Nearly two years after Taliban takeover, Afghans say they are tired and scared

The professor stated that religious figures in the country continue to try to persuade the Taliban to follow Quranic tenets, especially through discussions on social media.

However, any sort of criticism can be very dangerous, he noted.

No one should be exempt from criticism

"Even the leader of the state — the Caliph of the Muslims," he said, should be open to criticism, as they, too, are human and need to be corrected at times.

"Every citizen in the Islamic government has the right to confront the Caliph when he makes a mistake, to tell him this is a mistake," he added.

The professor of Islamic law noted that, "In Islamic history, there was a woman who said to Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the Caliph of the Muslims, 'You made a mistake'."

"And he accepted her words and said: Omar made a mistake, and the woman said what was right," he added.

"Islam has given this right to both men and women, no matter what position the wrongdoer has — whether minister, advisor, president, or [any] official."

"Whoever rejects this is rejecting the teachings of Islam," he stressed, becoming more emotional.

He noted that, "In Islamic history, when Omar was appointed Caliph over the Muslims and he came out with his first speech, he said the same thing."

And "before him, Abu Bakr had said 'if I make a mistake, anyone has the right to tell me and to point me in the right direction'," he stressed.

"In his speech addressed to women and men, he said that in the Noble Quran, there are verses [that order all Muslims to] 'Read in the name of your Lord who created you'," he said.

"References to the pen as a tool for teaching and the duty to seek knowledge as being incumbent upon all Muslims are mentioned numerous times in the Quran," he said.

Hypocritical enforcement of 'Islamic' finance

On the issue of Islamic finance and the economy, he said that the new IAE government has ordered "that all banks convert to the Islamic work system, and that each bank should appoint a committee of Islamic scholars to supervise the bank's work."

"This is a law that has been applied in many banks," he said.

However, on the issue of "receiving aid from foreign governments, such as China, the Taliban have no problem receiving it — even knowing that, in Islam, this is not permissible.

If the Taliban want to fully implement Islam, they must not accept this aid," he said.

The professor added that Islam also requires "justice in dividing wealth and money. The government must distribute money fairly. It is not permissible to allocate all the money to the army, for example. The people must benefit from the money as well."

"What is happening now is that people are living in a difficult economic situation, and there are no job opportunities, and people are traveling abroad in order to find work. Women are begging for money on the streets."

He added that the Taliban have spoken out against begging and tried to implement measures against it. The situation will only worsen if women and girls continue to be prevented from studying and working in certain fields.

'Seemingly' in line with Islam

One former judge under the Republic, who had worked in that capacity until the Taliban took over the capital on 15 August 2021, however, had a less critical view of Taliban rule.

He said the group's actions were "seemingly" in line with Islam.

"Seemingly," he repeated, without further explaining what he meant.

Speaking in English, he claimed that "how they are changing the laws, their behaviour with the public and how they are changing society, all these things are correct [according to] Islam's orders."

"They are not creating any laws that are opposite to Islam," he stressed, and "they are motivating people to go to mosques to learn the foundations of Islam."

The man no longer wants to work as a judge, even if the Taliban were to allow him to, because he was "tired". He said that as soon as the Taliban took power in August 2021, "all judges were fired."

"They said that 'we got this country by our blood, by fighting', so we do not need you guys," he added.

He outlined the Taliban's explanation as follows: "We all are mullahs, we know Islam better than you people. And you are the people who worked for the United States and Europe, and so you are not one of us."

"We do not need your experience. And we [handled] our cases in the areas in which we were fighting, [so] we can handle the cases in the capital as well."

He said he had asked some Taliban members what they would base their decisions on, since they did not yet have a constitution. He said they answered: "We have the Quran. We will take orders from the Quran whenever we can find, otherwise we will take our judicial decisions [based on] the hadiths."

He added that they had also noted that fatwas, and the Mecelle — the civil code of the former Ottoman Empire based on Islamic law — were also considered by the Taliban as valid sources to be quoted for lawyers writing appeals and as a basis for judgements.

"So, it seems that they are implementing Islam," he said.

On the much-feared Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice —which was reinstated after the Taliban takeover and initially housed in the immediately eliminated Ministry for Women's Affairs — the former judge claimed: "They are trying to make people become 'perfect' Muslims."

"The ministry has sections in every region," he stated, noting that those working for it move around a lot and "ask the mullahs [in the various areas] how many houses are around the mosque. If the mullah says 500, they ask whether 500 people are coming to the mosque. If he says yes, then they ask for a record and [say] 'give us the names', as one person should come from each house."

But, he said, "For now, they are being 'merciful', as these ministry employees tell the mullahs that if some people in the areas served by their mosque are busy, if there is not a person in the house who should come to the mosque, then just mention it to us, we will not bother that house."

"Every Muslim will say that it is Islam," he stressed.

"If you are Muslim, you should know the basics: how to pray, [about] money, the system of earning money, what is halal, what is haram, what is zakat and how much you should pay. If a Muslim doesn't know how much he should pay for zakat, how can we say that he is a perfect Muslim?"

"Mentally, we are relaxed," he claimed.

When asked to explain further, he said: "before, there were a lot of suicide bombers. They (the Taliban) were the suicide bombers. Now, suicide bombings are not happening, at least in the city" of Kabul, as much as before.

"And, I am tired," he repeated.

Multiple judges have been killed in recent years. Two female judges that had been working for the Supreme Court under the Republic were assassinated in central Kabul in January 2021, while others that did not manage to leave the country when the Taliban took over in August last year, later disappeared, some Afghans claim.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan had multiple women judges. In contrast, the IEA does not have women judges, within the government or within any other decision-making body.

Restrictions on women

In another interview, a woman who previously worked in the justice sector and provided training to officials said that the IAE government's actions are, absolutely, "not in line with Islamic law".

She noted that, "as we move ahead and days pass, there will be more restrictions on women and especially women's [freedom of] movement. I think this is alarming. There is a fear that, at some point in the future, women will not be allowed to go out of their homes, like in the 1990s."

She noted that in no other area of the world do Islamic scholars interpret Islam as the Taliban do.

Even in Iran — a country heavily criticised for its restrictions on women —  she pointed out that "women are highly educated and working in the private and public sector."

"Our Afghan constitution was based on Islamic law" during the Republic, she said, while "the current Taliban government is not in line" with it.

She said that while she used to walk to work and take taxis around the city, she now, for the most part, doesn't leave her home.

She was too afraid to meet in person and thus had to communicate via encrypted messaging. The author of this article had met with her multiple times in previous years during other reporting trips to the country. Now, however, the woman said she no longer feels safe to go outside or work.

Now, for the most part, she works on trying to get the will to get up in the morning in a country where women are no longer allowed to even go to a public park to get some fresh air — a measure introduced in November 2022.

She, too, stressed that she was very tired — and scared.