What Sharia Law The Taliban Will Apply And How Will It Affect Afghan Women

The return of the Taliban government to Afghanistan will mean the return to sharia, the group’s interpretation of Islamic religious law, a senior Taliban commander said on Wednesday after the militant Islamist group swept the country, toppling the US-backed government. The seizure of power has sparked fears and speculation about the future of Afghanistan.

“There will be no democratic system”said the Taliban commander Waheedullah Hashimi in an interview with Reuters. “We are not going to discuss what kind of political system we should apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It’s Sharia law and that’s it ”.

Here are some of the basics.

What is Sharia law?

In Arabic, Sharia is derived from a word that means the way, or “the clear and well traveled path to the water”. In practice, it is understood, interpreted and applied differently around the world, depending on different traditions, cultural backgrounds and the role of Islam in government.

It is a set of religious norms that guide the daily life of Muslimsincluding prayer and fasting, and is mainly based on the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as well as in the sayings and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Leaders, clergy and practitioners take various approaches to traditions and precedents.

This could include a role for Sharia law in criminal law – a strict code of punishment which is enforced in very few countries – or Islamic personal law which governs matters such as marriage, inheritance and child custody, which is more common in the Muslim world.

How did the Taliban apply their interpretation of Sharia law in Afghanistan?

The last time the Taliban controlled the country, between 1996 and 2001, activists applied a harsh interpretation of Sharia law. Women were forced to wear a burqa – the garment that covers the face from head to toe – and could be beaten if they ventured out on their own without a male guardian. Besides, girls’ schools closed and people who broke Taliban rules could be publicly executed, whipped or stoned.

Parts of Afghanistan they have remained under or returned to Taliban rule over the past two decades. In these areas, the group continued to impose a strict regime, amid some modest signs of reform.

What do the Taliban say about Sharia law?

The history of the extremist Taliban regime leaves many people apprehensive, despite some attempts to adopt a conciliatory tone.

Hashimi, the commander, told Reuters that Afghan women’s rights said to be in the hands of a council of Islamic scholars. He described a system that has striking similarities with the previous Taliban government.

Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahidtold reporters earlier this week that the Taliban respect women’s rights within the framework of the norms of Islamic law, but did not specify. He also made a vague promise to defend press freedom., conditioning that journalists do not work “against national values”.

Abdulaziz Sachedina, professor of religion and politics at the George Mason University, who specializes in Islamic studies, said he believes it will take time and effort for the Taliban to implement Sharia-related policies. “It’s easy to say, ‘We will apply Sharia law.’ But it is not easy to put it into practice “, noted.

It is not too late He said Sharia law does not offer codified systems for the modern nation state, such as trade laws and administrative laws. “There is nothing in Sharia law that says this is the way to run the state”, noted. “Sharia law is very far from the modern nation state as we know it today”.

Interpretations vary across the Muslim world and often within countries. Unlike the Islamic State or the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the Taliban identify as a group of traditional Sunni Muslims who attend Hanafi law school, one of the four traditional Sunni schools of Islamic law.

(With information from the Washington Post).

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