Assalaamu Alaykum, (peace be upon you)
Ok apologies for the long rant... those of you who don’t want to read then hit dont bother...
ok still here?
also been nice and done some translations of the words used for the non-muslims present.
Ps… there is also a useful links section at the bottom of what I have written for those who want to read about the Taliban from first hand accounts by better writers than myself.
Right...
First of all I make no apologies for being an unashamed fan of the Taliban and emir al muminin (leader of the faithful), Mullah Omar and to be honest I had these views before I embraced Islam, perhaps it was my Tory boy mentality recognising a fellow hanger and flogger! (Or be-header and flogger anyway) but to me here was a movement that took a country in absolute anarchy and turned it into something else.
But really it was no more than admiration for a movement and man who got things going for the better in the most appalling circumstances. I could see they went from almost nothing to the rulers of the nation (well other than the 10% the northern alliance controlled) and cut opium poppy production to almost zero (well other than the 10% the northern alliance controlled) so that was all I really knew about the Taliban before I came to Islam and I couldn’t understand why the US had turned against them but really it didn’t much concern me as it was on the other side of the world so who cares? Or at least that was my attitude then.
After I came to Islam I also looked at this movement who the world called evil and the enemies of mankind or so the yanks would have us believe and I couldn’t square with what they had actually done.
Anyone who wants to discuss women's rights and the Taliban should first look at the situation before they came to power, a read through the 1995 amnesty international Afghanistan report on women’s rights should be a good start.
Women, Afghanistan (1996)
There was no effective government in Afghanistan, when a town was taken over by a faction then rape was the norm. I would ask anyone to read that report and if you do not cry for the suffering of your sisters then I would doubt the strength your imaan (faith).
So as someone pointed out, the Taliban rose in the defence of women's rights, the right not to be raped, murdered in honour killings and treated as a chattel of her father who in afghan culture is free to keep the Mahr of his daughter, which often led to her being forced into marriage to the highest bidder. Some brothers I know from there even speak of the worst offenders at this literally taking their daughters to the market place to show her off like a prize horse or cow before sale.
This was the status of the women in Afghanistan before the Taliban for the vast majority of the population excect a small elite of women who were linked with the former communist regime and were very liberal in their views and were later to go on to become a thorn in the side of the Taliban and the source of most of the outrageous stories and lies regarding the Taliban that were sent to the west.
The Taliban came to prominence in the defence of women and in Mullah Omar leading his students (Taliban means students in Pushtu, although I think it means two students in Arabic) against the local warlords to rescue girls who had been kidnapped for rape by the warlords men or taken as ‘wives’ by the local warlord for himself or his favourites, a practice that usually meant his men would turn up at the house and demand the girl, if she wasn’t handed over they would shoot her dead, if she went with them the best she could hope for was to be given to one man to be raped and not gang raped by all of them.
From village to village they went, picking up more arms and religious students along the way before taking towns and cities and finally Kabul, the capital. This really was a religious revival movement for all its minor flaws.
Throughout this time they destroyed each warlord, or asked him to lay down his heavy arms (some say they let them keep their AK47 which I think count as a fashion accessory not a weapon in Afghanistan) as not all warlords were evil, some were just the local village headman trying to prevent his village being attacked and his people molested. Many of these men went on to join the Taliban movement and throughout its time so far the Taliban has never numbered more than a hardcore 10,000 religious students and many of these smaller militia who helped them rise to power.
Now many of the more evil despicable warlords as well as Tribal leaders formed at this point the northern alliance, a loose alliance of northern clans and the worse of the warlords who the Taliban would never accept into their ranks and they even took money and arms from their former enemies the Russians!
The Taliban once in government though even offered to negotiate with these people and offered them amnesty and some even positions in the government, Kazai the present apostate puppet ruler of the small part of Afghanistan the Americans fully control in Kabul was even offered the role of UN ambassador which he refused.
