The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice recently imposed further restrictions on Afghan women, prohibiting them from publicly expressing the Takbir (a declaration of faith) or reciting the Quran aloud, even among other women.
This policy, introduced by Minister Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, has fueled significant backlash, with Afghan women increasingly vocal about safeguarding their rights amid the Taliban’s tightening restrictions on public and religious expression.
Hanafi, who is sanctioned by the United Nations and the European Union, explained that, under Islamic law, a woman’s voice is considered “awrah”—a term in Islamic jurisprudence meaning something that must be concealed. He elaborated that, according to Taliban doctrine, a woman’s voice should not be heard in public and that this rule now extends to her own home when in the company of other women.
“If a woman is not permitted to perform Takbir, then how could she be allowed to sing?” Takbir is a prayer exalting God, commonly recited as an act of devotion in Islam. The ministry’s decree expands on existing rules already requiring women to cover their entire bodies, including their faces, adding further restrictions within private spaces,” Hanafi argued.
The Taliban’s imposition of religious restrictions on Afghan women marks an intensification of the controls placed on them, adding to their sense of marginalization and silence within society. According to The Indian Express, experts warn that these norms could signal further limitations on women’s freedoms in Afghanistan.
Below is the list of impositions currently placed by the Talibans on Afghan Women:
- Go to High school or university
- Work in the civil service
- Attend a protest
- Go abroad
- Drive a car
- Travel alone
- Ride in a taxi
- Speak in public
- Speak loudly inside your house
- Sing
- Read the Quran aloud in public
- Speak to a male doctor
- Play sport
- Go to the gym
- Go to the park
- Wear bright clothes
- Wear high heels
- Look at men they don’t know
- Show their faces in public
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