by Hadia Ziaei in TOLOnews, Dec 30, 2022 at 8:05 PM
Following the reactions of Islamic countries to banning women and girls from education, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in a statement on Thursday called on the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) to quickly launch a global campaign to unite scholars and religious authorities in the Islamic world against the Islamic Emirate’s decision to prevent girls from education.
“The decision of the Taliban government to prevent girls from education, including university education, and to dismiss female faculty members from their positions on the pretext that this contradicts Islamic law, was the latest challenge to be reviewed by the IIFA in addition to issues of minorities, escalating hostility to Muslims in Western countries, and other pressing issues,” OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said.
According to the OIC’s statement, the call of the OIC secretary-general came at the opening of the second meeting of the 2022 IIFA Bureau held via video conferencing on Thursday.
“Mr. Taha stressed the priority of the Afghan dossier in the OIC and IIFA agendas. He also pointed out that the Taliban’s decision was not based on texts in Islamic law,” OIC statement reads.
Meanwhile, lecturers asked the Islamic Emirate to reopen all educational institutions across the country.
“The people of Afghanistan call on the Islamic Emirate to understand the realities and consider the benefit of the people and open secondary schools to students at the start of the education year (in April 2023),” said Abdul Naser Shafiq, a university lecturer.
“I think, keeping girls’ schools closed could increase the gap between Afghans and the Islamic Emirate and the nation. At the international level, it will undermine the Taliban’s credibility and bring them into direct conflict with the world over challenges relating to women’s and human rights,” said Farhad Abrar, a university lecturer.
But the Islamic Emirate said they are looking for a solution for women’s jobs at NGOs.
“Problems regarding education and women’s employment will be resolved. We are working on them,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.
Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, said in a statement that it is not acceptable to prevent women from attending school.
He urged Afghanistan’s current government to reconsider its decision on the matter. https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-181399