Despite claims to the opposite, the Taliban was never a racist Asabiyyah (asabiyyah meaning racism or tribalism) based organisation and some of the Afghanis who live in my area are ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks and are still in favour of the Taliban over anything else in Afghanistan either now or in the past and often viewed their own militia as little more than bandits. The Taliban was never 100% Pushtan although they formed the majority of the Taliban and are a majority in the country but other ethnic minorities as well as Muslims from all over the world joined the Taliban including Western reverts.
The Taliban is a hardcore Jihadi organisation, lets not say it wasn’t because it is, they used the camps funded by the CIA to oust the Soviets to train any Muslim who came for military training, but when some military training is at least Mustahaab (recommended) or some Hanafi scholars say Wajib (obligatory) this was only them helping other Muslims fulfil their Islamic duties.
Also, like most of the factions in Afghanistan, the Taliban had made use of Opium poppy production to raise funds in its early days and many of the former warlords who made up allied militia movements certainly sold opium but early in their rule, Mullah Omar phased out opium production until it was almost at zero % from the Taliban controlled zone and almost all opium was coming from the northern Alliance.
Ok, this is dragging on a bit so I will wrap up after covering two issues others have touched upon in the past and often get eaten up about, firstly the status of women UNDER the Taliban and the destruction of the two Buddha Statues.
Now what was the status of women under the Taliban?
Probably a little less than it should be under Islam, but still far greater than most women were used to in Afghanistan, for example the Taliban never banned girls from attending schools in Kabul as was widely reported. What they did was ban teenage girls from the streets for several months after their conquest whilst there were so many Mujahadeen on the streets.
They also removed all girls from co-ed schools and although they intended to build girls schools, they never got the opportunity to do so given the severe conditions due to the drought and sanctions that were leading to starvation amongst the people, these sanctions put in place by the West.
Now another widely reported story was that the Taliban removed the women from mixed wards in Kabul, there were even pictures at the time of them doing this and everyone said how evil they were. What wasn’t told in those pictures (supplied by those Munafiq liberal women) was that they were being moved to a brand new state of the art hospital that had been funded by the Kuwaiti royals and specialised in maternity and women’s medicine. When the Media shy Taliban finally got to releasing their own version of the story it only made a couple of paragraph clarification in the broadsheets and was ignored in the tabloids and TV who allowed the lies against the Taliban to stand.
One of the top education priorities of the Taliban was female doctors and medical staff but this was bombed into the stone ages like everything else by the Americans after September 11th.
Did the Taliban prevent women from going out in the street?
Well only when they immediately took a city or town, otherwise no. Brothers I know from Afghanistan said usually the markets had more women in them than men and they would meet there and chat. Yes some women would be prevented from going out, but this is part of the Pushtan tribal culture and the families that prevented their women from going out then and still preventing them from going out now so it is hardly a good argument to make against the Taliban.
No, the reason the west thinks the Taliban oppressed women is their forcing them to cover which is perfectly correct and proper in Islam. We have to remember the Taliban were trying to drag the society up around them from a very low base point where Jahiliyyah (cultural attitudes, actions and ideas that contradict islam) towards women were common and I have seen for myself that scholars need to reform people at a pace that is possible for them to follow.
Now what about those two statues of Buddha that the Taliban destroyed…?
Now maybe the rest of you read a different Seerah than I did, or maybe you believed Hamza Yusuf and other liberal scholars when they tell you the only statues destroyed were those in Kabaa but to be blunt this is a total lie against Rasoolullah (saws) (Rasoolullah means prophet of God) and it is authentically reported It was narrated that ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Do not tell lies about me. Whoever tells lies about me, let him enter the Fire.’” (Sahih Bukhari - the most authentic book of sayings and actions of the prophet Muhammad saws)
After the conquest of Mekkah the prophet Muhammad (saws) sent expeditions out over the whole of Arabia with a mission to destroy any idol or anything being worshiped as an idol. Yes people were free to believe what they wanted and were not forced to convert but their public idols and trees and rocks they worshipped were destroyed and smashed by the Muslim armies on the orders of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) and the rightly guided Kalif’s. (a Kalif is the islamic leader of the whole muslim world)
Finally… What about Osama Bin Ladin you say?
