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From the Muslim Women's League Homepage
The Taliban have forced Women to cover themselves from head to toe.
Even the face is covered; this is in direct contradiction to Islamic Law!
Today, in Afghanistan a woman's basic right to vote, to pursue an
education, and to join the job force, is threatened by Taliban, a political
group that has recently gained control of the country. Taliban's insistence
on secluding women from public life is a political maneuver disguised as
"Islamic" law. Before seizing power, Taliban manipulated and
used the rights of women as tools to gain control of the country. To secure
financial and political support, Taliban emulated authoritarian methods
typical of many Middle Eastern countries. Taliban's stand on the seclusion
of women is not derived from Islam, but, rather, from a cultural bias found
in suppressive movements throughout the region.
Once Taliban seized power, a classical pattern that has been observed
in some Muslim countries repeated itself. In this scenario, political instability
coexists with an extreme and oppressive ideology regarding women. Some
members of Taliban have been quoted as saying that these actions are temporary
and that women's rights will be restored once the government is more stable.
One must bear in mind that, as history has amply demonstrated, other Muslim
countries have committed the same atrocities and the result is that women
within their boundaries continue to be oppressed, politically and otherwise.
To maintain control over the people, radical groups such as Taliban divert
attention away from political and economic crises by oppressing half of
the population.
Such a view has no basis in the Qur'an, yet it has been promoted
by Taliban as "Islamic." This situation is very distressing considering
that women were given rights in the Qur'an to contribute to the economy
by owning and selling property 1400 years ago:
Men shall have a benefit from what they earn, and women shall
have a benefit from what they earn. (4:32)
This verse emphasizes the equality of men and women in the
economic growth of a society. In the earliest Muslim community, women carried
out business transactions and participated in battles without restriction.
The Qur'an and the examples of the first Muslim society give the Muslim
Women's League a voice to state that the current manipulation of women
to serve geo-political interests, in Afghanistan or elsewhere, is both
unIslamic and inhumane.
November 1996
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