After the Taliban expelled the American forces from their land almost two years ago, the most famous and respected Deobandi scholar of our times, Mufti Taqi Uthmani from Pakistan, wrote their leadership a letter in which he made du’a for their success, and expressed his happiness at the victories given to them. He then went on to mention that the world has made the issue of women’s education and the Taliban’s stance on it a means to use to discredit any good they might do. He urged them, not just in light of this potentially negative propaganda, but primarily in light of the fact that the Shariah has no prohibitions on women’s education, and that in the times we live in such education is a benefit and boon to society, to ensure that the Taliban allow women to study within the guidelines of Islam.
It is sad to see that this request, from such a senior scholar, was not paid heed to, and that the ruling powers in that region decided to shut down all higher education for women.
I echo Mufti Taqi Uthmani’s sentiment: we are not siding with Islamophobes who ignore far, far greater problems (like the widespread chaos and hunger in that region, much of which is the direct result of 50+ years of brutal occupation and invasion by both superpowers) and concentrate on this issue for their sinister agenda. Yet, even as we dissociate from such propaganda and refuse to give any support to invading and meddling superpowers, I am distraught to see the videos and read the stories of so many of our sisters who wanted to study, and yet were deprived of that opportunity on excuses that really do seem flimsy.
Anyone who makes a blanket claim that the Shariah prohibits women from education is wrong. And if there are issues with the environment or curriculum that some might fight problematic, the solution is to fix the secondary problems, rather than create larger ones by halting education on the mothers and sisters and daughters of a society.
We have many battles to fight, in every land. I am not from that region, hence I cannot speak to specifics, and I can only talk as an outsider. But I do say that as a general rule, educating women is not a part of the problem, it is a part of the solution to any society’s growth and thriving.
And Allah alone is the Grantor of Success.
