KABUL — Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has directed clerics to encourage men to adopt what he described as the “traditions of the Prophet,” including growing beards and wearing turbans, in a renewed push to impose the group’s hardline interpretation of Islamic values across the country.
The directive was issued during a meeting on August 7, with religious scholars and mosque preachers in Kandahar, the Taliban’s ideological heartland, according to a statement by the group’s deputy spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat.
In his remarks, Akhundzada urged clerics to guide people in aligning both their appearance and behavior with Sharia law. He emphasized that religious leaders must help prevent violations of Islamic principles within their communities and households.
Akhundzada described the Islamic principle of promoting virtue and preventing vice as a “sacred duty” in an Islamic society. He warned that communities which fail to uphold these values risk falling into corruption and divine punishment.
Under a Taliban decree personally signed by Akhundzada, shaving or trimming beards is banned and considered a punishable offense. Since regaining power in 2021, Taliban enforcers have detained young men in various cities for facial hair violations and have shut down barbershops accused of trimming customers’ beards.
Barbers across the country have been ordered not to offer beard grooming services. Several have been arrested, and their businesses temporarily closed, for allegedly violating the directive.
These restrictions form part of the Taliban’s broader effort to impose its rigid interpretation of Islamic law on all aspects of life in Afghanistan, particularly targeting personal appearance, gender roles, education, and public behavior.
Akhundzada, a reclusive cleric from the Pashtun Noorzai tribe, has led the Taliban since 2016 and consolidated absolute authority following the group’s return to power. Though he remains out of the public eye, he holds ultimate control over the Taliban’s political, military, judicial, and religious decisions.
He has repeatedly demanded full obedience to his rule and the strict enforcement of Taliban ideology nationwide.
In July, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada and Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges of crimes against humanity.
The Taliban has dismissed the ICC’s actions, while continuing to tighten its grip on society through moral policing, arrests, and religious edicts.
