AFTER the hasty retreat of the Americans and British, the Taliban has wasted no time in declaring that it has Afghanistan under its control.
It is already erasing some of the obvious changes that took place over the last two decades. Any public images of women are being obliterated, and many are fearful of what their fate might be.
But, here in Britain, no Muslim leaders are speaking out about the oppression and barbarity in Afghanistan. Why is this?
The reason is many imams are supportive of the Taliban’s aspiration to re-introduce sharia law, regressive tribal laws based on the hadith, a supplementary text compiled some 200 years after the Quran.
It has become the manual used by the Taliban and other such groups. This has been allowed to happen by stealth, while the Quran’s teachings are being forgotten.
As someone who has studied Islam for over 20 years, I sadly see that many Muslims are replacing the Quran’s truths of peace and harmony, with falsehoods of repression. This is the ideology that runs through too many British mosques.
READ MORE: Why Taliban takeover in Afghanistan risks return of terror across the world
Most of the British Muslim population is aged under 25. Although more than half of British Muslims were born in the UK, many are much influenced by traditionalist beliefs.
The same is true of imams who might have been educated here, but recruited and influenced by first generation elders. It means that the purity of the Quran is being replaced by – often absurdities – stories in the hadith.
The teaching of these imams is often unsuitable for a multi-cultural society. Their understanding of Islam, as laid down in the Quran, is being supplemented by a false tribalism that accepts things that are barbaric. This kind of teaching is being fed to unsuspecting minds. Having a group like the Taliban in power just underpins the legitimacy of this kind of thinking, even though much of it conflicts with the Quran.
Should this type of thinking develop further in Britain, the very values that the Quran says can bring communities closer together will be eroded. The fracture between our different cultures will become more dangerous than ever.
I don’t say that lightly because attacks on Muslims are growing. A recent report in Scotland confirmed that. Many more people will now see the Taliban as the real face of Islam – and that the Quran supports such things as the beheading of disbelievers and the stoning of adulterers.
The Quran says the opposite. For example, the Quran decrees education for all – yes, even girls. In fact chapter 96 begins with the instruction to read and write. A clear order for learning. But this is one of the first rights that is taken away in sharia based societies.
The hadith are frequently quoted to say that music is not allowed. But where in the Quran does it forbid it? The Quran in fact says: “Who has prohibited the good things God has created?” Verse 7:32. The truth is do not forbid what God has not.
Women accused of adultery are regularly stoned to death – based on a spurious hadith. No such punishment exists in the Quran.
In fact, the woman’s testimony must be given priority in cases where a husband accuses his wife of infidelity.
There are many Muslim leaders from established mosques who are advocates for sharia in Britain. Now that the Taliban is in power, they will redouble efforts to introduce many such laws here.
And sharia does exist here. It is already being practiced behind closed doors and many cases of family law are being judged by a qazi – a judge in a sharia court – much to the detriment of women who have been forced to divorce and give up their children.
While Afghanistan and its people are under the control of the Taliban, the minds of some British Muslims may now be nurtured by their success and, in some cases, by imams using the same ideology.
In order to challenge and oppose regressive narratives from individuals, organisations or governments such as the one now in Kabul, Muslims need to understand the Quran properly.
READ MORE: Paigham Mustafa: How the Covid pandemic is fuelling Islamic extremism
The Quran decrees balanced laws that encourage harmony in families and communities. Cultures complement and enhance peace-loving societies.
The Quran also invites tolerance and understanding between different beliefs. We all need those same universal values to live in peace and security, whatever our background.
We need British imams to say this loudly and clearly. But all we’re hearing is the sound of silence.
Why are British imams silent on the Taliban?
Paigham Mustafa is an Islamic scholar and author and a director of the Oxford Institute for British Islam
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