[imagesource:flickr]

Only two months after the Taliban banned the sound of women’s voices in public spaces, the hardline government has now issued a bizarre new edict that prohibits women from speaking aloud in the presence of other women.

The Taliban’s minister for ‘the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’, issued what amount to a muzzle order on Sunday, saying that women must refrain from reciting the Quran aloud in the presence of other women.

A woman’s voice is considered awrah, meaning that it must be covered, and shouldn’t be heard in public, even by other women, the minister said.

Mohammad Khalid Hanafi is reported to have said, “When women are not permitted to call takbir or athan [Islamic call to prayer], they certainly cannot sing songs or music.”

“Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear … How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear [each other’s] voices while praying, let alone for anything else.”

Women, especially human rights experts, fear that this diktat would go beyond prayer and prevent them from even speaking with one another, making them little more than ghosts.

This comes only two months after the Taliban enacted new restrictions in August that required women to cover their whole bodies, including their faces, when going out.

In August, Taliban banned women’s voices in public, calling it “sexually provocative.” Last week, they banned women from singing & loudly praying around each other. They aim to choke women, but women will not be silenced. Video from August: brave woman sings defiantly in Kabul. pic.twitter.com/r28dqDLmTl

— Zubaida Akbar (@ZubaidaAKBR) October 30, 2024

A midwife in Herat told Amu TV that Taliban officials restrict female healthcare professionals, who are the last Afghan women allowed to work outside their homes, from interacting with male relatives.

“They don’t even allow us to communicate at checkpoints on our way to work. And at the clinics, we are not allowed to discuss medical issues with male relatives.”

Since retaking power in 2021 after overthrowing the NATO-backed administration, the Taliban have further restricted women’s rights, including prohibiting them from receiving formal education. As expected, the latest remarks have sparked a furore on social media.

Journalist Lina Rozbih said. “The world must do something! Help millions of voiceless and helpless women of Afghanistan.”

“After banning women’s voices from the public, the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue banned women from speaking to each other. I am at a loss for words to express my utter rage and disgust about the Taliban’s mistreatment of women.”

“This surpasses misogyny. It exemplifies an extreme level of control and absurdity.”

Human rights and civil society activists from Afghanistan called for the Taliban leaders to be held accountable for their “gender apartheid” diktats.

Today’s ban on women’s voices in each other’s presence comes from Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s Minister of Vice&Virtue, who published a 100+ page book of edicts against women last month. Every ban on women has a face behind it & must be held accountable for gender apartheid. pic.twitter.com/DFdEOA8qg7

— Zubaida Akbar (@ZubaidaAKBR) October 27, 2024

The latest lunacy is part of the Taliban’s 100-plus page book of edicts against women which was published last month. We’re surprised that women have not yet been banned from reading and thinking as well.

[source:independent]