Education and the Taliban “The boys learn the Quran by heart, rocking back and forth as they recite. They learn that there is no such thing as science or literature, that dinosaurs never existed and man never went to the moon.”
― Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
In 2015 Malala aged 18 and at school in Birmingham UK gained 10 GCSE’s at A* or A levels. Malala is the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for standing up for female education against the Taliban.
The Taliban movement was created in 1994 by a senior mullah (Islamic priest), Mohammed Omar (1950 - 2013) who was illiterate and only had access to oral religious education - in the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar. The name Taliban, meaning “student,” refers to the movement’s origins in Islamic religious schools, or madrasas.
Virtually all the Taliban had no education other than rudimentary religious training learned by rote and were illiterate. The few who were literate only had access to the Qur’an and religious scripture.
(Greece annually translates five times more books from English than the entire Arab world, and currently, 86 million Arab adults are illiterate, up from 65 million in 2002 and growing. These sobering statistics are thanks to the U.N.’s Arab Human Development Report.
The statistic that Greece publishes five times more translated English-home language books than the whole Arab region does, boils down to the fact that no more than 330 books are translated from English to Arabic annually.
Even more sobering: the total number of books translated into Arabic during the 1,000 years since the age of Caliph Al-Ma’moun [a ninth-century Arab ruler who was a patron of cultural interaction between Arab, Persian, and Greek scholars] to this day is less than those translated in Spain in just one year”).
The Taliban movement emerged out of the chaos and uncertainty of the Afghan-Soviet War (1979-1989) and subsequent civil war in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s long war with the USSR was largely fought by mujahedeen (Islamic guerrilla) factions with assistance from the United States; Pakistan also provided places of refuge, military training, and other support. After the Soviets completed their withdrawal in 1989, civil war broke out between the mujahedeen factions and the central government. The Taliban emerged as a faction of mujahedeen soldiers who identified themselves as religious students. The Taliban consisted mostly of Pashtuns1 (the majority Afghan tribe or clan) intent on dominating a currently multi-ethnic government. They were trained and armed by the Frontier Constabulary, a quasi-military unit in Pakistan, which also has a significant Pashtun population. The Taliban actively recruited thousands of young men in the Afghan refugee camps and the madrasas in Pakistan. Many war orphans also joined the movement. The Taliban promoted itself as a new force for peace and unity, and many war-weary Afghan people, particularly Pashtuns, supported the Taliban in hopes of respite from years of war.
The Taliban funded themselves by donations from conservative Islamists abroad, but mainly from controlling and increasing the illegal opium drug trade. After defeating government forces and taking over the capital city of Kabul, Taliban leaders began to institute an uncompromising regime. Their basic premise was to enforce a purist way of life based on their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. They immediately created the ‘Ministry for Ordering What Is Right and Forbidding What Is Wrong’ to impose and enforce their rules of conduct. Mohammed Omar led the Taliban as Amir-ul-Momineen (Commander of the Faithful). He was the supreme leader in a strictly hierarchical system of rule. He was advised on various matters by members of special shuras (councils) composed of high-ranking Taliban leaders. Ultimately Omar was the only individual who could issue an official edict2.
Many of the Taliban edicts had little to do with pure Islam or the teachings of the Qur'an and were actually based in ancient tribal rules and customs.
Most of the rules reflected a disenchantment with modern life. The Taliban continually issued new rules and used Radio Kabul and trucks equipped with loudspeakers to announce them. The rules of conduct eventually covered almost every aspect of social behaviour by the population, even forbidding things such as clapping, kite flying, and squeaky shoes.
The Taliban banned music and dancing, shut down movie theatres and television stations, destroyed public works of art that depicted living beings, and forbade the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Men were ordered to grow full, untrimmed beards (in accordance with orthodox Islam) and were rounded up and beaten with sticks in an effort to force people to pray in the mosques3.
The Taliban strongly enforced the ancient custom of purdah, the veiling and seclusion of women from men. Women were ordered to cover themselves from head to toe in burkas (long, tent like veils). Women were excluded from all aspects of public life including work and education and all girls’ schools were closed, women were only allowed to work inside their own homes.5
As a result, hospitals lost almost all their staff and children in orphanages were abandoned. In a country where hundreds of thousands of men had been killed in warfare, widows found themselves unable to work to provide basic necessities for their families. Young teenage girls often had to disguise themselves and pretend to be boys, in order to provide themselves and family with food.
The Taliban religious police enforced the new rules and punished anyone found disobeying. They inflicted many of the punishments on the spot, usually ruthlessly, without offering the offender any sort of judicial hearing3. The Taliban allowed public beatings and stoning, sometimes fatal, of women who violated the dress code or were escorted by men not related to them. Any person found not praying at the required times was imprisoned. The Taliban leaders also mandated specific punishments for other types of crimes. They made murder, adultery, and drug dealing punishable by death, and theft punishable by amputation of the hand – these punishments being in line with the fixed (hadd) aspect of Sharia Law. Many of the Taliban laws and punishments alarmed human-rights groups and provoked worldwide condemnation.
