Where in the Qu’ran does it say shopping is haram (prohibited) for women? Because apparently the Taliban seem to think it is. They’ve banned women from shopping in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, since they took over that area, and have threatened to separate the head from the body of any woman who dares to contravene that ban. In the city of Mingora,

On March 8, a bearded man, who the shopkeepers believed to be a Taliban, pulled out a dagger in a shop and said, “Who wants to be beheaded first?”

Even in ‘women only’ markets, women have been banned,

“Women are not allowed in this market,” banners displayed in a city’s market, once called ‘Women’s Market’, had read.

As a result shopkeepers are suffering terribly, because women are too afraid to go shopping for fear they might lose their heads.

Even the Saudis are more civilized than the Taliban, when it comes to their women folk, which isn’t saying much. At least they allow their women to shop.

Bakht Rawan, who has spent 15 years in Saudi Arabia as a salesman at a cosmetic shop, said he could not believe that the Taliban had disallowed women from going to the bazaars.

“If shopping by women was forbidden in Islam, Saudi men would not have allowed their women to go to bazaars. I wonder why these (Taliban) people are offering a new brand of Islam to the people of Swat,” Rawan told Daily Times.

A new brand of Islam? I thought no-one was allowed to change or re-interpret the Qu’ran. The Taliban obviously feel they have a right to, because I doubt you will find anywhere in their Holy Book where it says “Behead women for shopping!”.

And what kind of cruel God would prevent women from shopping? We were born to shop. It’s part of our nature. It’s what makes economies boom. Prevent women from shopping and the world would collapse. The Taliban need a major attitude adjustment!