Taliban set fire to dozens of musical instruments they claim will cause ‘destruction of society’

A guitar, a harmonium and a tabla among pile of burning equipment

Religious police deployed by the Taliban set fire to dozens of musical instruments blamed for the “destruction of society”, local media reported.

Sheikh Aziz al-Rahman al-Mujahir, area chief for the western province of Herat in the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, said music led to “misguidance of the youth and the destruction of society” and said people could be “corrupted” by it.

Photos released by Taliban officials and the ministry showed a massive blaze in an unspecified location. Four men were seen standing next to a bonfire of music instruments collected from across the country.

Dozens of these instruments were collected from wedding halls and set ablaze in western province of Herat, local media reports said.

The pile of burning equipment showed a guitar, two other stringed instruments, cables, a harmonium, a tabla, some speakers and amplifiers.

It is the latest step by the hardline Islamist regime to ban forms of entertainment, in addition to clamping down on human rights of Afghan citizens, especially girls and women, who are not allowed education beyond the sixth grade.

Several people have condemned the latest move by the Taliban, similar to the group’s previous rule in the 1990s during which entertainment via television, radio, and music was banned.

“In 2021, Taliban banned music in public places. Musicians have been executed, and musical instruments are regularly confiscated and burned. These horrors take place in the name of Islamic purity. But nothing in the Quran bans music,” said Timur Kuran, professor at Duke University.

“Taliban create bonfire of ‘immoral’ music equipment, and let me tell you, they are not the only ones, some Islamists in my native country used to tell me the same ‘Music is haram’,” said Nervana Mahmoud, independent political commentator on Islamism, on Twitter.

Dr Ahmed Sarsat, founder of Afghanistan National Institute of Music, has called on institutions involved in the music industry to condemn these actions.

“I call on music advocacy groups, music industries. music educational entities, orchestras and musicians to raise their vices [voices] n condemning musical genocide by the Taliban, who intensified their crackdown on music and musicians (sic),” he said on Twitter.

Several students and teachers of the national institute have not returned to classes after the Taliban came to power.

In their previous reign on Afghanistan, the Taliban had rolled out a harsh ban on non-religious music and punished people who were found listening to radio.