A teacher at a Shia religious seminary in Afghanistan’s Daikundi province has raised concerns over what he describes as harassment and pressure by the Taliban’s Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, saying these institutions are facing increasing challenges.
In a message to KabulNow newspaper, the teacher said that officers from the ministry enter students’ dormitories every week without permission and harass them for not having beards or for keeping them short.
According to him, Taliban officers also tear down photos of Shia religious authorities and scholars, claiming that displaying such images is forbidden. However, he says Shia scholars do not consider this practice to be prohibited.
The seminary teacher said the Taliban consider long beards obligatory, while from the perspective of Shia religious authorities, keeping a short beard is not problematic.
He added that the Taliban have inspected all textbooks used in Shia seminaries and have confiscated some of them.
According to the source, the Taliban are exerting serious pressure on Shia religious schools and insisting that they must be officially registered with the government.
The Taliban, who are predominantly Sunni, have imposed restrictions on the religious freedom of followers of other sects across Afghanistan.
Over the past four years – while closing schools and universities to grils – the group has expanded religious and jihadist seminaries.
One year ago, the Taliban’s Ministry of Education announced that the number of religious schools in the country had reached 21,257.
