Powerful Afghan Women Movement issued a statement in response to recent comments made by Yahha Unabi, a pro-Taliban imam in Panjshir Province, calling his remarks an “insult to women’s dignity” and a move that questioned the foundational principles of Islam, humanity, and human dignity.
The movement called upon clerics to curb the influence of these “extremist, self-absorbed, and misogynistic preachers.” According to the statement, these imams and preachers are exploiting the tenets of Islam and the concept of human dignity.
The controversy stems from a sermon by Yahya Unabi, an imam in Panjshir, who suggested that Zarmina Paryani, an activist detained by Taliban intelligence and who now lives in exile, should have been publicly humiliated as a lesson to other women advocating for freedom. Unabi equated the pursuit of freedom with immorality in his sermon.
Following her release from Taliban custody, Paryani reported being “stripped naked with undergarment” by Taliban members during her imprisonment.
“Unabi’s recent sermon in a Panjshir mosque not only insulted the dignity of women but also questioned the fundamental principles of Islam, humanity, and human dignity,” the movement said.
It highlighted that for years, women have been condemned for their gender through edicts and decrees by uneducated preachers, deprived of their basic rights, and have been daily victims of these injustices.
“We, representing all Afghan women, strongly condemn the three-year silence of revered scholars and the Islamic community regarding the systematic exclusion of women by the terrorist group Taliban,” the statement read.
The women have urged religious scholars to uphold the human dignity of women in Afghan society. They also called on the clergy to not ignore the plight of women in Afghanistan and to prevent the propagation of extremist, self-absorbed, and misogynistic rhetoric that misuses Islamic texts and the concept of human dignity.
