KABUL (SW) – In a recent investigative report by Salam Watandar, 23 out of 26 women across 10 provinces of Afghanistan shared their harrowing experiences of being deprived of fundamental rights granted to them under Islamic law.
Among these women, 14 are married, and 9 are single. They report being stripped of their right to choose a spouse, make decisions, and enjoy personal freedoms such as independent living, dress codes, behavioral freedom, and the right to mahr (dowry), all of which are guaranteed under Islamic law. Instead, they live under complete control by their families.
Fourteen married women emphasize that their families forced them into arranged marriages. Mariam, 30, from Takhar, says that she was compelled to marry against her will, with her father taking away her right to choose a spouse. “I was very young when my family married me off to an elderly man. I never wanted to marry, but my father insisted on it,” she added.
Raoufa, 25, from Herat, shares a similar story, saying that her parents decided her marriage without her involvement. “I’ve been married for two years and have a child. I had never met my husband before; it was solely my parents’ choice. They said, ‘This is how it is,’ and I had no say in the matter,” she recalls.
Mehriya, 22, from Kunduz, explains that her father and brothers control her every decision, including whom she speaks to, how she dresses, and even how she walks. “Every decision is made by my family. They tell me who I can talk to, how to dress, even how to walk. I have no control over my life, and I can’t make any decisions because everything is dictated by my father and brothers,” she says.
Hamida, 40, a resident of Kabul, says that despite her husband’s financial ability to pay her dowry, societal taboos have prevented her from receiving it after 19 years of marriage. “I am educated, and my family is enlightened. When I got married, my family insisted that my husband must pay the mahr, but due to societal pressures, he has not given it to me, even though he can afford it.”
Tamana, 34, from Kabul, also says her right to live independently has been denied by her in-laws. “Islam grants us the right to live independently, but this right has been violated by my husband’s family. My husband has five brothers, and despite the fact that we’ve been married for a long time, we still live together as one family, struggling to have any privacy.”
Religious scholars argue that Islamic law treats men and women as equals, affirming that both genders should enjoy the same fundamental rights.
“Men and women are from the same lineage, and according to Islamic law, they are equal in all aspects of life, including rights such as the right to life, education, marriage, freedom of choice, and many others,” says Atta al-Haq Aanas, a religious scholar.
Habibullah Hesam, another religious scholar, further emphasizes that both men and women have the same status in Islam, with equal rights and duties, “both in this world and in the hereafter”.
Some legal experts also highlight the legal and Islamic equality between men and women, stressing that families should respect the independence of their children. “Islamic law, as well as Afghan law, grants individuals, including women, rights such as health care, decision-making in personal matters, and the right to determine their destiny. While consulting family members is advisable in matters like marriage, it is not mandatory, and families should respect their children’s independence,” says legal expert Noor Aqa Shoaib.
Women’s rights activists are concerned about the ongoing gender inequality in Afghanistan and its roots in family-level oppression. “We are always concerned about the violation of women’s basic rights in society and families. Before women’s rights can be respected in society, they must be respected in families. If we face significant challenges in our society today, they stem from the lack of respect for women’s rights within families, which then spreads to society and eventually affects the whole country,” says Husna Raoufi, a women’s rights advocate.
In response, officials from the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MoPVPV) of the Islamic Emirate also acknowledge the violations of women’s human and Islamic rights in Afghan families. They report that in the past three years, the ministry has intervened in tens of thousands of cases of domestic violence against women.
The ministry’s spokesman Saif al-Islam Khaibar, told Salam Watandar: “Unfortunately, the rights granted to women by Islam have not been respected in families due to a lack of public awareness, prolonged conflicts, and the influence of foreign cultures. In the past three and a half years, the ministry of promotion of Virtue has prevented tens of thousands of cases of domestic violence and intervened in 5,500 cases of forced marriages. Our goal is to ensure that the rights given to women by Islam are upheld.”
Representatives from several countries have expressed concern at United Nations Security Council meetings about the violation of women’s rights in Afghanistan and have called on the Islamic Emirate’s de-facto government to ensure better protection of women’s rights.
