{"id":164289,"date":"2022-03-26T16:03:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-26T16:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=164289"},"modified":"2022-03-26T16:03:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-26T16:03:18","slug":"afghanistan-banning-girls-education-in-the-name-of-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=164289","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan: Banning girls education in the name of Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mahjuba Mustabshera<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153Mother, they didnt let me go to school today. They said girls arent allowed to go to school\u009d, the cry of an Afghan girl breaks the hearts of those on social media as the world expresses deep disappointment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tears are the result of shattered hopes as Afghan girls were expecting to return to school for the first time since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. However, merely hours after schools reopening for the new academic year on 23 March 2022, the Taliban administration declared the closure of schools for female students above the sixth grade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon hearing about the heart-wrenching notice,\ninterviews of countless crying Afghan girls flooded the media. In an interview\nwith BBC news, Fatima said, \u0153We just want to be able to learn and serve our\npeople. What kind of country is this? What is our sin?\u009d She called out the Taliban\nsaying, \u0153You’re always talking about Islam, does Islam say to harm women like\nthis?\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Taliban wearing the banner of Islam, naturally Fatima is not the only one asking such questions. It makes the entire world wonder if such hindrance to a basic human right is what Islam is all about. Consequently, groups like the Taliban have only added to the medias deteriorating image of Islam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their last rule from 1996 to 2001, the\nTaliban banned most female employment and female education. Although this time\naround, they promised opportunities for girls employment and education, the\nfailure to keep their word made everyone suspicious of their intentions to\nallow girls to learn at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Aziz-ur-Rahman\nRayan shared that the central leadership of the group had ordered the schools\nto remain closed until \u0153a comprehensive plan has been prepared according to\nSharia and Afghan culture\u009d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, even before the Talibans rule, Afghanistans\nsecondary schools were already gender-segregated and the girls uniforms were a\nmodest black outfit and white hijab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, according to the Taliban administrations external\nrelations and donor representative, Waheedullah Hashmi, although the urban\ncentres are mostly in support of female education, much of rural Afghanistan \u201c\nespecially the tribal Pashtun regions \u201c are in opposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hashmi revealed, \u0153In some rural areas a brother will\ndisown a brother in the city if he finds out that he is letting his daughters\ngo to school.\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these incidents make it apparent that the\nissue of female education is a matter of controversy among the Taliban figures.\nTherefore, it is crucial for the public to be aware of the real message of\nIslam in order to comprehend if religion is truly the factor preventing Afghan girls\neducation or if the Taliban is simply against it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\ndoes Islam say about girls education?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first revelation of the Quran is enough proof\nabout the importance given to education in Islam. Allah revealed: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read in the name of your Lord who created, created humans from a clinging clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen; taught humanity what they knew not. [96: 1-5]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From these verses, it is evident that Allah\naddressed humankind \u201c not a specific gender \u201c to seek knowledge. Hence, these\nverses alone eradicate any statement or action that denies girls right to education\nas they emphasise the acquisition of knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Jahiliyyah\n<\/em>period, when Arab society was infested with abhorrent practices against\ngirls, Allah sent Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a guiding light, who,\nnot only liberated girls and women in every walk of life, but also turned\neducation into a principal aspect.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an authentic Hadith, Prophet Muhammad (peace be\nupon him) said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeking knowledge is an\nobligation on every Muslim. (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 74) <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
From this Hadith, it can be inferred that seeking\nknowledge is not just a right but a religious duty upon every Muslim, whether\nmale or female. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon studying the intellectual abilities of the two\nwives of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), namely Khadijah Binti Khuwailid\nand Aishah Binti Abu Bakr, the position of female education in Islam becomes\nmuch clearer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khadijah, Prophet Muhammads (peace be upon him)\nfirst wife, was the richest woman in Mecca during her time. She was a wealthy\ntradeswoman under whom many men were employed. Undoubtedly, to be a woman\nmanaging a large business in a patriarchal society required her to possess a\ngreat level of wisdom and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aisha, Prophet Muhammads (peace be upon him) youngest\nwife, is a hallmark in female education in Islam. She was a Muslim scholar with\nremarkable memory, who narrated more than two thousand Hadith and was known for\nteaching distinguished scholars. Her contribution in the field of knowledge in\nIslam demonstrates that a woman can be a scholar, with influence over men and\nwomen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a nutshell, Islam in no way, shape or form contradicts female education. It is an irony that while Islam makes it a responsibility upon every Muslim to seek knowledge, Muslim countries like Afghanistan are still categorised among the developing countries in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, as\nof 2020, the literacy rate of Afghanistan is around 43%, with a substantial\ngender gap i.e. 55% literacy rate among men and only 29.8% literacy rate among\nwomen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hence, the so-called \u0153Islamic\u009d group ruling over Afghanistan that tells the whole world that what they are doing is in favour of the religion is in reality contradicting the essence of it. ***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Mahjuba Mustabshera \u0153Mother, they didnt let me go to school today. They said girls arent allowed to go to school\u009d, the cry of an… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5672,"featured_media":164290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,21,23,20],"tags":[],"nelio_content":{"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"followers":[12,156,5672],"suggestedReferences":[],"efiUrl":"","efiAlt":"","highlights":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Afghanistan.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5672"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164289"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164294,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164289\/revisions\/164294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/164290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}