| 8.24.21

Shariah Law and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

Are you concerned about women in Afghanistan under the Taliban?

Amid the chaos of the Afghanistan takeover, the Taliban seemed intent on a rebrand, pledging to be more moderate, peaceful, and inclusive of women than it's been in the past.
“We don’t want any internal enemies and external enemies,” announced longtime spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid in a news conference on August 17.
Mujahid vowed that under their new rule, women will be allowed to work and study, and their rights respected “within the framework of Islamic law” or Sharia.
But that’s little consolation for millions of Afghan women, who fear a return to the repressive policies and human rights violations that existed during the Taliban’s former regime.
From 1996 to 2001, the militant group imposed a harsh interpretation of Sharia law, banning women from working, eliminating schooling for girls, and meting out brutal punishments for those who failed to comply with its morality code.

Simply put, Sharia is Islam’s legal system.
Arabic for “the clear, well-trodden path to water," Sharia is a set of ethical and legal principles drawn from the teachings of the Quran (Islam’s central text), the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, and the rulings of religious scholars.
Sharia offers guidance on religious and secular duties, including prayer, fasting, and marriage.
It also outlines specific crimes, dividing them into two categories: “tazir” and “hadd.”
Punishment for tazir crimes are left to the discretion of a judge. Hadd crimes - like theft and adultery - are seen as the most serious and, in some countries, are punishable by amputation, flogging, stoning, and execution.

Sharia is open to interpretation and it can look very different depending on where you are in the Muslim world--and even within the same country.
In its previous reign in Afghanistan, the Taliban barred most women and girls from working and denied them access to education and health care. Women couldn’t leave their homes without wearing a burqa (a full-body modesty garment) or being chaperoned by a male relative.
Afghani women were also forbidden from being seen on the balcony of their home, speaking loudly in public, and wearing high-heeled shoes or makeup. Photos of females could not be taken or displayed in newspapers, books, shops, or the home.
Restrictions in dress, movement, and behavior were enforced by the morality police officers who drove around in pickup trucks. Lawbreakers could be publicly flogged, beaten, or stoned. In 1996, a woman in Kabul had part of her thumb cut off for wearing nail polish, according to Amnesty International.

The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks ushered in new freedoms for women. They were no longer confined to their homes or legally required to wear burqas.
A new constitution in 2003 outlawed discrimination, declaring “citizens of Afghanistan, man and woman, have equal rights and duties before the law.”
In 2009, the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law criminalized rape, battery, and forced marriage, and made it illegal to prevent women or girls from working or studying.
In the past two decades, Afghan women have made great gains, serving on the military and police forces, holding political office, and even competing in the Olympics.

Despite assurances, there are signs that the Taliban is returning to its former ways.
In the southern city of Kandahar, gunmen escorted female employees from the bank where they worked and told them male relatives could take their place. A prominent anchorwoman on state television said that the Taliban had suspended her and other women who worked there indefinitely.
In Herat, in western Afghanistan, the Taliban prevented female students and instructors from entering the campus last Tuesday. In some areas of Afghanistan, women’s clinics and girls’ schools have been closed, and women again have been told not to leave home without being accompanied by a male relative.
At an emergency meeting of the UN’s Security Council last Monday, Secretary General António Guterres said his organization was “receiving chilling reports of severe restrictions on human rights throughout the country.” While U.N. officials have not provided any details about those reports, the council has called for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and the establishment of a new government that includes women.

“I'm hoping that they would see that it's a different Afghanistan that they have taken hold of this time,” said Manizha Wafeq of the Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry in an interview with NPR.

Twenty years ago, “it was much easier for them to do whatever they wanted. But this time the country's totally changed.”

Want to show your support? Consider donating to these organizations that help Afghan women and girls:

-A.J. Hanley

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