(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/13/23) – The US Council of Muslim Organizations, the largest umbrella group for Muslim organizations in America, today released an open letter calling on the Afghan government to reverse edicts limiting access to education for women and girls. The letter was made available to Afghanistan via the Qatari Embassy to the United States.
In the letter, USCMO Secretary-General Oussama Jammal wrote:
“USCMO and the broader Muslim American community have been deeply disturbed and dismayed by the Afghan government’s decision to close schools for young girls and ban women from attending colleges and universities.
“Given the ways the Afghan government restricted education for women in the 1990s, many people around the world are extremely concerned that these “temporary” measures are permanent, unnecessary, and motivated by an un-Islamic desire to oppress, silence and marginalize women in Afghanistan.
“Regardless of the motivation, these decisions have deprived Afghan women of their God-given right to pursue knowledge, caused potentially irreversible damage to their educational pursuits, further isolated Afghanistan on the international stage, and reinforced negative stereotypes about Islam and Muslims.
“For the sake of Allah SWT, the Afghan government should immediately rescind these harmful decisions and arrange for women and girls to return to school as soon as humanly possible.”
Download and read the full letter here.
