Taliban’s religious police reportedly burned a number of musical instruments in the western province of Herat, according to a Sunday report by the state-run news agency Bakhtar.
Sheikh Aziz al-Rahman al-Muhajir, the provincial head of the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, said music led to “misguidance of the youth and the destruction of society,” according to the report.
People could be corrupted, according to the official. The Taliban banned nonreligious music the last time it ruled the country in the 1990s.
Pictures show officials gathered around a fire with musical instruments, including guitars, harmoniums and speakers. A pile of musical instruments burn as the Taliban imposes new restrictions on music
Afghanistan has a strong musical tradition, influenced by Iranian and Indian classical music.
It also has a thriving pop music scene, adding electronic instruments and dance beats to more traditional rhythms.
Both flourished in the past 20 years before the Taliban stormed to power in 2021.
But the Taliban has imposed harsh measures since seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO forces withdrew.
Students and teachers of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, which was once famous for its inclusiveness, have not returned to classes since the Taliban takeover. Many musicians have also fled the country.
Taliban’s crackdown on women’s rights
The Taliban promised a more moderate rule than that of their previous time in power in the 1990s. They had promised to allow for women’s and minority rights. But instead, they reintroduced harsh measures in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
They have carried out public executions, banned education for girls beyond the sixth grade and also banned women from most forms of employment.
Earlier this week, the Taliban announced that all beauty salons ought to be closed because they offered services forbidden by Islam and caused economic hardship for the families of grooms during wedding festivities.
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American evangelicals would like to have a word with you. I mean fuck the Taliban they’re horrible. But they’re not all that special or unique. Nor are they representative of Islam as a whole. And even there we should be admonishing Christians as much as we seem to want to admonish islamists.
like all religions taken to their core extremism
Let’s stop for a minute and think. If their version of god an religion were true, would you really like to worship an asshole god who hates music or anything fun?
Might as well go to hell. At least they’d have music.
I know. Not really about god, but about control.
I really wonder if people like this have a playbook, like have they read history and put together a step by step guide at this point for maximizing assholery, or does behavior like this sort of emerge naturally as the assholes take control? Like why do we see this over and over in authoritarian regimes, is it natural or are they copycats?
Sidebar: today I learned the word assholery is a real word, I thought I just made it up lol
It has nothing to do with being an asshole, it’s an attempt to enforce your will on people. That’s why the actions always look identical, everyone is attempting the exact same thing, to control the behavior of all citizens under their rule until it conforms with whatever standard the government wishes.
Major dick move ngl
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Who woulda thunk it!?
Deeply un-Islamic. The history of Arab and Islamic music goes back right to the birth of the religion and the life of Muhammad himself.
As with all religious stuff, that’s just your opinion. The sahih bukhari suggests otherwise, putting music in the same vein as ‘illegal sexual intercourse’ (and wearing silk, cuz why not lmao)
I agree but can you share more history or a source? I work in a school and some members of my community opt out of music for religious reasons which I think is BS and a totally extreme view. I don’t think it is in the Quran bit someone told me it is in the hadith.
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Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
Better known as the Anti-Fun Police.
That’ll teach them, stoopid noise makin tings
But burn a Koran and they’ll hunt you down
Idiots
Assholes
Someone should really defeat those guys in a war and teach them a lesson.
We did. As soon as we left they went right back to their old ways.
Kick yo ass den we gonna come home
(continuing the headline)… And Produce Some Sweet Album Cover Art
How easy is for an afghan citizen to flee the country? Is it a north-korea-like situation? I’m not well informed about this topic!
Depends who you are, I guess. For women, leaving alone is very difficult if not impossible as you would need a male guardian to escort you.
As a man it it’s easier but comes down to the money. Most people there are very poor and in a country where family an tribal ties are really important, it is very difficult to pack up your things and leave.
Also, poor Afgan refugees are not received very well by other countries. They are also afraid of the lunacy of the fundamentalist religious movement spreading.
Like any country Afganistan has wealthy people too and for them leaving is probably the easiest.
On general note, Afganistan is a prime example of what a fundamentalist leadership and religion can lead to. Can happen in other countries and outside of Islam too. We should be aware of this.
On general note, Afganistan is a prime example of what a fundamentalist leadership and religion can lead to. Can happen in other countries and outside of Islam too. We should be aware of this.
Thank you for adding that paragraph.
Nobody should be complacent thinking “it can’t happen here”.
It can. Religious zealots will always try to chip away at secular freedoms, arrogantly confident that they’re doing their God’s work.
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It’s hard enough to get one visa, good luck getting four
Sorry, I’m bad at math (even though it was a rhetorical question) 😃
I’d like to point out however, that while having 4 wives might be allowed in some branches of Islam, there are others where this is not the case. So while Taliban might allow it (and I don’t know whether they do as I am not an expert, but I’m currently too lazy to check it out), not everyone in the Muslim world does.
I say this because us living in the west have a very limited view of Islam and generally it is bad to enforce stereotypes. So this was not aimed against you, just pointing out something that bothers me in general 🙂
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there is a completely different islam being followed in americia.
Yes, in fact there are many different types of Islam followed in different countries. America is not unique in that way. Even within many Muslim countries there are different sects of worshippers. Not everyone follows the mainstream interpretation.
you guys think of islam as a completely peaceful religion.
I certainly don’t think that, nor does anyone with any common sense. As well as no one should consider Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism or even Buddishm as completely peaceful. Every religion has built within it a framework that can be used to promote and justify violence.
I don’t understand how rest of your post relates to what was said before, but I than you for the info you provided.
Here’s a more detailed info about polygamy in different countries: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/
Holy crap I didn’t realize it was accepted so much in the Pacific. That’s crazy.
That’s so depressing… (thank you for the elaborated reply)
Somebody’s brought a Yamaha cp80 to Afghanistan only to have it burned. I suppose this somehow helps allah
Maybe he made them do that, so he can finally fulfil his dream of leading his own big band.
they’re gonna have to burn all the computers too. Is ASIO and Core Audio haram too?
Neanderthals
Nah, I think there is evidence that Neandertals appreciated the arts. These people are just jerks.
I remember ISIS banning music for their members so this isn’t a huge shock.
Don’t they usually sing their prayers and hymns in islam tradition? At least that’s what I think they are broadcasting from the minarets.
From what I understand, the call to prayer is acceptable because it’s done in Allah’s name and intertwined with worship. All other music is heretical and impure because it’s about things other than praying right now and how awesome Allah is. Source is a religious studies course fifteen years ago, so if someone knows better correct me.
