In recent times, a video depicting a confrontation between a woman and a cleric in Qom, Iran, has garnered significant attention among users on social media. The video shows a cleric in a clinic in Qom filming an unveiled woman, and when she protests and asks him to delete the footage from his phone, he disregards her request. This leads to a verbal altercation escalating into a physical confrontation. What draws the most attention in this incident is the brave confrontation of the woman with a religious figure who believes that by reporting the unveiled women to government authorities, he is fulfilling his religious duty and saving society from corruption and immorality. Qom holds religious authority, as it houses important religious centers and institutions, including seminaries, and is home to most Iranian religious authorities. Due to its religious significance, some individuals strive to prevent events deemed contrary to religious principles from occurring there.
For the people of Afghanistan, witnessing scenes of confrontation with women and encroachment upon individuals’ privacy has become commonplace. Part of the Taliban’s governance apparatus is daily engaged in restricting individuals’ personal choices, particularly women. The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice strives daily to undermine people’s intellect and common sense through enforcing regulations, purportedly religious, intervening even in the smallest details of their lives, from facial hair to clothing. Strangely, the Taliban even assert their right to intervene in the conduct of religious worship. For example, a few days before the onset of Ramadan, Taliban enforcers were present in mosques, warning people that they were not allowed to hold Tarawih prayers without the Taliban’s permission. Tarawih prayers are group prayers held during Ramadan nights and are significant religious ceremonies.
However, the social restrictions imposed by the religious government in Iran differ from the Taliban’s strictness in Afghanistan in two aspects: Firstly, social restrictions in Iran are relatively mild compared to the Taliban’s stringent regulations. Over time, the Iranian government has reduced restrictions against citizens, whereas the Taliban increased restrictions on citizens, especially women, with each passing day, considering it based on Afghan customs and divine law, ignoring any criticism or questions in this regard. Secondly, Iranian citizens’ sensitivity to the imposition of restrictions by the government is robust. They do not tolerate any infringement upon their civil rights and freedoms by the government and react against it, achieving successes and sometimes forcing the government to backtrack. However, in Afghanistan, different conditions prevail. People are so downtrodden and disheartened that they lack the courage and patience for widespread protests against the Taliban’s human rights abuses.
The most crucial factor in this context is the fear that people harbor towards the Taliban. This fear stems from the Taliban’s severe response to protests, imposing irreparable costs on the demonstrators. The Taliban considers any means necessary to suppress protests and criticism. Numerous reports have surfaced detailing the Taliban’s deployment of horrific and shameful torture methods to suppress female protesters, even resorting to sexual assault. With the slightest pretext, Taliban fighters feel entitled to shoot or brutally torture individuals, and none have faced trial for their harsh treatment of citizens. The Taliban regime carries out its repression from behind closed doors, reminiscent of history’s most ruthless dictators.
Another factor hindering the expansion of protests against the Taliban, despite widespread dissatisfaction among citizens, is the lack of enthusiasm for potential replacements. The track record of Taliban opponents is not dazzling enough to inspire hope among citizens. People wonder who will fill the Taliban’s void if they were to be removed from the scene. Faced with despair from all sides, people retreat into silence and apathy. In the twenty years of the republic, civil society gained some strength and grew, but not enough to confront the Taliban regime effectively. Many prominent civil society activists sought refuge in other countries, while others were forced into silence and seclusion due to fear of the Taliban. The return of the Taliban was like a devastating storm that swept everything away, leaving the country devoid of the necessary infrastructure for upholding citizens’ rights.
We must also acknowledge another reality: significant segments of Afghan society share religious beliefs and interpretations similar to those of the Taliban. Many Afghans still perceive misogyny as part of Afghan culture and divine law, summarizing religiosity in religious rituals and appearances. A considerable number of people agree with the Taliban’s regulations and strictness, considering them incompatible with the spirit of Islam. While these individuals may not represent the entire society and only constitute a portion thereof, their support is sufficient to embolden the Taliban and provide them with the necessary social backing. There is no doubt that the Taliban’s beliefs align perfectly with those of rural communities and remote provinces in Afghanistan. Indeed, the Taliban represent the rural society of Afghanistan. Whenever a village rebels against the city, it imposes its values and standards of living on it.
Despite these observations, what needs to be emphasized is that seizing power in the name of religion and governing over people, while making their lives difficult using religious slogans, inflicts the greatest harm upon religion. Yet, those in power mistakenly believe they are strengthening religion and religiousness in society. If you can gain citizens’ trust to speak their minds to you, you will find that many of them harbor resentment towards mosques and clerics. Some have even become disillusioned with religion altogether, and if they were to ever come to power, they would dedicate all their efforts to removing religion from society. Throughout history, most religious governments, instead of attracting people towards religion, have pushed citizens away from it through coercion and violence inflicted upon them, thereby fostering a conducive environment for citizens to distance themselves from religion. If religion seeks to maintain its respect among citizens, the most effective approach is to steer clear of politics and refrain from aligning itself with power-seeking and coercion. Religion entangled with politics inevitably becomes entwined with worldly interests, and its spiritual message becomes obscured by the dust of worldly humiliations, tarnishing its image. History has plenty to say on this matter if a listening ear is willing to hear.
