After its ouster 20 years ago, the Taliban has seized power in Afghanistan again. After taking control, the Taliban has vowed to implement Sharia law in Afghanistan. But, what is Sharia law?In this short video, The Wire‘s Yaqut Ali speaks to Faizan Mustafa, vice-chancellor of Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad, to understand what constitutes Sharia law and how the Taliban wants to implement it.Sharia is an Islamic legal system. It is drawn from the Quran as well as Sunnah and Hadith – the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Sharia provides a detailed framework as to how the followers of Islam should live.It broadly divides crime into two: Hadd or Tazir crimes. While Hadd prescribes a set of punishments for certain forms of crimes – like cutting hands for stealing and stoning to death in the case of adultery; Tazir crimes rather rely on the discretion of Sharia judges in awarding punishments. However, not all Islamic nations implement Sharia law.With the Taliban seizing power, women in Afghanistan are particularly vulnerable. So much so that many have stopped venturing out of their homes, fearing for their lives. In their first stint as rulers, the Taliban had banned women from studying and gaining employment, as prescribed under Sharia. Men had been put in jails for sporting shorter beards, and there were restrictions on watching television and listening to music.This time around, a cross-section of Afghans, especially women, are petrified living under Sharia law being imposed by the Taliban.
