Last week (Aug. 24), Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, issued a lengthy statement (full text) in response to an Aug. 17 news conference by Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. The Taliban stated that women could work and girls could go to school "as long as such activities are in accordance with Sharia law." Alsalem said in part:
According to the Quran, no one has the right to impose religion, including religious law, on anyone else (verse 2:256). This egalitarian approach to religious authority has found expression in the rich plurality and diversity of religious understanding and schools of jurisprudence (madhahib) which we have until today. Notably, women, like men also have an equal right and responsibility to interpret Sharia. It would be important that this rich diverse heritage would be allowed to continue all over the Muslim World, including in Afghanistan....
The principles of justice and equality between the sexes mean that women and girls are entitled to seeking and accessing education on an equal footing as men. The first verses of the Quran that were revealed to the Prophet commanded all human beings, both man and woman to "learn" (Iqra') (verses 96:1-5) and to seek knowledge (verses 16:78; 17:85, and 20:114)....
As reports have been recently resurfaced of increased forced marriages, including child marriages, it is important to underline that for a Muslim marriage contract to be valid it needs to fulfill several requirements – key being that both individuals give their free consent....
Islamic jurisprudence on this is clear: All marriages must be carried out by mature individuals who have the mental, legal, intellectual, and physical capacity to give consent. This requirement means that child marriages are by definition null and void. In essence, a forced marriage is equivalent to rape, which is an abhorrent crime that is strictly forbidden in Islamic law and considered as hiraba (unlawful societal warfare), and for which the prescribed punishments are severe.
