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This content has been automatically translated. View original in Arabic
Peace be upon you, dear friends. This is a comment regarding the decision to suspend girls' education in Afghan universities until further notice. We seek through this comment to clarify Islamic concepts, not to defend a group of Muslims who may be right or wrong; for we defend the Muslim if he is wronged, but we do not deny his mistakes if he errs.
First and foremost, Islam is the religion of knowledge for both men and women. Islam has declared a comprehensive war against ignorance, superstitions, and blind imitation, and the first verse revealed was: "Read in the name of your Lord who created." When Muslims were honored by their religion, they led the world in sciences, so do not let anyone surpass you in the matter of knowledge.
In the Islamic perspective, education begins with a divine view of man and life. The goal of this education is to build a person who is complete in faith, intellect, upbringing, and knowledge, enabling him to succeed in all aspects of practical life. It also helps him achieve stewardship on earth and the ultimate purpose of his creation, which is worship of Allah the Almighty in its comprehensive meaning. All of this is done in an environment free of legal violations, because education and learning in this concept is worship in itself.
With this definition, it is not only the girls of Afghanistan who are deprived of knowledge that achieves this balance, integration, tranquility, and happiness in this world and the hereafter, no matter what they achieve in material aspects of life. We must remember this because it is not appropriate for a Muslim to discuss the matter from the perspective of Western culture and international organizations that have their own views on education in terms of content, goals, and environment.
They want mixed education with curricula based on a narrow worldly view, to prepare youth and girls solely for the job market, without preparing them for success in family, social, or hereafter life. An education that does not recognize the differences between males and females in their nature and appropriate roles, but considers the differences that Allah has established in His Book as an aggression against women and discrimination against them. An education that erases the innate nature of males and females and promotes sexual promiscuity to enslave them to the international system and capital owners.
It is never acceptable to be in a defensive position against the international system that sheds crocodile tears for the Afghan girl deprived of university education, while it deprives humanity of beneficial education, then poisons and distorts global education by imposing its polluted agendas. And when they say "education of the female," what education do they want? Education that allows a girl under the age of eighteen to engage in fornication and even encourages it, while marriage is forbidden and criminalized! They want her education to include the right to change her gender or practice deviance.
When we discuss the issue of girls' education in Afghanistan, neither the global media, nor the United Nations, nor human rights institutions are in our minds, nor do we give them any weight. We do not care to defend Islam before them in this regard, nor do we need to distance ourselves from the actions of the Taliban and their extremism for their sake; because these hypocrites who cry for women are despicable.
Where were they when the worst crimes were committed against women and children for twenty years during the occupation of Afghanistan? They were silent. When America seized the seven billion dollars that belong to the Afghan people, leaving this people to die of hunger, cold, and disease, they were silent. When this people was and still is besieged, they were silent. When atrocities were committed against the Muslim woman in Turkestan, Kashmir, Burma, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, they were silent. When the Muslim girl was prevented from entering university in India and France because of her hijab, they were silent. These people are less worthy and more trivial than to think about them while we discuss our topic.
Let us leave them and come to discuss the matter among ourselves as Muslims; education based on revelation, which qualifies men and women to perform their roles, is a religious duty for the state in Islam to provide, and a right for men and women to obtain. We start from this legal basis, not from the bases of the United Nations, its definitions, goals, and view of man and life, for all of this is not worth to the believer the husk of an onion.
The Taliban government suspended girls' education in universities, and the Minister of Higher Education stated - according to BBC yesterday - that his government is not against educating girls, and mentioned that the reason for suspending university education for girls is their non-compliance with legal controls during the past fourteen months (i.e., after the movement took control), such as the presence of mixing, that the girls did not observe the hijab, and that they were traveling from one province to another without a mahram. There are also reports that need further verification that the Taliban government issued a decision preventing girls from going to school after the sixth grade.
What concerns us is the statement of the correct Islamic ruling; it is the duty of the Muslim state to provide education for men and women that qualifies them for the tasks of stewardship on earth and achieves the duties of sufficiency, whether through university or non-university education. The Afghan woman needs to learn what qualifies her to perform her social roles, whether as a daughter, mother, wife, or sister, and she needs to learn what qualifies her to raise generations.
The community also needs women who are well-versed in cultural invasion and the nature of the doubts raised against women, and the tools of the international system and its organizations in invading Muslim communities; for the presence of believing women who confront this war is more likely to influence their daughters. These are all community needs that cannot be dispensed with, and the state must work to educate women in them. This necessary education also includes fields such as medicine, nursing, and branches of treatment that preserve the woman's modesty as much as possible. The fields of education for women are not limited to this, but there are many other fields of knowledge that suit the nature of the female and in which she can make a great contribution, so it is good for the state to provide them as much as it can and provide the woman with a suitable environment for learning and work.
The Muslim woman in the virtuous Islamic centuries had a real contribution to sciences, and the society did not say, "There is no need for the woman to be preoccupied with this as long as we have men who can do it." Our brother Professor Ahmed As-Sayyid has published a series entitled "The Methodological Foundations of Women's Issues," and has shown with evidence the great contributions of the Muslim woman in creed, hadith, and jurisprudence in the early generations of Islam.
Closing the door of education for girls without providing alternatives to schools and universities to teach them the practical and sufficient duties is contrary to much of what we have mentioned, and it is not permissible for a state to do so. And when we say this, we do not say it in deference to an international demand or out of concern for global media, but rather out of religion and consideration for the purposes of Islamic law.
To assess the Taliban government's position specifically, one needs to know more about the reality there:
Providing the correct education we are talking about requires teachers who have both religious and worldly knowledge. Is the Taliban government investing in the competencies it has and not excluding a scholar or teacher for differing with it ideologically, as long as they are within the bounds of Islam? It appears, and God knows best, that there is a shortfall in this aspect, which adds complexity to the matter.
There is no one, my brothers, who represents the Sharia absolutely, neither the Taliban nor others, and it is not right to judge the Sharia by the practices of people who may err and hit the mark. My advice to my brothers is: keep a distance between you and the movements and individuals, and let your allegiance to them be according to their discipline with the command of Allah and His Sharia. As for Islam itself, let it mix with your blood, veins, and flesh; defend it with determination and without hesitation for the blink of an eye. As for humans, the living being errs and hits the mark, and do not entrust the trial to him, but rather know the men by the truth and do not know the truth by the men.
In conclusion, we will not only take a descriptive stance, but we want to address the reality in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah. Therefore, I call upon everyone who wants the welfare of Afghan women and girls to work on conveying beneficial knowledge to them through available means, even if it is through the internet. I was pleased when I learned that, thanks to Allah the Almighty, a number of brothers and sisters in Afghanistan have circulated the "Series of the Woman" and other materials that we publish.
And I say to our sisters there: Acquiring beneficial knowledge in this world and the hereafter is one of the means of drawing near to Allah the Almighty, for you are the daughters of a noble Muslim people who have conquered empires, and the nation cannot be built except by educating its daughters and sons with what benefits them in their religion and worldly affairs. Since electronic education is available, we call upon all our brothers - everyone who is able - to direct legal and medical courses in various sciences translated into Afghan languages, and not to be content with taking positions on the news.
We ask Allah the Almighty to unite the Muslims and guide them all to what He loves and is pleased with, without excess or negligence. Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah the Almighty and His blessings.