Activists Condemn Taliban’s Ban On Afghan Women Praying Aloud In Presence Of Others

Kabul: In a bizarre move, the Taliban has prohibited women in Afghanistan from praying aloud in the presence of one another. This latest order has further restricted the freedom of Afghan women since the group came to power in 2021.

The new rule was announced by Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. According to the minister, a woman’s voice is “awrah”, or something that should be covered, and not be heard in public, reported the India Today. The new rule states that Afghan woman can’t recite the Quran audibly even in the presence of other women. “When women are not allowed to call Takbir or Azan (the Islamic call to prayer), they certainly cannot sing songs or enjoy music,” the minister claimed, as quoted by India Today.

Meanwhile, such an order has evoked fear among activist that rules of this kind could further restrict Afghan women’s ability to speak in public. They dubbed the move as a ‘system of gender apartheid.’

Activists also claimed that since the group came to power in Afghanistan in 2021, it has effectively erased women and girls from public life by issuing over 105 decrees, edicts, and orders.

The activists also demanded an urgent global intervention to support Afghan women suffering under the Taliban’s oppressive rule.

Earlier, the Taliban had issued a series of orders and barred women from wearing revealing clothes. They had been ordered to cover their bodies in the presence of non-Muslim men and women.