Well did you know that Mullah Omar ordered the arrest of his own son in law (OBL is reportedly married to Emir al Muminin’s daughter, though there is some dispute over this matter) when the allegation of the world trade centre attacks was made?
He was placed under house arrest, the Taliban said Pushtan custom and Islamic law forbid them handing him over to the kuffar authorities but if they supplied them the evidence they would put him on trial themselves. The Americans said give him to us or share the same fate. Mullah Omar said give the evidence to another Muslim land and if we are satisfied he will get a fair trail according to Shariah we will hand him over. Once again the Americans refused this very reasonable offer and it was shortly after this the bombs started dropping. At the time the bombs were dropping the Taliban had even sent peace envoys to America but George W just didn’t want to meet them and they ended up touring the East Coast Universities and some of the talks the main peace envoy gave are available on the net.
Finally with no evidence and no Islamic reason they could hold him further they let him go, which islamically is the correct thing to do. We cannot make an allegation in Islam, give no evidence and expect someone to be handed over. You might not like the Taliban or OBL but here the Taliban but the only right thing they could do islamically.
OBL also acknowledges Mullah Omar as Emir Al-Muminin, or leader of the faithful which is the title given to the leader of the Muslims and alhamdilullah I am also happy to call him emir al-muminin despite some differences in ‘tactics’ with OBL, but who am I to have differences when he is on the front line and I am typing this from a safe comfortable home?
Ok, I will wrap up. Where does my knowledge of the Taliban come from? Well some of it comes from the internet, many articles were written on them by people who actually visited Afghanistan, unlike the western media and rent-a-scholars who condemned them and relied on reports coming out of Afghanistan supplied by Mushriks and Munafiqs like the women’s groups led by communists.
Other knowledge comes from talking to people who were there, or have family who were there or are even still there. Mashallah, some of the stories I have heard from people who were there first hand or have got it from trustworthy practicing Muslim relatives makes you want to weep for what we have lost as an Ummah with the TEMPORARY fall in the Taliban regime.
I have deliberately gone out of my way to find out the truth and dig it out no matter whether I liked it or not and alhamdilullah I liked what I found a lot.
Say what you like about the Taliban but they are the ONLY Government of a Muslim country that has attempted to bring in shariah in its entirety! Subhanallah the only Islamic state on the planet and what happened? The rest of the Muslims in the world looked the other way whilst 10’s of thousands of their brothers and sisters were butchered and killed and raped by the kuffar.
Here are some other links brothers and sisters might find useful.
Understanding the Reasons for Talibân Defiance
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0019.htm
Women’s Status – Pre-Taliban, Amnesty
Women, Afghanistan (1996)
U.N. States Opium is gone from Afghanistan
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0010.htm
Taliban: The World Needs Iconoclasts
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0007.htm
"The Taliban are well liked"
A Japanese doctor's up-close observations contradict overseas reports
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0028.htm
The Taliban and Women
Credit to azzam.com – former site run by Babar Ahmad
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0009.htm
Reporter praises Taleban 'honour'
BBC News | UK | Reporter praises Taleban 'honour'
Mullah Omar is NOT for sale
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0023.htm
Human Rights Abusers Condemn Taliban over Alleged Dress Code
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0008.htm
American Journalists Set the Story Straight on Afghanistan
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0021.htm
Afghanistân - A Personal (first-hand) Glimpse - pre-attacks
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/contemporary/0018.htm
Afghanistan in General – post Taliban
Warning! Some of these links coming from this site are very distressing for people of imaan.
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/cont.../tia_index.htm
If you have read this far then Jazakallah khair (may God reward you with Good) for your patience, I can tell you this took some time to write but as you can guess the slander of the Taliban and Emir Al-Muminin, Mullah Omar by the Kuffar and even worse! – Muslims in the west makes my blood boil and I felt a proper response was required.
Assalaamu Alaykum,
Daw’ud