Qurrat al-‘ayn

Qurrat al-‘Ayn Baraghan Qazwini, Fatima (1816-1847/1851), daughter of Hajj Mulla Muhammad Salih Baraghani Qazwini. A writer and poet bearing the nom de plume Tahira, the appellation Zakiyya, and well-known as Zarrin Taj Khanum and Umm Salama. Born into a clerical family in Qazwin, she received her preliminary education in jurisprudence, its principles, and other Islamic disciplines from her father and paternal uncle, Mulla Muhammad Taqi Baraghani, but she converted to Babism, left her family and rebeled against her father-in-law, Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Baraghani, consequent to whose murder by a Babi bigot she departed for Tehran and supported the Babi cause and attended debate sessions with religious scholars and nobles. She took part in the Badasht conference  and appeared without hijab in public which caused discord and unrest among the Babis. The assembly at Badasht was disintegrated owing to the public opposition and Qurrat al-‘Ayan departed for Mazandaran, but was arrested by state forces en route to Tehran and was put under house arrest at the home of Mirza Mahmud Khan Kalantar. In the aftermath of an attempt on Nasir al-Din Shah’s life and the slaughter of the Babis, she was strangled at the orders of ‘Aziz Khan, an army general, and her body was cast into a well. She was a talented poet and her surviving scattered compositions include letters and devotions. Some of the poetry attributed to her abounds in religious terminology, profoundly influnced by hthe poetry of Rumi and Jami.

Asar-Afarinan (4/347-8)