Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban\u2019s Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, emphasized in a meeting with religious scholars, tribal elders, and western zone media officials in Herat that the full implementation of Sharia law and strengthening the \u201cIslamic system\u201d are top priorities of the ministry. He stated that the law on commanding good is not the jurisdiction of a single ministry but a \u201cdivine decree from Allah and the Prophet,\u201d and its enforcement is a shared responsibility of all Muslims.<\/p>\n
Hanafi elaborated that the Islamic system gains meaning only when Sharia is fully applied, the oppressed are defended, and justice is established in society. He called on religious scholars to use their pulpits to invite people toward \u201creform and change,\u201d adding that societal reform happens when the \u201cvoice of truth\u201d is heard from the pulpit.<\/p>\n
The minister also claimed that individuals who, according to him, had committed \u201coppression against women and the innocent\u201d with foreign support in the past are now speaking about women\u2019s rights. He stressed that, according to the Taliban administration, a system based on Sharia is the best protector of women\u2019s rights and dignity within the framework of Islamic law\u2014a claim that has faced widespread criticism from human rights organizations in recent years due to restrictions on Afghan women\u2019s education, employment, and social presence.<\/p>\n
Hanafi stated that every article of the ministry\u2019s law is based on Sharia and aims to \u201cprotect the rights of compatriots.\u201d He accused international critics of the ministry\u2019s work of having issues with \u201creligious rulings.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the meeting, he urged media officials first to apply this law to themselves and their colleagues and then to communicate it to the public through their platforms. He said media today hold the role of pulpits and must fulfill this responsibility\u2014remarks made amid growing restrictions on media activities in the country.<\/p>\n
Hanafi also dismissed reports claiming that women had been imprisoned by the ministry\u2019s enforcers in Herat as \u201crumors,\u201d asserting that intelligence groups are spreading such allegations to confuse public opinion. He asked attendees if they had personally witnessed such cases and emphasized that these claims have \u201cno factual basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
These recent comments by the Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice come as the ministry\u2019s policies and operations have consistently been a major focus of domestic and international criticism since the Taliban\u2019s return to power, directly affecting the social status and fundamental rights of citizens, especially women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Minister in Herat calls law on commanding good a divine decree, defending Sharia-based women’s rights amid criticism and media restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}