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The Taliban imposes restrictions on Shia religious practices and education

During the past three years, the Taliban have gradually imposed limitations on Afghanistan’s Shia community, aiming to halt their religious activities, Zan Times has learned. The moves by the Taliban are part of an overall effort to restrict the rights of religious minorities since the Taliban took power. Taliban rules aimed at the Shia community include restricting Ashura ceremonies, the teaching of Ja’fari [Shia] jurisprudence, and the printing, publishing, and importation of Shia religious books.

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A member of the Afghan Shia Ulema Council in Kabul tells Zan Times that restrictions on Shia religious and educational activities have significantly intensified in the last two years.

“In the past two years alone, over 67 Shia seminaries, schools, and cultural institutions have received warnings from the Taliban’s Intelligence Department, the Department for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs,” the council member explains. “Some individuals associated with these institutions have been arrested, and some centres have even been shut down. Most of these incidents occurred in the provinces of Kabul, Herat, Balkh, and Bamiyan.”

The source adds that the Taliban’s primary focus has been on religious schools, imposing extensive restrictions in this area. For instance, he noted, the printing and publication of core Shia jurisprudential texts such as Makaseb, Rasael, and Kifayat al-Usul have been entirely prohibited within the past year. According to the council member, the inability to get new copies has caused significant challenges for seminaries.

Dozens of Shia seminaries operate in Herat province, with most located in the capital city and a few in the districts of Guzara, Karukh, and Injil. Since 2021, these institutions have faced multiple restrictions, the most significant of which is the ban on printing and publishing Shia-specific religious texts.

Mohammad Hashem Shafie*, an instructor at one of the province’s seminaries, tells Zan Times, “For over a year now, by direct orders from the Intelligence Department and the Herat Directorate of Hajj and Religious Affairs, we have not been allowed to print or publish prayer books like Mafatih al-jinan, Ziyarat Ashura’, Al-Tawassul supplication, or the Hadith collection Bihar al-anwar.”

Shafie adds, “When we asked the Taliban about the reason for this decision, they said these books contradict their beliefs and should no longer be published. They even threatened that anyone found in possession of such books would face arrest.”

Most Shia religious books are printed in Iran and enter Afghanistan through Herat, which is a border province. Several booksellers in Herat report that the Taliban have increased restrictions on the import and distribution of Shia-specific religious books since early 2023.

One bookseller, Farzad Ahrari*, states that he has had to remove Shia religious texts from his inventory in recent months. “The Taliban do not permit the buying or selling of books like Nahj al-balagha, Mafatih al-jinan, or Quranic commentaries by Shia scholars such as Tafsir Al-Mizan,” Ahrari said. In May 2023, Taliban inspectors at the Islam Qala border crossing confiscated 150 copies of Nahj al-balagha from a shipment he had purchased in Iran. “They told me not to import Shia books again,” he adds.

Zan Times also asked officials at some of Herat’s cargo and shipping companies about the Taliban’s actions and they confirm that the Taliban have banned the import of Shia religious texts. Saboor Wafa, who has transported goods from Iran for nearly a decade, revealed that customs officials seized around 2,000 religious books from one of his shipments two years ago. “It was around May 2023 when one of our containers entered the Islam Qala customs. After reviewing the cargo list and discovering a shipment of seven cartons of books, the Taliban inspected the contents and identified them as Shia texts. They seized the books and issued a stern warning that I must not import Shia books again,” Wafa tells Zan Times.

Around the same time in 2023, verbal orders were reportedly issued to cargo companies to cease all importation of religious texts into Afghanistan. A member of the Shia Ulema Council in Herat tells Zan Times that the Taliban’s primary focus has been on stopping the books used in Shia seminaries. “Almost all channels for providing necessary books to Shia religious centres have been shut down,” the council member said. He elaborated that these books are typically supplied by representatives of prominent Shia religious authorities such as Ayatollah Sistani, Ayatollah Mohaqiq Kabuli, and Ayatollah al-Fayazh. Before the Taliban crackdown, these texts were easily imported from Iran without restrictions.

Some books whose importation is banned by the Taliban include Al-Lum’a al-Dimashqiyya, Makaseb Muharramah, Quran and Contemporary Sciences, Mantiq al-Muzaffar, and Nahj al-balagha. These books fall under the categories of jurisprudence, history, and Quranic commentary, which are essential for seminary education.

In response to the restrictions on the importation of such required readings, an attempt was made to print Shia jurisprudential and religious books domestically. However, the Taliban has also prohibited the printing of such texts within Afghanistan. In June 2024, a Shia scholar in Herat was twice summoned to Taliban intelligence for printing religious books that were being produced locally due to import restrictions.

These bans on Shia religious books have significantly disrupted the work of Shia seminaries across the country as they have severely limited their access to critical educational materials. A female religious school administrator in Kandahar describes the difficulties her students face due to bans, “Over the past two years, we have struggled with the unavailability of these books. Previously, we received them from Herat, but that is no longer the case. As a result, four or five students now have to share one book on a rotating basis, which has made the learning process very challenging,” she explained.

In some classrooms, teachers have asked students to transcribe chapters from banned books into notebooks to circumvent restrictions. Rustam Payenda, a religious scholar in Bamiyan, says that Shia religious texts are now included in the Taliban’s list of prohibited books in the province. “Under the previous government, people could freely use prayer books like the Al-Tawassul supplication and Ziyarat Ashura’ in mosques and religious centers. Now, such practices have been forced underground, with most worship happening secretly in homes, away from the Taliban’s eyes,” Payenda said.

He also highlights the prohibition of Bihar al-anwar, one of the most significant collections of Shia hadiths: “The Taliban regularly inspect our seminaries, so we have removed Bihar al-anwar from our libraries. This book is essential for teaching hadith studies to our students, and its absence has severely impacted their education,” he added.

Some students in Bamiyan have turned to digital solutions, obtaining banned books in PDF format to continue their studies. Musa, a seminary student in Bamiyan, says that while digital versions alleviate some challenges, “reading a PDF is not as effective as using a physical book.”

Private Shia schools have also faced restrictions on teaching religious subjects. Farid Ahmad Poyesh, the director of a private school in a Shia-majority area of Mazar-e-Sharif, states that the provincial education department banned Ja‘fari jurisprudence courses shortly after the Taliban came to power.
“We used to print specialized textbooks for religious studies that included sections on Ja‘fari jurisprudence alongside the curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education. However, education department representatives have issued stern verbal orders forbidding us from teaching Ja‘fari jurisprudence,” Poyesh says.

He adds that the Taliban have also prohibited lessons on topics like Imamate, Mahdism, and the rules of prayer and fasting.

The Taliban’s restrictions on Shia practices and literature aren’t limited to religious texts. Initially, the Taliban banned the teaching of Ja‘fari jurisprudence in educational centres. Since then, they imposed limitations on Muharram mourning ceremonies.

Restrictions on Shia books are part of the Taliban’s efforts to homogenize society. Since regaining power, the Taliban have focused their efforts on suppressing diversity and freedom. Opportunities for non-Taliban communities and alternative viewpoints shrink daily, while all channels of information and education are devoted to Talibanizing society: schools and universities have been closed to girls and women, educational curricula have been butchered, and private educational centres are stifled. Meanwhile, madrasas and centres for jihadist indoctrination are proliferating, funded by public taxes and revenues obtained through extortion.

At the same time, those same Taliban policies have alienated many, including some Shia clerics who initially welcomed the Taliban’s return to power but who are now feeling suffocated under the weight of religious oppression and lack of freedom.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees and writers. 

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