[ In Arabic, sharia derives from a word meaning the way, or “the clear, well-trodden path to water.” In practice, it is understood, interpreted and applied differently around the world, according to divergent traditions, cultural contexts and the role of Islam in government.]
By Andrew Jeong, Jennifer Hassan, Ellen Francis and Sarah
Pulliam Bailey
The takeover has sparked fear and
speculation about the future of Afghanistan.
“There will be no democratic system
at all,” Taliban commander Waheedullah Hashimi said in an interview with Reuters. “We will not discuss what type
of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is
sharia law and that is it.”
Here are some of the basics.
[How
life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan has changed — and how it hasn’t]
Frequently Asked Questions
What is sharia law?
In Arabic, sharia derives from a
word meaning the way, or “the clear, well-trodden path to water.” In practice,
it is understood, interpreted and applied differently around the world, according
to divergent traditions, cultural contexts and the role of Islam in government.
A body of religious rules to guide
the day-to-day lives of Muslims, including prayer and fasting, it is based
mainly on the Koran, Islam’s holy book, as well as the words and teachings of
the prophet Muhammad.
Leaders, clerics and practitioners
take a diverse array of approaches to the traditions and precedents.
This could include a role for
sharia in criminal law — a stringent code of punishment applied in very few
countries — or Islamic personal law that governs issues like marriage, inheritance and child custody, which is more
common across the Muslim world.
How has the Taliban previously
applied its interpretation of sharia in Afghanistan?
When the Taliban last controlled
the country, from 1996 to 2001, the militants enforced a harsh interpretation
of sharia law. Women were forced to wear burqas — the head-to-toe,
face-covering garment — and could face beatings if they ventured outside on
their own without a male guardian.
Schools for girls were shut. People
who violated the Taliban’s rules could be publicly executed, whipped or stoned.
Some parts of Afghanistan have
remained under or returned to Taliban rule over the past two decades. In those
areas, the group continued to impose strict rule, amid some modest signs of reform.
[Divisions
emerge among Republicans over how to handle Afghan refugees]
What does the Taliban say about
sharia?
The history of the Taliban’s
extremist rule means many remain fearful, despite some attempts to strike a
conciliatory tone.
Hashimi, the commander, told
Reuters that the rights of Afghan women would lie in the hands of a council of
Islamic scholars. He outlined a system that bears striking similarities to the
Taliban’s previous rule.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid told
reporters earlier this week that the Taliban would respect women’s
rights within the norms of Islamic law, but he did not elaborate. He
also offered a vague pledge to uphold press freedoms, conditioning that on
journalists not working “against national values.”
Abdulaziz Sachedina, a religion and
politics professor at George Mason University who specializes in Islamic
studies, said he thinks it will take time and effort for the Taliban to
implement policies related to sharia law.
“It’s easy to say, ‘We’ll implement
sharia.’ But it’s not easy to implement,” he said.
Sachedina said sharia law doesn’t
offer codified systems for the modern nation-state, such as commercial laws and
administrative laws. “There isn’t anything in sharia that says, this is the way
you run the state,” he said. “Sharia law is far from the modern nation-state as
we know it today.”
[Taliban
says it will be more tolerant toward women. Some fear otherwise.]
Why is sharia controversial in the
U.S. and elsewhere?
Some Western public figures have
vilified sharia law, pointing to the implementation of physical punishments.
Among conservative politicians and
commentators in the United States, fear of legally enforceable sharia law
taking hold in the country is widespread, although it plays no role whatsoever
in the U.S. legal system. Eleven states have taken proactive steps, enacting laws that would prevent sharia
from playing a role in U.S. courts. Sharia is used by individuals and
communities of Muslims.
Sharia law has come up in legal
challenges across the United States in recent decades because some fear it
could override U.S. law. Most legal and religious freedom experts say concerns
about sharia law being used in the United States are a misreading of legal
realities. They say sharia law is for religious groups to govern their internal
workings but would not trump U.S. laws.
Islamic rules governing women’s
clothing have been a source of heated debate in some countries, especially
interpretations calling on women to wear full burqa coverings. French law
regulates Islamic face coverings in public spaces, and other European countries
have enacted similar policies.
[France
mandates masks to control the coronavirus. Burqas remain banned.]
Interpretations vary across the
Muslim world and often within counties. Unlike the Islamic State or leaders in
Saudi Arabia, the Taliban identifies as a group of traditional Sunni Muslims
who follow the Hanafi school of law, one of the four traditional Sunni schools
of Islamic jurisprudence.
This report has been updated.