The Taliban wanted (and insurgents still want) to create a totalitarian nation of robot like people who lived from subsistence farming and herding, and otherwise were only involved in studying the Qur’an and praying4.
The Taliban regime provided a safe haven for Islamic terrorists as well as terrorist training camps. Their refusal to stop their support of terrorism brought their eventual downfall through internationally supported military intervention.
1 Pashtuns are organized into more than 50 tribes, each divided into sub-tribes, clans, and sub-clans.
Pashtuns generally live in an uncivilised society in which vendettas, or feuds, between families or whole clans are common. Unless a vendetta is settled by a gathering of chiefs, the descendants of those who started the dispute may inherit the vendetta.
2Note the similarity between Omar and Mao Zedong in communist China.
3Note the similarities between the behaviour of the Taliban when dealing with the public at large and the behaviour of the “Red Guard” of communist China.
4The similarity between these objectives and the objectives of the communist Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot in 1979 are stark. The only difference being that one was an extreme religious ideology and the other an extreme communist ideology, and they both relied heavily for their power on an uneducated, illiterate population.
Under the Khmer Rouge schools were closed and teachers, along with intellectuals, were executed and families were split up. The intention being that people’s future loyalty, faith and devotion would only be to the state.
5An educated female population is more threatening to the Taliban than armies with all their weaponry. Every girl who studied for a high-school exam, every woman who runs a hospital, and every semi-educated mother who makes sure her daughter gets a better education than she herself received, is a mortal threat to the Taliban's declared ambition of total female servitude.
Charles
THE FALL OF AFGHANISTAN
The old saying is that history always repeats itself, and the only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. Sadly, this seems to be true.
There have been acres written about why Afghanistan is in the state that it is in, military, political and terrorism analyses especially. In a situation where fanatical religion is the main factor why not look for historical similarities and their outcomes.
In 16th century Europe the Catholic church was dominant. It controlled all aspects of life through a strict dogma. This dogma was based on an unchallengeable interpretation of the bible whose ‘truths’ were disseminated to the populace via the church congregations. Church attendance was compulsory, any backsliding being reported by churchwardens and punished by fines, the stocks and other forms of punishment. The belief being taught through these congregations was of a dualistic afterlife. One being heaven populated by Seraphim’s, Cherubim’s, Archangels and Angels amongst others. A place of peace and contentment under God’s guidance. The other being Hell populated by Demons, Incubi, Succubi and others. A place of eternal pain and torment under the control of Lucifer.
The Catholic church taught that to attain the spirit life after death one had to lead a good life, support and work for the church, and/or buy tickets (Indulgencies) to ease the way to heaven. To deny the rule of the church and its teachings was to incur punishment, inhuman torture and horrific death in this life, followed by eternal punishment and pain after death in Hell.
The ignorant general populations of these times were extremely superstitious and saw signs of God and the Devil everywhere in anything that they could not, because of their ignorance, explain in any other way. It was a life of constant fear of the devil and his works. Poverty and suffering were rife.
Ensuring church attendance was key to getting religions message to a population whose ability to read was less than 30% for men and 10% for women. As the Bible was until 1535 only generally available in Latin, God’s word could only be disseminated in local languages by priests and scholars who were able to understand and translate Latin. This enabled the Catholic religion to have total control over a poorly educated, semi-literate, superstitious populace, through control of the law and all aspects of life. For those few who were literate - generally, the priests, lawyers and the wealthy ruling class, with few exceptions - the only books that were available for reading were the bible and Catholic approved religious writings. Law and legal documents being the only other ‘essential’ reading needed. The traditions of logic in Greek philosophy were disposed of after Aquinas incorporated some of Aristotle’s thinking, thereafter dogma tended to become entrenched.
With this total, religious, political and oligarchical structure the church became ever more avaricious, many of its priests hypocritically indulging in the sins it taught against – whoremongering, sodomy, lust, greed, pride, bearing false witness….
Although illiterate and superstitious, the population was not stupid, they could see this hypocrisy, although unable to do anything about it.
But not only was it the general population who became disturbed by this state of affairs. Many Catholic scholars were beginning to question the hypocrisy and cant of their religious leaders, the morals of selling Indulgencies, the infallibility of the Pope and the generally unsavoury behaviour of many, but by no means all, of their Catholic brethren.
Luther, Erasmus, Calvin and others across Europe began to publish writings critical of the church’s doctrine. They were immediately castigated and hounded, many being caught, tortured, then burnt at the stake for the crimes of sedition and heresy.
Strict laws were introduced to ban and burn ‘seditious’ books, laws to prohibit females and the common people from being allowed to learn to read, or especially, to read the bible in their native language.
It was however too late, the Reformation had taken root. Protestants began teaching against Catholicism, specifically that the bible did not provide a catholic dogma set in stone. The bible could and should be read by all. It was also open to different interpretations to that dictated by the Catholic church. Various new factions emerged amongst the protestants with different bible reading cadres, often fanatical in their new bible interpretations, that evolved into new Christian religions.
