Analysis for novini.bg by Prof. Vladimir Chukov, famous Arabist, university professor and scholar in the field of Middle East politics and Islam.

The foremost authority in the Sunni world, al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Tayeb entered into a dogmatic dispute with the movement of

the Taliban, who a few days ago banned university education for women in Afghanistan.

This came after the Taliban's Minister of Education, Nidaa Mohammad Nadeem, gave very unconvincing arguments for this act to the government of the Islamic Emirate.

The latter said that the new government in Kabul resorted to this measure in order to "avoid the mixing of the sexes in the universities".

According to the minister in question, "some taught university disciplines suggest the need for mixed education and thus violate the principles of Islam."

Following criticism from all Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Sheikh al-Azhar Ahmed Tayeb issued a statement that exposed the Afghan radicals as ignorant of Islamic principles.

He openly declared that the decision not to give Afghan girls a university education was a direct "violation of Islamic law", which requires "men and women in Islam to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave".

The opinion of the authoritative Sunni scholar further states that “the Islamic call has produced great minds among women in the scientific, political and cultural history of Islam.

They are a source of pride and admiration for every Muslim faithful to Allah, his Messenger and his law.”

Ahmed Tayeb openly attacked the authors of the decree humiliating for Afghan women.

He asks: "How did the authors of this decision / the decree in question - note author / omit more than two thousand hadiths in the most authentic books of the Sunnis, which were transmitted by the wife of the Prophet, the mother of the believers, Aisha, may God be satisfied with her?" In his accusations of Shariah ignorance against the Taliban, the sheikh of al-Azhar adds the question: "How did these people miss the history of numerous Muslim women and men, leaders in the fields of science, education, politics and the rise of Islamic societies , of their past and present?" Moreover, according to the Sunni world's spiritual leader, "Islam guarantees women education just as much as men. To say otherwise is a fiction."

The most authoritative Sunni scholar described the decision of the Afghan rulers as "shocking" and that it should not have been issued in the first place.

According to Ahmed Tayeb, the ban in question "does not represent Sharia and radically contradicts the call of the Holy Qur'an."

The Sunni religious authority concluded by calling on the Taliban to reconsider the decree.

He reminds: "On the Day of Judgment, nothing will help us, not money, not prestige, not power."

Afghanistan

Prof. Vladimir Chukov

women