"Women Lose Value If Men See Their Face:" Taliban Spokesperson

"Women lose value if men can see their uncovered faces in public," said a spokesperson of Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Thursday, adding that religious scholars in the country agree that women need to keep their faces covered when stepping outside their homes.

It’s been two years since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Since August 2021, the Taliban has been citing the failure of women to wear hijab in a proper way to bar them from most public spaces, including universities, offices, and parks.

Taliban On Women Not Covering Face

Spokesperson of the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue, Molvi Mohammad Sadiq Akif, said in an interview with the Associated Press that if women’s faces were visible to the public, there was a possibility of "fitna" or committing a sin.

He noted that it is very bad to see women without hijab in some big cities, and even scholars recommend that women’s faces should be hidden. He explained that it wasn’t because women’s faces would be damaged or harmed. He stated that a woman has her own value, which will decrease when men look at her. "Allah gives respect to females in hijab, and there is value in this."

Dr Tim Winter, Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, said there was "no scriptural mandate in Islam for face covering." He added that the Taliban would struggle to find anything in Islamic scripture that backed the interpretation of hijab rules. Further, he pointed out that their name itself implied they weren’t experts because the word Taliban meant "student."

The Taliban’s restrictions on girls and women have caused global outrage, including in some countries with a Muslim majority.

The UN special envoy Gordon Brown said on Wednesday that the International Criminal Court should prosecute the Taliban leaders for crimes against humanity for denying education and employment rights to women and girls in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesperson Akif didn’t answer questions about the ban during the interview. He said that there were other departments to deal with these issues. Akif further claimed that under the current administration, men no longer stare at or harass women like they used to do during the previous government. He also added that the Taliban had destroyed the evils of drinking alcohol and bacha bazi (the practice of wealthy and powerful men exploiting young boys for entertainment, including dancing and sexual activities).

The Taliban ministry is situated near Darul Aman Palace in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Some of the guards on duty told the AP that women are banned from entering the premises. However, there was a female-only security screening hut present.

When the AP asked Akif if women were allowed to go to parks, he said that they could, but only if certain conditions were met. Women could go to the park, but only if there are no men there. He claimed that Sharia does not allow women to enter the park if men are present. He further noted that they don’t say that women can’t do sports; they can't go to the park or for a run. Women could do so, but not in the same way that some women wanted, "to be semi-naked and among men."

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