Afghanistan is a strongly Islamic nation, as evidenced by the country’s religious demographics: 80% are Sunni Muslim, 19% are Shia Muslim, and 1% are other religions. (World Fact Book) Hence, the country has been long rooted in the Islamic faith and, as a result, the Taliban was able to rise to power, filling the vacuum of authority incurred by the Soviet withdrawal in 1988. The Taliban legitimized their rule by claiming to be religiously affiliated and declaring that they followed true Islam.
Mainstream knowledge classifies the Taliban as Muslim extremists; however, the correct term identifying them is Puritans, according to El Fadl. In The Great Theft, El Fadl explains how these Puritans, who claim to believe in a literalist point of view, actually choose which passages from the Qur’an to follow and reject many jurists’ interpretations in order to suit their self interest of staying in power. In seeing through such a narrow perspective, the Taliban passed very strict laws that ruled almost over every aspect of life.
The Taliban deprived women of essentially all their human rights, resulting in total isolation of the female from the outside world. In doing so, the Taliban claimed to show their commitment to Islam (Foster) and imposed the idea that the female’s place is only within the four walls of the home. Clearly, they had also banned females from working, except for household chores. (RAWA.org) The resulting idea that women are not supposed to work outside the home became so ingrained in the population’s mindset, that women in Afghanistan today still suffer dire social consequences when they work to support the family. (Sim) Because of this strong and prevailing socio-religious worldview, children are sent to work in place of the mother, which clearly resulted in the drastic rise of child labor.
Under Taliban rule, religious education was the only kind of education offered and was mandated. (Reihing) Although in theory religious schooling should not create any trouble, children in these religious schools – madrassas – learned from the narrow Taliban point of view. In fact, madrassas that have remained open after Taliban rule are used as insurgent safe houses and support the violent activity of the Taliban. (Reihing) According to The National, Afghanistan has opened more state-run schools, but they are actually run under Taliban rules. The lack of good quality in Afghan education strongly contributes to child labor because, without good education, generations of Afghans are left illiterate and unable to release themselves from the cycle of poverty.
Many think that the Puritanical Muslims comprise the majority and represent the true beliefs of Islam; however, that is completely false because Moderates are the overwhelming majority that believes in the true Islamic teachings. (El Fadl) However, Moderates are unable to adequately react despite their majority because they have no authority or leader to support them. Back in 2004, fifty-two imams and other religious leaders gathered together in Kabul with UNICEF to commit themselves to children’s rights and discussed child labor. This shows that Moderates have taken some steps in order to combat Afghan child labor; however, they still lack a strong leader that would guide them. Ironically, religion has actually contributed to the rise of child labor in Afghanistan instead of combating it.
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| Boys Studying in a relgious school http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1581119,00.html |
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| Women targeted by Taliban http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1581119,00.html |
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| Women had to cover even their eyes during Taliban rule http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=22351 |
Works Cited
"Afghanistan's Religious Leaders Commit to Children's Rights." UNICEF. 25 Mar. 2004. Web. <http://www.unicef.org/media/media_20160.html>.
El Fadl, Khaled Abou. The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists. New York, NY: Harper San Franscisco, 2005. Print.
Foster, Erin. "Afghanistan - Social Well-being: Women, Afghan Law, and Sharia." Civil-Military Fusion Centre 3/10 (2010): 1-7. Print.
Giustozzi, Antonio, and Claudio Franco. "Afghan Schools Open, but under the Taliban's Rules." The National. 5 Jan. 2012. Web. <http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/afghan-schools-open-but-under-the-talibans-rules>.
"The Plight of the Afghan Woman." Afghanistan Online. 09 Dec. 2010. Web. <http://www.afghan-web.com/woman/>.
Reihing, Alexandra. "Child Labor in Afghanistan." Policy Innovations. 20 June 2007. Web. <http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/briefings/data/afghan_child_labor>.
Sim, Amanda. "Confronting Child Labour in Afghanistan." Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (2009): 1-15. Print.
"Some of the Restrictions Imposed by Taliban on Women in Afghanistan." RAWA.org. Web. <http://www.rawa.org/rules.htm>.
