Letter to Taliban Leaders to Lift Ban on Women Education

Dear Mr. Naseer Faiq

Chargé D’Affaires to the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations

Assalamu Alaikum,

This morning, on my way to school with my dad, I was excited thinking about the civics class project that I have to submit today. My topic was Demographic Diversity in Central Asia. I have highlighted the people of Afghanistan and their contribution in the history of modern era.?

CNN News was being played in the car radio when I was overwhelmingly describing my project to my dad. But all on a sudden, he gestured me to be quiet. And I can’t believe what I heard on the news “The Taliban government has suspended university education for all female students in?Afghanistan, the latest step in its brutal clampdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women”.

My colorful sky immediately casted with dark patch of cloud within a blink of an eye. It was like getting crashed under a landslide. I was shocked thinking that a sixth grader girl like me in Afghanistan will never be able to finish her education. She will be a victim of child marriage, gender discrimination and domestic violence. Her window of hopes will be a shattered garbage of broken glass.

And most ironic is that, all these are being done in the name of Islam. Hence, I would like to remind you that Islam is the bearer of rights for women, including the rights to education and work. Gender-based denial of education has no religious justification in Islam. Islam places great emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge. There is no mention in the Quran or prophetic sayings that justifies such action.

Unfortunately, misogynistic customs and practices in Afghanistan have continued to propel the domination of men over girls and women, with the Taliban's un-Islamic prohibition on girls' education being one manifestation.

I know that Taliban leaders have a history of defying global calls to change their controversial decisions. Despite widespread international outcry for the protection of sixth-century Buddha statues carved into a cliff in central Afghanistan, former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had the giant historic monuments destroyed in 2001, alleging it was his Islamic (!) duty.

But, no matter you listen to me or not, I do demand to lift this ban on higher education for Afghan girls.?

Regards

Faatiha Aayat