Taliban official says women lose value if their faces are visible to men in public

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Taliban official says women lose value if their faces are visible to men in public

BY RIAZAT BUTT
Updated 6:06 AM EDT, August 18, 2023

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Women lose value if men can see their uncovered faces in public, a spokesman for a key ministry of Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Thursday, adding that religious scholars in the country agree that a woman must keep her face covered when outside the home.

The Taliban, who took over the country in August of 2021, have cited the failure of women to observe the proper way to wear the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, as a reason for barring them from most public spaces, including parks, jobs and university.

Molvi Mohammad Sadiq Akif, the spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue, said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press that if women’s faces are visible in public there is a possibility of fitna, or falling into sin.

-snip-

Tim Winter, who is the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, said there was no scriptural mandate in Islam for face coverings and the Taliban would struggle to find anything in Islamic scripture that backed their interpretation of hijab rules.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-women-hijab-52937354eb8a89f916fd2dbc1f83c0d7

[Scrivener7]

1. Taliban officials lose value when they open their stupid mouths.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. They will do anything, write any rule, to control women.

[3catwoman3]

3. "The possibility of falling into sin."

So women are responsible not only for their own behavior, but for the behavior of men?

Are men so weak they cannot be responsible for themselves?

Screw that bullshit.

[Merlot]

4. Well, if women aren't held responsible for the behavior of men

then the men themselves would have to be held responsible for their own behavior.

Can't have that.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Men are prone to emotions and weak, so women are forced to be strong

Men, meaning especially in backward patriarchies. They can't stand a level playing field.

Islam, per se, does not require women to be oppressed.

Patriarchies, and especially backward patriarchies, require women to be oppressed so that the status quo of male suppremacy can be maintained.

[Merlot]

10. Women are "forced to be strong" so much wrong with that statement.

In patriarchies women are always seen as weak, emotional and needing someone to "guide" them while simultaneously being placed on a pedestal that prescribes their actions and behaviors. They can only be "strong" as it relates to how convienient it is for the men.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. I'm talking reality, not the perceptions through patriarchy. Patriarchy is wrong, not my statement

When people like Afghan women are oppressed as they are, they are forced by lack of alternatives to be strong. They can't afford to be weak and adapting to circumstances makes them stronger.

Yes, patriarchies do "see" women as weak or rather they push that perception regardless of reality.

Just because patriarchy is wrong, does not make my anti-patriarchy statement wrong. Perhaps you have been unclear and I don't understand why you attack my statement.

[Scrivener7]

13. Are there patriarchies that are not backward?

[Irish_Dem]

7. If a man sees a woman's face she will bewitch him and make him do bad things.

So it is all the woman's fault.

Women are seen as witches the world over.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. The men who own the women see their asset devalued; that's the "lose value". . . nt

[Irish_Dem]

6. Yes the statement indicates women are just property with a price tag attached.

[Wonder Why]

9. Who do think they are? Republicans? Stealing others' platforms, they are.

[msongs]

12. oh my should I go to the book burning riot today or go out and put bags over women's heads nt

[electric_blue68]

14. Geeeebz, I hate these people. Also Christian Nationalist, Catholic RW'rs, etc 🙄🤬

Luckily I spend a lot more time on fun, Interesting, beautiful things, experiences, and creative artistic pursuits by myself, or w people I care about - than getting mad at those kinds of people mentioned above Plus doing various semi activism things to keep the hounds at bay. 👍