Afghan women cannot pray loudly or recite in front of other women

Afghan women are forbidden from praying loudly or reciting the Quran in front of other women, according to a Taliban government minister.

It’s the latest restriction on women following morality laws that ban them from raising their voice and baring their faces outside the home. They are already excluded from education after sixth grade, many public spaces and most jobs.

Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry was immediately available Wednesday to clarify the official’s remarks or confirm if the prohibition would also become part of the morality laws.

During an event in eastern Logar province on Sunday, Vice and Virtue Minister Khalid Hanafi said: “It is prohibited for a grown woman to recite Quranic verses or perform recitations in front of another grown woman. Even chants of takbir (Allahu Akbar) are not permitted.”

He said that uttering similar expressions like “subhanallah,” another word central to the Islamic faith, was also not allowed. A woman was not permitted to perform the call to prayer, he told the gathering. “So, there is certainly no permission for singing.”