Taliban Arrest Four Na’at Reciters in Takhar for ‘Singing in a Musical Style’

RASC News Agency: The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has announced the arrest of four Na’at reciters in Takhar and Faryab provinces, accusing them of performing Islamic devotional poetry “in a musical style.” The ministry stated, “Reciting Na’at in a musical style is forbidden in Islam. These individuals had been warned multiple times to desist from such practices.” The Taliban have not disclosed the identities of the detainees. Since reclaiming power, the group has imposed an absolute ban on music, deeming it un-Islamic. They have systematically seized and destroyed musical instruments, forcing artists into exile or compelling them to abandon their craft altogether.
In a move that exposes their hypocrisy, the Taliban have recently urged musicians and singers to compose religious anthems and pro-Taliban chants a request that starkly contradicts their previously rigid stance against musical expression. The arrests in northern Afghanistan highlight the Taliban’s blatant double standards. Pashtun members of the group have frequently performed traditional Attan dance rituals and sung nationalist songs in various regions most notably in Kandahar and even over the grave of Afghanistan’s national hero, Ahmad Shah Massoud, in Panjshir without facing any repercussions. Yet, despite these actions violating their own decrees, the Taliban have never deemed them “forbidden” or punishable.
This ethnic and ideological bias has fueled growing discontent among Afghanistanis, who argue that the Taliban’s version of Sharia is selectively enforced used as a weapon of oppression against specific groups while exempting their own ranks from accountability.