Afghanistan: Taliban directs judges to impose full enforcement of Sharia Law

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghanistan’s Supreme Leader Alaiqadar Amirul Momineen made the “obligatory” command after meeting with judges to “investigate the cases of thieves, kidnappers, and seditionists", reports CNN.

“Those cases that have met all the Shariah conditions of limitation and retribution, you are obliged to issue the limitation and retribution, because this is the order of the Sharia… and it is obligatory to act,” Mujahid tweeted Sunday.

Kaheld Abou El Fadl, a professor of Islamic Law at UCLA and one of the world’s leading authorities on Sharia law, told CNN there’s a rich history of debate on the laws of Sharia and various interpretations of their meaning.

“Every point of law you’ll find 10 different opinions … Sharia is very open-ended,” he said.

Sharia law within Islamic jurisprudence means the “search for the divine will,” El Fadl told CNN. “Although, both in Western and native discourses, it is common to use Sharia interchangeably with Islamic law, Sharia is a much broader and all encompassing concept, according to a statement from El Fadl’s website.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan on Aug 15, 2021 after capturing Kabul.

The move led to the collapse of the former government after foreign forces started to leave the country.

The Taliban government of Afghanistan recently restricted women’s access to public parks in the country, an episode showcasing the hardships imposed on women by the regime.

Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue issued the statement and following that women were prevented from entering parks in Kabul.