Ever since the Taliban overthrew the democratically elected government in Afghanistan in 2021, the Islamic regime has imposed certain bans and restrictions over anything it deems not in line with the Sharia laws. In their latest onslaught on Western outfits, the Taliban has raised concern over neckties, stating that they appear like a Christian cross and called for a complete ban on it in the Sharia-governed country.
Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror, the chief of the Invitation and Guidance Directorate, the department that aims to guide the Afghan people along the legitimate Islamic rules, stated on July 26 that wearing neckties is in violation of Sharia law.
“When I go to hospitals and other places, an Afghan Muslim engineer or doctor sometimes wears a necktie,” Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror stated at an event in Kabul, as reported by Tolo TV.
Necktie is like a Christian cross
Mohammad Hashim Wror made a bizarre claim that a necktie originated from the Christian cross. He went on to say that the Islamic Sharia commands Muslims to raze and destroy the Christian cross. The head of the Islamic organisation insinuated that neckties should be banned in the country.
“The history of (the necktie) is obvious in Islam. What is a tie? It is the cross. The cross looks like this. It is ordered in Shariah that you should break it and eliminate it,” he said.
Video: Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror, General Director of the Invitation and Guidance Directorate (an independent body that determines religious policies within the interim govt), said that the necktie originated from the Christian cross and that it is “ordered in Shariah that you… pic.twitter.com/UMHesWX6TM
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) July 26, 2023
“The cross is a symbol of pagans. The cross is the symbol of Jesus’ martyrdom. They say Jesus was hung like this,” he added.
It is pertinent to recall that in April last year, it was reported that the Taliban directed the school teachers and students to refrain from wearing neckties. The ban on neckties in schools was confirmed by Taliban’s Ministry of Education spokesperson Ayaz Ahmad Rayan.
Sharia education is compulsory, not modern education
Speaking at the same event, Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror also said that learning modern education is not obligatory, but religious education is compulsory and Afghans need to learn it. “The education that we say is obligatory at every stage for both men and women is religious education, not other education,” he said.
However, Mohammad Tahir Ahmadi, the deputy Minister of Higher Education, disagreed with him. Speaking at the same event, he said that learning modern education is also obligatory and that the Afghans need to learn it apart from Islamic education.
Taliban and its orders imposing Sharia in Afghanistan
Notably, Afghan women have been the worst sufferers of the regime change in the country as they have been barred from getting school and university education. Furthermore, the Taliban administration dictates what the women there are permitted to wear and what they cannot, based on Islamic Sharia law.
In July of this year, the Taliban’s morality ministry ordered that all women-run establishments such as hair and beauty salons be closed down within a month of receiving initial information, which was delivered to them on July 2nd.
Under Taliban leadership, teenage girls and women were forbidden from entering classrooms, gyms, and parks. The women in Afghanistan have also been barred from working for the United Nations and several international non-governmental organisations after the Taliban’s order on 24th December 2022. The Taliban banned women from working in NGOs alleging that they are not wearing the Islamic headscarf correctly
In addition, the Taliban has imposed a severe dress code for women. Women in Afghanistan are required to cover up and wear a garment that only exposes their eyes. Women must also be accompanied by male relatives if they are travelling more than 72 kilometres (48 miles).
Another diktat issued by the Taliban regime in January this year directed female apparel businesses to conceal mannequins displaying the clothing articles. The mannequins with their heads covered symbolised the Taliban’s puritanical rule over Afghanistan.
