By Timothy Whiteman
Hamid Karzai, president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, has endorsed the nation's Ulema Council's ruling in accordance with Islamic Sharia Law that approves of wife beating and the forced segregation of the sexes.
As reported by the Associated Press via the Washington Post, Karzai's endorsement is part of his national reconciliation outreach to the Taliban.
The AP quoted President Karzai as stating:
"The clerics’ council of Afghanistan did not put any limitations on women. It is the Shariah law of all Muslims and all Afghans."
Ulema Council's exist in many Muslim nations and are comprised of Islamic theologians whose duty it is to ensure secular law is sharia-compliant.
Prior to the US-led invasion of 2001, the Taliban government condoned family members and/or civilly imprisoned, tortured or executed women for the following violations of Sharia Law:
- Refusing an arranged marriage.
- Infidelity.
- Females over the age of 8 receiving an education.
- Appearing in the streets without a male blood relative.
- Failure to wear a burqa.
- Wear high-heeled shoes as no man should hear a woman’s footsteps lest it excite him.
- Speak loudly in public as no stranger should hear a woman's voice.
- All ground and first floor residential windows should be painted over or screened to prevent women being visible from the street.
- The photographing or filming of women and displaying pictures of females in newspapers, books, shops or the home.
- Forbidden to appear on the balconies of their apartments or houses.
- Banned from radio and television broadcasts or at public gatherings of any kind.
- Riding in a taxi without a male escort.
- Segregated bus services to prevent males and females traveling together.
- Banned from riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with male escorts.
Afghanistan Analysis posted a translation of the Afghanistan Ulema Council's Declaration on Women, which reads in part:
"It needs to be said that teasing, harassment and beating of women without a Shariah-compliant reason, as set forth clearly in the Glorious Qur’an, is prohibited."
Originally published on March 10, 2012