He defends his right to study and challenges the Taliban with a word from the Koran

The video shows her holding a sign at arm’s length above her head, standing like an i outside the gates of Kabul University. In front of her, Taliban soldiers. After fifteen minutes they confiscate her sign and force her to leave. Marwa or Adela, the false names she chose to anonymously testify to her gesture to BBChe’s only 18. On Sunday, December 25, he risked his life to defend his right to study at university, banned five days earlier by Neda Mohammad Nadeem, Minister of Higher Education in Afghanistan, “until further notice”.

“Iqrah”

The young woman wrote a single word on her sign: “iqra”, which means “to read”. A word he didn’t choose at random. As explained by the BBC, this is the first word of the Quranthe first commandment that God revealed to the Prophet Mohammed according to the Muslim religion. “I know my request is right, because it is God who gives me the right to education. So no, the Taliban doesn’t scare me. I wasn’t afraid”he confided courageously.

“We will not give up”

Since the return to power of the Taliban, in August 2021, women’s rights are taken away one after another and access to education is one of the first to be taken away. He was initially barred from attending middle and high school. Then, in September, study some subjects before being able to study only in the university of one’s own province. From now on, they are forbidden to enter universities, both students and professors. But Afghan women continue to struggle, like Marwa: ” We have all the capacity to resist, precisely because we are educated, we know our rights and we will not give up.”he hammered at the BBC.