This challenge to Catholic dominance was not taken lightly. Organised state wars, fanatical civil wars, riots and persecutions between Catholics and Protestants ensued for the next 30 years during which time between 4 and 12 million people are thought to have died, 500,000 in combat, the rest from disease famine and starvation resulting from the wars which destroyed many towns and villages. Entire communities were wiped out with dreadful atrocities committed and the agricultural land laid waste. In some parts of Europe, 60% of the population died. For survivors, poverty was rife. Although religious wars continued up until the 20th century, politics and other vested interests often rode on the back of these conflicts for their own ends.
So, we can see how these horrific times occurred. A dominant corrupt religion, a challenging new religion, fanaticism on both sides, vested interests supporting one side or the other. Arrogance, with the total belief in their respective causes, usurped any form of doubt, humility or compassion. Supposed Christians, behaving in the most un-Christian ways imaginable. No wonder that many philosophers of these times believed all Christian churches were under the auspices of evil.
How were these dreadful situations, including religious impacts on the two world wars overcome?
Firstly, by secular education. Providing schools to teach reading and writing, then education in the sciences, history and geography amongst other subjects. Extensive well-stocked ending libraries providing books for all ages for those who could not afford to buy them, so that they could further educate themselves throughout life.
Secondly, democracy through universal suffrage. The right of all people to freely and fairly elect their leaders without undue influence, fear or favour on a realistically regular timescale.
Well educated people normally believe in a secular democracy. Truly democratic countries do not go to war with each other, nor create civil war situations.
Is there a place for religion within a good secular democracy? A place where religion can have a good influence on people’s lives?
In my opinion, it depends on the religion or philosophy being considered. For the ‘One God’ religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam, these are religions that both historically and currently have too much fanaticism attached to them to ever be considered ‘religions for good’, unless and until they are severely restricted by separation from secular society. Yes, they can tell their fairy tales to those who wish to believe them, but must not have any influence over children’s general education/schooling, law or government. Fanaticism, an evil that unfortunately exists in all three religions, must be strictly guarded against.
Hinduism, Buddhism and others, have proven to be both historically and currently generally peaceful unless coming into contact with the three ‘One God’ religions. They should however be under the same constraints.
What about Afghanistan and the Taliban?
Compare what is happening there with what happened in Europe for the past 500 years.
An Islamic religion-based country whose leaders and military were both hypocritically corrupt. An uneducated, mainly illiterate, poverty-stricken society that had known nothing other than Islamic indoctrination and culture. Compulsory mosque attendance with punishment for non-attendance, where their religious leaders impressed their beliefs on their congregations. Two main competing factions are Shia and Sunni with influences of Sufi, Wahabi and others overlaying them. Neighbouring Islamic countries, as well as those further away supporting different factions, on top of which strict fundamentalism and terrorism reign. Books for those who can read only being the Koran and approved Islamic texts. Women being denied literacy or education. Cruel and horrific punishment for those who question the dogma. A total arrogant belief in the right of what they are doing with little or no humility, understanding or compassion. Total authoritarian control of the populace. Limited male-only education via the madrasas.
The comparisons are alarming and in my view show how little today’s Western politicians and military understand the ingrained religious culture in the middle-east.
Yes, it can be pointed out that some middle-eastern countries have adapted themselves towards a more secular environment. These countries – UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman for example, have certain things in common – small populations, western-educated authoritarian ruling families, exceptional national wealth, fifty years of free schooling for all, government-supported western university education for the best scholars, full employment, good social services/hospitals and more.
Despite this, these countries still keep a strict and wary eye on religious leaders, who they often have to appease.
To varying extents, secular laws have been introduced to replace some Sharia laws. In Qatar for example, civil law follows secular legal traditions, whilst Sharia law is responsible for family affairs – marriage, divorce, children, inheritance etc. These legal changes were crafted and introduced carefully.
The populations of these countries, despite being well educated, are still heavily under the influence of their religious leaders and now also so-called online influencers, most of whom are fundamentalist. And because of this, censorship remains dominant in these countries.
Afghanistan is hurtling towards a new dark age. Will it take 500 years to come out of it into a modern world?
Unfortunately, I believe it will.
With most of the wealthy world now focusing on the severe challenges of pandemics, climate change, shoring up their faltering economies and suchlike, little attention will be focused on Afghanistan, Nigeria or other countries undergoing similar threats, other than to stymie any perceived terrorist threat to their own countries.
There is even a case voiced by some to ensure that the middle-east remains unstable, but that’s a different story.
Only through Afghanistan’s population becoming universally educated and having access to the world’s literature, led by enlightened leaders, will they come out of their dark age and into the light. Roll-on 2521!
Charles 20 Aug 2021
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold;-
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
'What writest thou?' - The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, 'The names of those who love the Lord.'
'And is mine one?' said Abu. 'Nay not so,'
Replied the angel. Abu spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, 'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men.'
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the
rest.
James Leigh Hunt