View: Banning education for Afghan gals runs counter to Islamic teachings

Sheema Khan is the creator of Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Girl.

Shortly following the Taliban took back again energy in Afghanistan previous 12 months, they issued a “temporary” plan demanding all Afghan gals to continue to be at house right up until their fighters could be trained to respect ladies. All through the 20 yrs it experienced taken to reforge an army, the Taliban had unsuccessful to instill this essential notion amid its troops. And they experienced no shame in admitting it.

That policy has considering the fact that develop into permanent and, plainly, there was by no means any serious intention to acquire regard for females within the Taliban’s ranks. The team has slowly reverted to the oppressive policies of its past rule in the course of the late 1990s, which include reneging on its assure to provide schooling to girls and girls, amongst other legal rights.

In the drop of 2021, the Taliban authorized women to attend university courses in gender-segregated school rooms, with instructors who have been either feminine or aged adult males. A gown code necessitating unfastened-fitting clothing and a hijab was imposed. Then last spring, it rescinded a assure to make it possible for ladies to go to large faculty. Before long immediately after, all Afghan females have been ordered to put on a niqab in general public, told to not leave their residences unless “necessary,” and banned from travelling with out a male relative.

This earlier August in Kabul, women protested these draconian procedures, chanting “bread, operate and freedom,” as numerous experienced been relegated to poverty because of the imposed mobility restrictions. They, together with journalists who protected the protests, have been overwhelmed by Taliban fighters. In November, parks, fitness centers, community baths and concept parks were declared off-limitations to ladies at all instances.

The newest salvo in woman erasure: Girls have been “suspended” from attending college solely, in get to preserve the “national interest” and “women’s honour,” according to the Taliban. There have been heartbreaking scenes of female students sobbing as they are turned absent from college gates by Taliban guards. Desires of obtaining an schooling, and hopes of serving their nation, have been shattered. The Taliban have also banned gals from doing the job with NGOs, main some to suspend functions.

There is no theological foundation for the outrageous ban on woman schooling in Afghanistan – the only region exactly where such a prohibition exists. The Quran’s initially revelation was the command, “Read!” It exhorts followers to mirror, to examine the pure earth, and to supply the prayer: “My Lord, raise me in knowledge.” Islamic heritage is replete with female scholars and judges. The world’s oldest university, in accordance to UNESCO, is Al Quaraouiyine in Fez, Morocco, which was at first created in the 9th century by Fatima al-Fihri, who was hugely educated in Islamic jurisprudence.

It is obvious that the Taliban see nothing honourable in females, nor have any interest in their historic purpose or modern presence. Alternatively, they are considered by way of the lens of misogyny, and viewed as currently being troublesome and a supply of fitnah (temptation). The Taliban believe that gals really should be removed from the public sphere, confined to their residences and kept illiterate.

Global criticism of the women’s instruction ban has been swift and damning, especially from Muslim countries. Turkey’s government called the university ban “neither Islamic nor humane,” when Saudi Arabia has expressed “astonishment and regret” more than the decree, joining Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in contacting for the Taliban to reverse their decision.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), on behalf of its 57 member states, expressed “deep irritation.” The Gulf Cooperation Council not only condemned the selection as a very clear violation of human legal rights, but also pointed out the clear: that denying women’s education can “doom the economic long run of Afghanistan, relegating 50 % of its persons to a daily life of poverty and ignorance.” There is no “national interest” – only national catastrophe – in banning schooling for girls and ladies.

Afghans are courageously standing up to this oppression. Male students walked out of their exams at quite a few universities, in solidarity with their feminine counterparts. Protests have broken out in Kabul and Herat, as women, armed with their voices and moral conviction, demand from customers a reversal of the ban. They have been satisfied with arrests and water cannons.

Below in Canada, Muslim leaders can do their aspect by reminding communities that instruction is a right for all, that seeking awareness is a obligation, and that banning this sort of options for women is antithetical to Islamic teachings.

We ought to help all endeavours to overturn the Taliban’s schooling ban though furnishing Afghan ladies and women of all ages with online educational alternatives or even college placements until their whole rights are restored. We should also aid the girls of Iran in their struggle. When again, I say to the ruling elites, be they religious or secular: Go away Muslim ladies by yourself.