A video of a Muslim sermon by one of the Friday prayer speakers in a mosque in Panjsher province attracted much attention from social media users. In this sermon, he considers “killing people” as a Muslim attribute and believes the survival of Islam depends on starting a bloodbath. He does not consider someone a true Muslim unless they tend to slaughter. According to him, Muslims must wake up in the morning, grab their weapons, and go after the “infidels” to hunt them down. He regards Muslims who have no inclination towards slaughter as “Hindus” and perceives them as outside the circle of Islam. He also declares those who adhere to vegetarianism and do not crave animal meat as apostates and counts them among the “Hindus.” Following the viral spread of this video, I inquired about this individual from several informed sources. It turned out that the mentioned speaker is among the very extremist clerics of Panjsher province and has been engaged in inciting violence in the past, but with the advent of the Taliban, his field of action has expanded, and he has concentrated his activities on spreading religious hatred and promoting sectarian doctrines, launching sectarian debates. Naturally, he performs these actions to serve the Taliban and tries to show that he is aligned with the religious bias and rigidity in the Taliban’s line, perhaps to gain more spoils from the Taliban’s booty.
Religious figures always emphasize that enemies of Islam control the global media and launch negative propaganda against Islam, distorting its image. However, the behavior and rhetoric of Islamic speakers play a more significant role in presenting a negative and ugly image of Islam than any external propaganda. If you were a non-Muslim and heard this cleric’s sermon, what feelings would it evoke in you? Interestingly, with the Taliban’s arrival, clerics who speak of bloodshed, hatred, and anger from the pulpit are becoming more prominent. Anger and violence ensure the survival of the Taliban group, and for this reason, the group always fuels the fires of hatred and religious bigotry. The aforementioned cleric has also realized that the more hateful and biased his speech, the more popular he becomes among the Taliban.
Some may argue that the aforementioned cleric is talking about killing “infidels,” and this has no relevance to the Taliban’s treatment of their opponents. It should be noted in analyzing the issue that the Taliban and their like-minded clerics, who are now in power and hold the fate of millions of people, can easily excommunicate anyone they wish from the circle of Islam and deem them “infidels” whose blood can be shed. They have repeatedly done this in the past and can do so in the future. The habit of religious leaders is to suppress opponents through the trick of excommunication. The tragedy becomes even more painful when these religious leaders gain political power and killing, imprisoning, and suppressing opponents is not a challenging task for them. In addition to the fact that the religious interpretation that encourages killing “infidels” is extremely dangerous and severely damages social security and the mental health of society.
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, has attempted to place the clerics in his service by establishing a Council of Clerics in each province and granting substantial material privileges to these councils, using them to win the hearts and minds of the public. Understanding the anti-rational and religiously zealous Afghan society, the Taliban leadership has realized that clerics loyal to the Taliban can quickly establish themselves among the masses and make them favorably disposed towards Taliban rule. The Panjshir Council of Clerics is one of the first councils whose formation was approved by Mullah Hibatullah after the establishment of the Taliban regime. Its members are those who have long been associated with the Taliban, espouse outdated and Taliban-like ideologies, and have played a role in promoting the ideology in Panjsher province for years, paving the way for the Taliban’s military presence.
The core and foundational elements of the Taliban emerged from religious schools in tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Even now, senior positions in the Taliban are held by individuals educated in Pakistani religious schools. Therefore, the group considers itself obligated to support the clerical class comprehensively and appoint them to high government positions, disregarding the principle of expertise in employment, and turning loyal clerics into generalists in all sectors of government. The fact that we observe most religious scholars supporting the Taliban and refraining from criticizing this group may stem partly from fear of Taliban reprisals, but on the other hand, it is rooted in the material interests of the clerics tied to the Taliban government. Currently, many ordinary clerics who previously struggled to make ends meet are relying on the blessings of Mullahcracy for important government positions and receiving lavish sums of money. Economic destitution prevents the Taliban from facing serious challenges in buying the loyalty of various segments of society.
In the past, religious scholars and their supporters used to preach that religious leaders were defenders of the oppressed and marginalized sectors of society and had a duty to speak up for justice and challenge oppressive rulers. During the republic era, clerics under these slogans did everything in their power to tarnish the image of the republic and undermine its foundations. However, with the return of the Taliban, not only have their previous duties been forgotten, but they have wholeheartedly risen to the defense of the Taliban regime, turning a blind eye to all the injustices and oppressions inflicted by the Taliban on the men and women of Afghanistan. They vigorously promote the ideology of the Taliban, aiming to prepare the public mindset for the rule of this group. The reality is that there are few governments on earth more oppressive than the Taliban regime. So why do these religious claimants ignore this glaring truth and deny it? It has become clear that all those slogans about anti-oppression and fighting corruption were excuses to destabilize the republican order and pave the way for the return of the Taliban, and they have indeed been successful in this endeavor.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) declared in their annual report that Afghanistan ranks at the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index, just after North Korea. Even if this organization had not announced this ranking, it was evident that Afghanistan under the Taliban’s rule is one of the world’s unique countries in terms of imposing restrictions on freedom of the press. Alongside ruthless suppression of freedom of expression and censorship of diverse voices by the Taliban, what has been evident in the nearly three years of Taliban rule is that this group uses both old and modern tools to whitewash its image and control all platforms to demonize the previous system and its opponents while indoctrinating people to accept Taliban ideologies. One of the best and most effective tools for strengthening the people’s position of this group is the use of religious platforms to support the Taliban. In the stifling atmosphere that the Taliban have established across the country, as long as Taliban rule continues, people gradually become susceptible to mental manipulation and lose the power of discernment. In that case, the Taliban will be able to ride comfortably on the shoulders of the people and steer the country in any direction they desire.
The Taliban’s opposition to modern education is calculated and stems from a fear they harbor. They understand that individuals exposed to contemporary thought and possessing critical thinking skills find it challenging to accept outdated rhetoric presented in the name of religion. The confrontation between traditional religious schools and modern education has long existed in this country and has led to upheavals. Religious leaders claim that modern education promotes atheism, secularism, and hostility towards Islam among youth. They outwardly voice these concerns, but in reality, the issue lies in the necessity of being equipped with modern knowledge, critically examining religious teachings, and not blindly accepting these statements. In other words, religious leaders are more concerned about losing their religious authority than caring about people’s faith and beliefs. With the rise of critical thinking and the establishment of modern ideologies in society, religious authority gradually diminishes.
With the increasing proliferation of religious schools for boys and girls, and the stagnation of modern education in Afghanistan, along with the closure of schools and universities to girls, the words of clerics find more buyers, and people who have been influenced by religious scholars in the past show more inclination towards superstitions and religious nonsense. They are sinking deeper into the abyss of decadence, backwardness, and ignorance with each passing day. Any external observer looking at this situation cannot help but have doubts about Afghanistan’s future, foreseeing a dark and gloomy future. It’s no wonder that everyone is fleeing from a country that has fallen into the hands of religious scholars who are determined to drag this country back to the Middle Ages.
You can read the Persian version of this analysis here: