended to cycling.[5]

The 1977 book Women in the Arab World by the Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi, reports that Arab culture used to place undue importance on female virginity. For example, a girl whose hymen was damaged as a result of sports activities like cycling or horse riding had to face negative consequences in her family life and social stature.[6]

Critics condemn bicycle bans and the proposed Iranian prohibition as tools of oppression.[7][8] Traditions record that Muhammad encouraged parents to teach their children swimming, riding and archery.[9][10] There is a commonly shared hadith that recounts a race between Muhammad and his wife, Aisha.[11] Persian miniatures show Muslim women playing polo with men in the same field.[12]

There is no law against women cycling in Iran,[13] but women in Iran have sometimes been prevented for cycling by law enforcement, usually under general modesty laws.[14][15] Official statements have been vacillating and inconsistent. Faezeh Hashemi drew official criticism for her advocacy for women's cycling in the 1990s.[16] In 1996, advocates of women cyclists were attacked by vigilantes.[17] Also in 1996, Ayatollah Khamenei is said to have told officials at the Ministry of Sports that "If you promote cycling then we will have girls cycling in the streets of Tehran. Clearly, this would not be appropriate. Tehrani women cycling in the city is not comparable to Chinese women cycling because with the Chinese, in the time of Mao and even later as we have seen, you could not really distinguish between men and women cycling on city streets. Especially with their kind of clothes. But women in Tehran with their tight pants and skin tight clothes getting on elaborate bicycles is sinful exposure."[16]

In 2007, discussion of building a bicycle with "a boxy contraption that hides a woman's lower body" prompted ridicule.[18]

A statement that women are banned from cycling (made by the head of police in Tehran, the capital city), was refuted by the head of Developments of Tehran Governor's Office in 2012. He said there were no legal prohibitions against women cycling in Tehran, and said that the cultural attitudes that discouraged women from cycling needed correction. In practice, bike rental shops in the city will not rent to women, as of 2016.[16]

In the winter of 2015–2016, the Clean Tuesday Project aimed to improve air quality in Iranian cities with a weekly car-free day. Groups of cyclists gathered weekly to ride together, with crowds including government officials and women. Iran's Supreme Leader, cleric Ali Khamenei, ruled that "Cycling for women neither contravenes the law nor the Sharia." This was published in the Vaghayeh Etefaghieh daily newspaper, tweeted by Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Presidential Advisor on Women and Family Affairs, and, in the last week of August, proclaimed on signs held up by activists on major cycle routes in Tehran. Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi commented in qualified support of this ruling, saying that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with women cycling, although individuals should evaluate the risk of danger or sinfullness raised by specific situations.[16]

In Marivan in 2016, police stopped some women who were cycling, leading to extensive comment on social media.[16] A group of women arrested for cycling in public in July 2016 (possibly the same group) were said to have been made to sign pledges that they wouldn't do it again.[14][15] In Marivan, the local member of parliament issued a statement that the city officials and the Friday Mass Imam had nothing against cycling, as long as the women dressed in accordance with "the Islamic dress code". On the 30th of August, the city designated part of the Women's Park as a cycling area.[16] On September 6, a "Clean Tuesday" ride in Tehran was broken up by police, despite the participation of government officials, on grounds that it did not have prior approval from the Municipal Security Council.[16]

On September 18,[13] Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reversed his statement of some weeks before, saying in a written answer to an anonymous question[13] that women were not allowed to cycle in public, nor in the presence of strangers.[14] He issued a fatwa to state media, saying that "Riding a bicycle often attracts the attention of men and exposes the society to corruption, and thus contravenes women's chastity, and it must be abandoned [by women but not by men]".[15]

The Iranian ban was widely defied; women continued to cycle and rent bicycles and share images of themselves cycling. The My Stealthy Freedom campaign included posts by female Iranian cyclists, and the Twitter hashtag #IranianWomenLoveCycling became popular.[15][14]

In September 2018, Isfahan Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabaeinejad gave a sermon condemning women cycling, on the grounds that sinful glances at them would lead to moral corruption. On May 14, 2019, the Istafan city prosecutor Ali Isfahani said women were forbidden to cycle, and announced an "Office for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" to prevent them from doing so. He proposed that the municipality and police design a bicycle for women with a "suitable cover".[13]

Masomah Ali Zada

Afghan road cyclist Masomah Ali Zada wears a sports hijab when bicycling.[19]