"The World Fact Book: Afghanistan." Central Intelligence Agency. 8 May 2012. Web. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html>.
Response to Aleksandra by Cathlynne:
ReplyDeleteJust as Aleksandra mentioned, the Taliban ironically rejects many jurist interpretations of the Qur'an and chooses which passages to follow. This shows how the Taliban try to stay in power. Because of their longing to stay in power, they oppress many groups of people, especially the women. Many children are forced to work to provide for their families because women were banned from working outside of the homes during the Taliban. Even though they are not presently banned to work outside of the home, they still have it embedded into their minds that they cannot. This leaves children taking on a responsibility of caring for their family at such a young age. Another thing that Aleksandra mentioned was the madrassas. This was a way in which the Taliban tried to educate the children to think in the same way that they did. The Taliban's major goal was to educate the children into becoming more like them so that they could increase their power. In turn, many parents chose for their children to work weather than get this biased education from the Taliban. Therefore, child labor sky rocketed from the oppression of women and lack of education being provided during the rule of the Taliban.
Response to Aleksandra by Kevin:
ReplyDeleteAleksandra accurately portrays the Taliban as a powerful puritan sect in Afghan society. I agree that the Islam religion has restricted women's roles in society to the household and that the Taliban has exacerbated this. They did this because they reject western ideas and consider women's empowerment to be a western idea. This, as Aleksandra pointed out, is their way of showing their commitment to the Islamic faith. Since the women don't work, the children have to help support the family. As for the madrassas, I agree that they are indeed run by the Taliban and the poor level of education makes parents hesitate to send their children there. “These institutions cannot produce graduates who can provide effective guidance and leadership to society to address its current problems.” (Abdulbaqi) Since moderate Muslims don't want their kids influenced by the Taliban, they choose to send them to work rather than receive a brainwashing in madrassas.
Response to Aleksandra by Christine:
ReplyDeleteAleksandra correctly depicts the detrimental effects religion has had on child labor in Afghanistan. The sharia that the Taliban enforced during their rule was incredibly controlling and limiting, especially to women, as Aleksandra mentioned. Under Taliban rule women became inconsequential and were essentially property. “Prior to the rise of the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were protected under law and increasingly afforded rights in Afghan society. Women received the right to vote in the 1920s; and as early as the 1960s, the Afghan constitution provided for equality for women” (state.gov). Afghanistan’s government completely altered its policies under Taliban rule and “women were given only the most rudimentary access to health care and medical care, thereby endangering the health of women, and in turn, their families” (state.gov). These rules severely deprecated the rights of women and most importantly denied them the right to an education which, as Aleksandra mentioned, directly influenced an increase in child labor. Her comment about Moderates needing a strong leader to take down the Taliban is an excellent point. To add on to that, stat.gov stated, “Afghan women had been active in humanitarian relief organizations until the Taliban imposed severe restrictions on their ability to work. These professional women provide a pool of talent and expertise that will be needed in the reconstruction of post-Taliban Afghanistan”. A rise in the power of Moderates and women can help combat the influence of the Taliban and consequently, child labor.
Conclusion by Aleksandra:
ReplyDeleteThank you to all for your input. Cathlynne briefly extends the discussion of how the Taliban selects specific passages from the Qur’an in order legitimize and exercise their authority. Due to this narrow perspective, the Taliban had oppressed the Afghan women and limited the female presence to the home. This became so ingrained into the population’s mindset that it is still socially unacceptable for a woman to work outside her house; thus, this socio-religious viewpoint results in the rising level of child labor. Kevin also adds to the discussion by stating how the Taliban-run educational system causes some parents to decide in favor of child labor. Afghan schools remain biased in outlook, and parents clearly don't want their children to become brainwashed into violent and oppressive Taliban ideals. Christine further states that a good Moderate Muslim leader is necessary for combating the influence of the Taliban, and thus, release society from the chains of working children. All of these comments contributed constructively to my original blog, which relays information about how the supposedly religious Taliban actually exacerbated the problem of child labor in Afghanistan. In order to combat this issue of working children from a religious standpoint, the Taliban’s strong and large sphere of influence should be first eradicated.