Date: 15/01/2025

Local sources in Herat Province report that the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice forcibly prevented women from attending mosques to perform itikaf rituals. At least three sources told the Afghan Women’s News Agency (AWNA) on Wednesday, January 16, that Taliban forces expelled women from the Jaghara, Jibril, Mohammadiyah, and Sadiqiya mosques following evening prayers.

According to the sources, Taliban officials justified the action by citing the presence of men and women in the same space and claimed that women’s participation in itikaf ceremonies is not religiously permissible. Traditionally, Shiite men and women observe itikaf annually during the 14th, 15th, and 16th days of the month of Rajab, spending three days and nights in mosques in worship and prayer.

The incident occurs amid a broader pattern of restrictions imposed by the Taliban since returning to power, with women increasingly barred from education, work, movement, and religious participation.

The forcible removal of women from mosques during itikaf ceremonies in Herat constitutes a violation of women’s religious freedom and communal worship. By invoking moral policing to exclude women from a Shiite religious practice, the Taliban impose Sunni-majoritarian control over minority belief and ritual, compounding gender-based discrimination with sectarian marginalization. This action reflects the expansion of enforced gender exclusion into religious spaces and minority spiritual life.