The Taliban has enacted yet another law further oppressing the freedoms of women and girls, this time issuing a decree that prohibits them from praying aloud or reciting the Qur’an in each other’s presence.
The move comes after a series of so-called “virtue” or “morality” laws were implemented in Afghanistan in August, laid out in a 114-page document that covered vast aspects of everyday public life.
Among the new laws announced in August were directives making it mandatory for women to veil their entire bodies, including their faces, at all times in public. Women were also forbidden from singing, reciting and reading aloud in public, as a woman’s voice is deemed “intimate” and should not be heard.
Women are already excluded from education after sixth grade, many public spaces and most jobs. They are also prohibited from looking at men they are not related to by blood or marriage.
During an event in eastern Logar province on Sunday, the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Minister Khalid Hanafi said: “It is prohibited for a grown woman to recite Quranic verses or perform recitations in front of another grown woman. Even chants of takbir (Allahu Akbar) are not permitted.”
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He said that uttering similar expressions like “subhanallah,” another word central to the Islamic faith, was also not allowed. A woman was not permitted to perform the call to prayer, he told the gathering.
“Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear.”
“How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear (each other’s) voices while praying, let alone for anything else.”
And while precise details of the Taliban’s ruling are unclear, Afghan human rights activists have warned it could mean women are effectively banned from holding conversations with one another.
On Tuesday, the ministry said a country-wide awareness program is coming to “contribute to shaping public perception and increasing awareness of divine rulings.”
The Taliban set up the ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021.
They banned women from working at non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 2022. A woman who spoke to Global News said her family was plunged into poverty after she had to give up her job at an NGO.
“I am the breadwinner of my family. We are just four persons in my family: me, my sister and my parents. My father is sick now. We don’t have anything in our kitchen to prepare for dinner or for our night,” she said.
“It’s so hard for me. I don’t know how I can continue my life.”
The hardline laws also instruct drivers to not transport women without a male guardian, and passengers and drivers must perform prayers at designated times. Other restrictions include making it illegal to play music, and men are barred from shaving their beards as well as skipping prayer and religious fasts.
Media in Afghanistan must abide by Sharia law, meaning the publication of images depicting living beings is forbidden, in line with the Islamic prohibition of idolatry.
A UN report published in July said the ministry was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through edicts and the methods used to enforce them.
“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of the human rights service at the UN mission in Afghanistan.
The Taliban rejected the UN report.
— With files from The Associated Press and Global News