Women Angry Over Shrine Ban

Abdul Latif Sahak

IWPR-trained reporter

Tuesday, 25 May, 2010

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Standing outside the gates of the imposing blue-tiled Hazrat-e Ali shrine, local resident Wazma is furious. A policeman has barred her way into the site - believed to be the burial place of the prophet Mohammad’s son-in-law Ali - citing a new municipal ban on visiting the shrine on Wednesdays, previously a women-only day.

“When the Taleban took any actions against women, the entire world would raise its voice, saying women’s rights have been violated,” she shouted. “But when [Balkh governor] Ata Mohammad Nur violates women rights, the entire world is silent.”

The last time she had been prevented from entering the shrine in the centre of Mazar-e-Sharif, she said, was 12 years ago when the Taleban-era governor, Abdol Manan Niazai, barred both men and women from visiting.

Women in the northern province have been angered by the ruling ending the traditional women-only Wednesdays, arguing that it is the latest in a series of repressive measures and one motivated by the prospect of commercial gain.

Although visiting shrines is sometimes frowned upon as an un-Islamic practice, it has been a traditional part of Afghan culture for many centuries and women embrace the rare opportunity to leave their homes and socialise.

In the past, thousands of women from across the province flocked to the mosque complex every Wednesday, considered a particularly auspicious day for women to visit holy places.

Another recent move has included installing policemen at the shrine who prevent women from walking in circles around the holy site. The only place such circling is allowed to take place, the ruling says, is during the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Critics say Ata Mohammad has violated the article of the constitution which states that “citizens of Afghanistan, including men and women, shall have equal rights and responsibilities before the law”.

Maghfarat Samimi, head of the Independent Human Rights Commission office in the northern provinces, said, “If the religious council and the local government authorities say women visiting the tomb of Ali is an un-Islamic act, then why did they….hoist the flag of the shrine at Nowruz (new year). Both of these actions are prohibited in Islam.

“Men are as Muslim as women. If [visiting a shrine] is unlawful for women, why do men practice it? I think this [municipal] order is a Talebanic act.”

On the recommendation of the Balkh religious council, Ata Mohammad had previously forbidden male singers from performing at wedding parties and banned women from going to male-owned tailor’s shops.

Critics accuse Ata Mohammad and Fariba Majid, the director of women’s affairs in Balkh province, of banning women from the shrine so that they will be forced to visit recreational parks outside the city.

One dedicated park for women, Bagh-i-Zanana, has been built by the ministry of women’s affairs and funded by the government and the Swedish and German Provincial Reconstruction Teams, PRT. The women’s affairs provincial department collects the rents of eight shops and a restaurant which operate in the park.

Mazar-e-Sharif resident Fariba said that officials would benefit from the ban, as women would be forced to spend their money in both the women’s park and another recreational centre, the Nur park in the Khaled Bin Walid area of the city.

“After this order has been issued, many women will visit those parks and the [municipality] will make a lot of money,” she said.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, spokesman for the Balkh governor, denied the accusations, “This order was suggested to the governor’s office by the religious scholars’ council and the provincial council and the decision was made after comprehensive debate.”

Farhad said that the numbers of women gathering every Wednesday were creating traffic problems and disturbing prayers at the shrine. He stressed that the governor had no personal interests in issuing the order.

Director of women affairs Majid said that the ban had been suggested jointly by her department and the religious scholars’ council.

Women visiting the shrine both disrupted traffic in the city and disturbed the male population, she said, adding, “Women’s rights have not been harmed with this order. They are still free to go to recreational areas.”

But local resident Shekiba, standing near the gate of the shrine, said that it was men who harassed women in the shrine, “The director of women affairs has tried to hide the sun with two fingers in order to make the governor happy. The truth is that women’s rights have been violated and it is women who are bothered by men using bad language.”

Mawlawi Abdorrahman, a deputy of the scholars’ council of Balkh province, said that the women’s Wednesday visits were a sin in Islam.

Not only did these visits give foreigners the opportunity to take photographs of Afghan women and publish them abroad, he said, but the women themselves disgraced the holy site by socialising rather than praying.

That was why the scholars’ council discussed the issue with the governor of Balkh and he accepted it. “The governor always considers our demands,” he said.

Outside the shrine, Mazar-e-Sharif resident Fatima, who said she had studied religious education in Iran, argued that the ban itself was un-Islamic. “Islam is a religion which has given equal rights of worshipping to men and women and for this reason millions of women go on the haj [pilgrimage to Mecca] every year,” she said.

“What kind of an Islamic order is it that men are allowed but women are not allowed to go to a shrine?”

Freshta, a local high school student, said the Wednesday visits created a rare opportunity for women to meet and enjoy themselves. “I will never be able to meet my friends after this again, because girls cannot go to each other’s houses freely like men,” she said.

Pedlars around the shrine are also upset about the order.

Nafas Gol sat with a basket of 100 home-made bolanis, Afghan pancakes filled with potato and onion. With four daughters and a small son at home, she said this was her only source of income.

“My bolanis would sell better on Wednesdays than on other days because many women would come to the shrine. I made more in that one day than in the rest of the week. I do not know what to do now,” she said.

Abdul Latif Sahak is an IWPR-trained reporter in Balkh province.