To lay claim to the title of “vishwaguru”, India must assume ethical leadership of the world. As a founder-member of the United Nations and original signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it must demonstrate an unequivocal commitment to human rights and gender justice. Our opposition to terrorism, too, is an article of faith. The current geopolitical scenario may have necessitated a warm welcome for the Taliban’s visiting foreign minister, Amir Muttaqi. Yet, is it not a fact that Muttaqi has been declared a terrorist by the UN? Diplomacy sometimes demands such compromises. But whatever the compulsions, we should have put our foot down regarding the state-arranged visit by Muttaqi to the seminary of Deoband. It has given the Taliban much-needed legitimacy and Muslim liberals are at a loss to understand the government’s decision to organise the visit.
It is true that the Deoband ulema issued a fatwa of jihad against the British and opposed the flawed and communal idea of Partition, besides issuing fatwas against all kinds of terrorism and cow slaughter. Yet, the seminary established in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi represents, at its core, orthodox and conservative Sunni Islam.
Deoband signifies the dated ideas of one Sunni school, and its graduates dominate the Muslim Personal Law Board. It is opposed not only to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) but also to modern progressive reforms in Muslim Personal Law. Most of its ideas on freedom of religion, blasphemy, triple divorce, hijab, etc, are not compatible with constitutional morality and norms. It continues to hold the Sharia as the highest norm of the legal system.
Under Article 26 of the Constitution, every religious denomination or any section thereof is entitled to establish and manage religious institutions of its choice. The Deoband seminary is entitled to teach any theology and have an opinion as per its theological school. But should the state be seen as facilitating such institutions?
The signals sent by Muttaqi’s visit have disappointed many in the country. Freedom of religion under our Constitution includes freedom from religion as well. It also guarantees freedom within religion. But the Taliban does not guarantee this freedom to Afghan women. The worst kinds of women’s rights violations are reported from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The Taliban is one of the most regressive and authoritarian regimes today. By the 1990s, 40 per cent of doctors in Afghanistan were women. Women also constituted 70 per cent of school teachers, 60 per cent of university professors and almost half of university students. Today, women’s literacy in Afghanistan is at a meagre 14 per cent. The Taliban’s Jim Crow-like decrees have not come as a surprise. Its promises during the Doha deal of respecting human rights in general and women’s rights in particular have proved to be empty words.
Women, who occupied one-fourth of parliamentary seats and 6.5 per cent of ministerial positions in 2021, have been completely excluded from the Taliban government. They can no longer go out and work in most sectors. They are forced to cover their faces and must be accompanied by a male guardian. Afghan women are denied access to amusement and public parks, and are banned from universities and colleges. Women are now forced to join madrasas.
Not only does the Taliban have no respect for the international human rights covenants, its ideology is also in violation of Islamic theology. The Arabic word for knowledge is ilm. This root word has been used in the Quran 854 times — 397 times as a noun, 425 times as a verb, and the remaining times as an adjective. The first words of divine revelation in the Quran asked the Prophet (PBUH) to read: “Read in the name of your Lord who has created (all that exists)” (Quran 96:1-5). Islam was a knowledge revolution. The Prophet himself had reportedly said that “seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim male and female”. (Al-Tirmidhi). There is not a single verse in the Quran or Hadiths that prohibits women from acquiring knowledge.
The Taliban seems to be ignorant of the history of Islamic civilisation. The Prophet’s wife Ayesha was a great scholar who was consulted by people on theological matters. She is the most prominent narrator of the Hadith. In fact, it is impossible to talk of Islam without referring to her. Nafisa, a close relative of Ali, the fourth caliph, used to be consulted by the people and even scholars.
The Taliban leadership may not know that one of the earliest modern universities, the University of Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco, was founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihriya. In the 13th century, Raziya Sultan ruled over Delhi and built several schools. In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto has been the Prime Minister, and Bangladesh has been ruled by Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajid for a large part of its history. Even in Afghanistan in 1880, Malalai demonstrated her courage and bravery in the battle of Maiwand. Habibi Sarabi was appointed as Governor of Bamyan in 2005, and Azra Jafari became the first female mayor in Afghanistan in 2009.
If at all the foreign minister had to be taken to some Muslim institution, the Aligarh Muslim University, the greatest citadel of Muslim education, where a woman is the vice-chancellor, should have been chosen.
The Deoband administration, in an official statement, was cleverer than the organisers of the first press conference in Delhi. It stated categorically that “its policy of welcoming guests of India is allied with the foreign policy of the country and this visit was not their endorsement of Taliban’s policies but mere continuation of historical, cultural and scholarly ties between Deoband and Afghanistan”.
The writer is vice-chancellor of Chanakya National Law University, Patna. Views are personal
