Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban minister for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, reportedly revealed that the Taliban new rule has banned women from speaking in public: “When women are not permitted to call takbir or athan [Islamic call to prayer], they certainly cannot sing songs or music.
“Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear… How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear [each other’s] voices while praying, let alone for anything else.” The Daily Telegraph quoted Hanafi
According to the Express tribune, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi explained in an audio statement last week that a woman’s voice is considered “awrah” — meaning it should be kept private — and therefore should not be heard in public, including by other women.
The Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice issued the law on August 21. It requires women to fully cover their bodies and faces and forbids them from speaking or singing loudly enough for non-family members to hear.
The law’s document, published in the official gazette, outlines the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. It states that women’s voices are now classified as ‘awrah,’ or intimate parts, and can only be heard in necessary situations.
The guidelines regarding hijab emphasise the importance of covering the entire body and face to prevent temptation.
In addition, the law states that the ombudsmen are responsible to prevent the drivers from playing music, using drugs, transporting women without hijab, providing a place for women to sit and mingle with men who are not mahrams, and from being wise and mature.
“It is haram for unrelated men to look at the bodies or faces of unrelated women, and it is haram for unrelated women to look at unrelated men,” the law ratified by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada states, as reported by ANI.
Punishment for these “crimes” will be carried out by the Taliban’s Muhtaseebs or morality police, who have the authority to detain individuals for up to three days.
Notably, the Taliban have attempted to partially defend their new laws by claiming they are intended to safeguard women. The regime has recently begun tightening down on men, with morality police visiting mosques and inspecting for those who haven’t grown beards.
Long before the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan granted women the right to vote in 1919, a year before the United States. It opened its first schools for girls in 1921, according to The Washington Post.