‘Women should be seen and not heard?’ Not according to the Taliban! It seems that their desire is for women to be entirely invisible. Over the past two weeks, the Afghan ‘Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue’ dramatically increased the pressure on women to disappear from public life. About two weeks ago it banned them from going to gyms. This week, an edict was issued that stated that women were prohibited from parks and funfairs.
Curiously, while the Western media is reporting these events, there seems to be very little curiosity as to what might be motivating it. I suspect this is because the answers may not be to everyone’s liking.
The first thing to note is that the ‘Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue’ did not pinch their name from Orwell. Instead, it is based on a phrase that is used five times in the Qur’an. For example, Qur’an 3:110 tells Muslims: “You are the best community ever raised for humanity—you encourage good, forbid evil, and believe in Allah.” So, it is clear that the Taliban believes that what they are doing to the women under their control conforms to the highest standards of what is required from believers in Allah.
Why would this be? Among the many possible answers is the simple fact that Muhammad taught that women are actively harmful to men by the very fact of their presence: “It is related from Usama ibn Zayd that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I have not left after me a trial more harmful to men than women." (Sahih Bukhari 7:62:33)
As non-Muslims we are obviously free to deplore this sentiment. However, we cannot fault the Taliban on their consistent application of Islamic principles. If you want to live an authentically Islamic life, and the ‘prophet’ himself taught that women are harmful, then removing them from public view is only logical.
Of course, we recoil from ideas such as this, but we need to take the fact that they are deeply embedded in the fabric of Islam seriously. Only when we do this, can we have an open and honest debate on the place of Islam in 21st century society.
Kind regards,
Peter
For an in-depth investigation of the truth-claims of Islam, please see my book ‘Questioning Islam - Tough Questions and Honest Answers About the Muslim Religion’
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