The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Monday that the newly ratified virtue and vice law is “firmly rooted” in Islamic teachings and the IEA will not be swayed by concerns in this regard.

Mujahid called on critics, particularly non-Muslims, to have a thorough understanding of Islamic laws and respect Islamic values.

“To reject these laws without such understanding is, in our view, an expression of arrogance,” he said.

Mujahid also encouraged Muslims to familiarize themselves with the laws and to consult scholars to better understand them.

“For a Muslim to reject or criticize these laws is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of their religion, and such actions may even lead to the decline of their faith,” he said.

“As Afghanistan is an Islamic nation, Islamic laws are inherently applicable within its society. It is the responsibility of every Muslim and Islamic government to promote good and forbid evil, as prescribed by the Holy Qur’an,” he added.

Mujahid stressed that the concerns raised by various parties, including UNAMA, will not sway the Islamic Emirate from its commitment to upholding and enforcing Islamic Sharia law.

This comes after the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Sunday it is concerned by the new morality law and said it would have wide-ranging and far-reaching restrictions on personal conduct and one that provides morality police with broad powers of enforcement.

Last week the Islamic Emirate announced the ratification of a “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”, with 35 articles detailing significant restrictions on the Afghan population.

“For a Muslim to reject or criticize these laws is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of their religion, and such actions may even lead to the decline of their faith,” Mujahid said

“It is a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future, where moral inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNAMA.

“It extends the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation,” she said.

UNAMA stated it is studying the newly ratified law and its implications for the Afghan people, as well as its potential impact on United Nations and other vital humanitarian assistance for the country.

UNAMA is also seeking clarification from the Islamic Emirate on a number of articles and on plans for enforcement.

Last Wednesday, the ministry of justice announced that Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate, had approved the law.

Barakatullah Rasouli, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, said the law regulates the affairs of the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and duties and powers of Muhtasibs (inspectors/morality police).

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