In a concerning development for women’s rights in Afghanistan, Taliban authorities have issued a new directive prohibiting women from reciting the Quran audibly, even in the presence of other women, according to reports from Amu TV, an Afghan news channel based in Virginia.

Religious restrictions expand

Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, has declared women’s voices as ‘awrah’ – a term indicating they must be covered and concealed from public space. The minister’s statement outlined a stark position on women’s vocal expression.

“When women are not permitted to call Takbir or Azan (Islamic call to prayer), they certainly cannot sing songs or music,” Hanafi stated, according to Saturday’s report.

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The Telegraph further quoted Hanafi emphasizing these restrictions: “Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear … How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear [each other’s] voices while praying, let alone for anything else.”

Mounting concerns

The implications of these restrictions are already being felt in the healthcare sector, one of the few remaining areas where Afghan women are permitted to work outside their homes. A midwife in Herat revealed to Amu TV the expanding scope of these limitations:

“They don’t even allow us to speak at checkpoints when we go to work. And in the clinics, we are told not to discuss medical matters with male relatives,” she reported.

Human rights experts express growing alarm that these new prayer restrictions could serve as a precedent for broader limitations on women’s ability to communicate in public spaces, potentially leading to their further isolation from society.

Pattern of restrictions

This latest decree follows a series of increasingly severe restrictions on women’s freedoms since the Taliban‘s return to power in 2021. In August, authorities mandated that women must cover their entire bodies, including faces, when in public spaces.

Implementation status

While the full implementation status and geographical scope of these new prayer restrictions remain unclear, they represent another chapter in the ongoing curtailment of women’s rights under Taliban rule. The situation continues to draw international attention and concern from human rights organizations worldwide.