H.E. Mr. Mawlawi Abdulkabir, Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs of the Afghanistan’s ruling authority, welcomed the delegation of Ummah’s scholars visiting Afghanistan, led by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), on the evening of Friday 15 Safar 1445, corresponding to 1 September 2023, at the Governance Palace in the capital Kabul.

His Excellency began by expressing his sincere thanks and appreciation to the delegation of scholars for this second visit to Afghanistan, led by H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of IIFA. His Excellency also expressed his great joy that the delegation’s arrival coincided with the advent of the second anniversary of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, praising the great achievements the Emirate has made over the past period in various fields, particularly in the areas of security and the economy, noting that religious schools at all levels have become available for girls and boys. His Excellency concluded his speech by emphasizing that the emirate continues to achieve new achievements, thanks to Allah the Almighty.

For his part, H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, head of the delegation, expressed his thanks and gratitude to the ruling authority for the warm welcome, good reception and generosity it had shown the delegation, as well as for the clear achievements and visible changes it had seen in all aspects of life, noting positively the authority’s recent decision to open religious schools at all levels for girls and boys. His Excellency stressed that education, in its religious and secular aspects, and at all levels and in all fields, is a sacred right authorized for women and men, and that enabling them to receive education is an authorized duty for the family, society and the state. Indeed, this is one of the great responsibilities that fathers and mothers, society and the state will have to assume on the Day of Judgment. Consequently, the scholars of the Ummah call on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to do everything in its power to enable girls and boys to return to schools and universities as soon as possible to continue their education in all available fields and useful sciences, explaining that “the sciences and knowledge with which women and men must be endowed include the religious sciences and the sciences of the world, and it is not permissible to deprive them of any type of science”. Indeed, Shariah has not made any distinction between the sciences when it has ordered them to be sought and acquired in the authentic hadiths: “Seeking knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim. The Prophet therefore made no distinction between men and women, nor between levels of education, and it is therefore not permissible to differentiate between them, nor is it permissible to deprive men or women of them, especially as the Afghan Muslim community’s need for science is greater than ever. Because of the difficult circumstances he has experienced over the past forty years of war. His Excellency concluded his speech by stressing that the Afghan Muslim community needed the world’s sciences more than ever. His Excellency concluded his speech by underlining the willingness of OIC member states to allow the ruling authority to benefit from its experience and expertise in the field of women’s education, in line with the principle of cooperation in righteousness and piety, and the desired Islamic integration.

The floor was also given to interventions and comments by eminent scholars, all of whom stressed the importance of increasing efforts to enable Afghan girls and boys to receive education, both religious and global, at all levels, in the hope of enhancing the progress, stability, rebirth and advancement of the Afghan people.

At the end, the Deputy Prime Minister hosted the delegation for a dinner in their honor.