Jeddah: Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the 57-member strong representative body of Muslim countries, has decided to send a team comprising of top clerics to Afghanistan to persuade Taliban leadership to re-consider its decision to impose ban on entry of girls and women in schools and universities.
The decision to send the team of Ulema to Afghanistan, second in its nature, has been taken OIC Executive Committee meeting held in Jeddah Wednesday.
"Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, affirmed that the General Secretariat is seeking, in coordination with the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), to dispatch a second team of Ulama to Afghanistan to continue the dialogue with the de facto authority on its measures depriving Afghan girls and women of their basic rights to education, employment and social justice, as these rights constitute a top priority for the Islamic world", the OIC said in a statement.
The Secretary-General in his statement stressed that the OIC has been following with deep concern the developments of the unfortunate events in Afghanistan, noting that:
"We conveyed, through our special envoy, messages to the de facto authority in which we emphasized the importance of the government's fulfilment of its previous promises to open schools for girls in light of the solid and clear foundations of the Islamic religion that encourage education, and that resolving this issue will open the door wide for more constructive cooperation between the government and Member States and pave the way for openness to the world”.
With regard to the decision of the de facto authority in Afghanistan to suspend the work of female employees in national and international non-governmental organizations, the Secretary-General stressed that this would affect the humanitarian and relief operations carried out by a wide network of non-governmental organizations and harm the interests of the Afghan people.
In this context, Hissein Taha renewed his call to the Taliban regime to reconsider this decision for the sake of the social inclusion of women and the uninterrupted continuity of the tasks of the international network for human security in Afghanistan.
The Secretary-General affirmed that the OIC will remain committed, through the efforts of the Special Envoy, to the positive dialogue with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, within the framework of the mandate granted to the Special Envoy by the Council of Foreign Ministers, to focus on issues of girls' education, women's participation in public life, combating terrorism and inclusive government in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General also appreciated the statements issued by Member States, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, the Women Development Organization, the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the Council of Senior Ulama in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Muslim World League, which emphasized the position of Islamic Shari’a on the need for women’s education, work, and participation in public life.
At the outset of the meeting, the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the OIC, Dr. Saleh Hamad Al-Suhaibani, expressed the Kingdom's astonishment and deep regret at the decision of the Afghan caretaker government to deny Afghan girls the right to education, stressing that the Kingdom calls for reversing this decision that induces surprise in all Islamic countries, as it contradicts giving Afghan women their legal rights.
Al-Suhaibani stressed that depriving Afghan women of their legal rights may lead to the continuation of mass migrations of educated Afghan men and women, which may exacerbate humanitarian crises.
He also reiterated the Kingdom's request to the Afghan caretaker government to enable Afghan women to have the right to education, which in turn contributes to supporting security, stability, development and prosperity for Afghanistan and its brotherly people, indicating that shariah texts that urge and encourage learning are applied to women and men alike.
In the speech, he referred to the fairness of our true Islamic religion and its honouring of women, under which they enjoyed their full rights, indicating that Islam makes education a firm right for women and even one of the civilized duties and necessities that should not be abandoned.
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