| Restrictions by Law: Women are forbidden from showing their face, voice, or body in public without full covering. Muslim men face strict grooming and dress codes, including mandatory beards. Prayer attendance is enforced in workplaces and public spaces. Non-Muslims are restricted from forming friendships with Muslims. Afghan citizens are banned from celebrating non-Muslim festivals. |
- Taliban formalised its strict rule through a 35-article law titled “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”.
- It is mostly targeting women’s freedoms and non-Muslim communities.
- This law starkly contrasts with Quranic values of compassion and non-coercion in faith.
- The Taliban’s interpretations diverge from Quranic teachings that emphasise no compulsion in religion (Quran 10:99, 58:1-4).
- Historically, interpretations of virtue (ma’roof) and vice (munkar) have been manipulated by authoritarian regimes to control societies.
- Similar virtue enforcement has been seen in Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
- Scholars from earlier centuries like al-Ghazali established punitive measures for enforcing virtue, influencing today’s restrictive practices.
Dig Deeper: Read about India’s Muslim Personal Law (Shariyat) Application Act, 1937.
