Munaeem's Blog

  When the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, they promised a softer rule. Four years later, their actions show something else. Women in Afghanistan are banned from secondary schools and universities. They cannot work in most jobs. Aid agencies are told not to employ them. These are the harshest restrictions on women anywhere in the Muslim world. Is This Sharia or a Misuse of It? The Taliban claim these rules come from sharia . But Muslim scholars across the world disagree. Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, a leading jurist from Mauritania, has said: “There is no basis in Islam to deny women education. Knowledge is an obligation, not a privilege.” The Egyptian scholar Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali once wrote: “When you educate a man, you educate one person. When you educate a woman, you educate a generation.” The Qur’an itself commands: “Are those who know equal to those who do not know?” (39:9). This verse is not limited to men. History supports this view. The Prophe...