“Truth is a Woman, Truth is Night” A Lecture by Dr. Zahra Moballegh

“Truth is a Woman, Truth is Night”

Muslim Sufi Women Vigil Poetry and the Feminine Essence of Truth

In this lecture, Dr. Zahra Moballegh explores the poetic prayers of medieval Sufi women in the darkness of night. What do the rhetorics of night prayers mean to these Sufi women, and how do they shape their spiritual and sexual identities in relation to the truth?

This lecture raises the question of why women in the Islamic mystical tradition, remain silent and hidden, and we only hear their voice through their vigil poetry. While in a socio-political context this silence and concealment align with structures of power and the suppression of women, an ontological perspective unveils a radically different understanding of femininity.

Long before Nietzsche declared that “truth is a woman,” Islamic mysticism had already articulated a vision of truth as fundamentally feminine. The tradition of Islamic mysticism (and Sufism) envisions an ontology where femininity resides at the very core of truth and existence. The feminine principle gives birth to creation, sustains all things, yet remains perpetually concealed. Silence and hiddenness, within the Sufi tradition, are revered virtues, closely interwoven with acts of resistance against oppressive systems of power and knowledge. In Sufi literature, knowledge transcends theoretical understanding, becoming a moral journey bound to practical virtues and a departure from established frameworks of epistemology and knowledge. This form of knowing echoes the Greek concept of Aletheia (the process of unveiling truth).

According to Sufi tradition, humans on their infinite journeys toward truth must repeatedly lift one veil after another, only to encounter yet another awaiting them. The origin from which all manifestations of truth arise remains veiled, much like the night envelops the world in its shadow, concealing yet nurturing everything within its depths. As the first rays of dawn appear, what was once hidden in the darkness gradually comes into view.

Thus, night, darkness, and silence serve both as metaphors for the unattainable nature of truth and as the temporal and spatial settings from which one begins the journey of uncovering it. Only by turning inward, into the hidden essence of truth, can certain mysteries finally be disclosed.

Dr. Zahra Mobalegh is a leading scholar originally from Iran, specializing in philosophy, Islamic studies, women’s studies, and intercultural dialogue. She has held academic appointments at the University of Tehran, the Iranian Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, and Harvard Divinity School. Her work explores the theological and philosophical roots of political structures and conflicts and discusses how these roots shape the contemporary complex networks of power and value-systems.

In her philosophical research, Dr. Mobalegh argues how abstract disciplines such as metaphysics and logic connect deeply with ethical and political life. Her book, Faith as Reason: An Epistemological Approach to Feminist Theology, the first authored work in Farsi on feminist epistemology and theology, argues that reason is not merely an exclusive cognitive faculty but that understanding emerges through a complex interplay of action, emotion, faith, and moral responsibility. Her award-winning studies of Ishraqi (Illuminationist) logic provide a fresh reading of the Islamic philosophical tradition, bridging the gap between theory and practice. She demonstrates that even the most abstract aspects of philosophy are deeply intertwined with ethics, practices of sympathy, and a sense of unity.

Her forthcoming book presents a narrative approach to Islamic theology and law. She argues that the systematic silences in the Qur’anic stories of women are deeply tied to oppressive social structures within the stories’ backgrounds and that these silences serve as a peaceful strategy to challenge patriarchal systems.

Through her interdisciplinary and intercultural scholarship, Dr. Mobalegh advocates for theological studies that promote compromise and coexistence across different cultures and communities.

This talk is co-presented with in support of their upcoming performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mate on March 1st at the First Congregational Church LA.

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