Let’s Get To It

This week’s Unbelief Brief examines two regimes laying bare the true cost of theocratic rule. In Afghanistan, newly reported details from the Taliban’s criminal code reveal a society structured around inequality, sanctioned abuse, and the suppression of dissent—explicitly grounded in traditional interpretations of Islamic law. In Iran, as the information blackout slowly lifts, emerging estimates suggest the scale of state violence against protesters may be far more catastrophic than initially believed. And in our Guest Dispatch, we’ll be sharing an announcement that underscores just how high the stakes remain for those punished simply for what they believe—or refuse to believe.

Unbelief Brief

Recent reporting indicates that the Taliban’s new criminal code permits multiple barbaric practices including slavery. According to the London-based human rights group Rawadari, and verified by Afghanistan International, the code explicitly acknowledges the existence of slaves in Afghan society. It also provides wide latitude for child and spousal abuse: only extreme acts like breaking bones are prohibited, leaving the door open for other types of physical or sexual abuse. There is no equality under the law, with criminal behavior resulting in no meaningful consequence for religious scholars and the harshest punishments reserved for the lower classes. 

This is only the tip of the iceberg: everywhere, the criminal code asserts a society fundamentally at odds with the concepts of human rights, freedom of conscience, and freedom of expression. It prescribes the death penalty for vaguely-defined “rebels,” who “cannot be reformed without execution.” The text is predicated on the suppression of all religious and political dissent, explicitly criminalizing criticism of the Taliban. It permits vigilante justice by allowing “any Muslim” to “punish” anyone “committing a sin.”

The barbarism of the code is not the least bit surprising: it is explicitly modeled after traditional understandings of Islamic law. Muhammad sanctioned slavery and himself owned slaves. The Qur’an permits wife-beating. A line in the criminal code permitting fathers to “punish” children for not praying is a direct reference to a hadith which commands the same. And the framing of dissent or apostasy as “rebellion” punishable by death is as old as Islam itself. 

The Taliban is often cited as a perversion of Islam. Well-meaning liberals and moderate Muslims insist that their brutal misogyny, fanaticism, and violence do not represent the true essence of the faith. But the Taliban are taking the Qur’an at its word and implementing centuries of Islamic legal consensus more literally than any other Muslim-majority country.

This all comes against the backdrop of rising tensions between Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan which threaten to destabilize the region. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban of giving safe harbor to terrorists affiliated with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known simply as the “Pakistani Taliban.” For years, the country has been subject to attacks from the TTP, who find Pakistan’s “lite” Islamism insufficient and seek to establish a full theocracy similar to current-day Afghanistan. Rumors swirl in the border region of Tirah that Pakistani military action against the TTP is imminent, prompting tens of thousands of civilians to flee. For the moment, Pakistan officially denies that any such operation is planned.

Meanwhile, as the fog clears in Iran, it appears that the scale of bloodshed might be even more staggering than initially believed. In just two days, two Ministry of Health officials estimate, as many as 30,000 Iranian citizens may have been killed by security forces. These are not estimates from outside Western groups but admissions from state officials, lining up with estimates shared by doctors and hospital workers in the wake of the carnage. While an ongoing internet blackout makes information extremely difficult to verify, this would represent one of the greatest massacres by a government of its own people in modern history, much more characteristic of wartime than peacetime. There can be no greater indictment of the Islamic Republic’s tyranny and barbarism. 

Guest Dispatch

We’re excited to announce an upcoming collaboration with Mubarak Bala, president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, who will be featured in next week’s Guest Dispatch on February 5.

Bala spent nearly five years imprisoned in Nigeria on a blasphemy charge for expressing nonreligious views. His case underscores the grave risks faced by religious dissenters and ex-Muslims under blasphemy laws—and the urgent need to defend freedom of belief and expression worldwide.

This collaboration aims to amplify voices that are silenced and document the real-world cost of policing belief.

If you found this newsletter valuable, please consider sharing it with a friend—or supporting our work with a donation.

Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Share your feedback at [email protected].

Whether it’s giving $5 or $500, help us fight for a future where we're all free to follow our conscience.