Mustafa Akyol urged Afghanistan to emulate the Ottoman Empire’s legacy of inclusive education, highlighting its progressive approach to schooling — particularly for women and girls — as a compelling model for Islamic governance.
He said education allowed the Ottoman Empire — which he regards as the last legitimate caliphate — to successfully narrow its knowledge gap with the industrialised European powers in the late 19th century.
Akyol said education was not banned in the Ottoman-Islamic world, although it was also not widespread, especially for females.
Challenges posed by European and Russian imperialism made the Ottoman elite see the necessity for political, administrative and legal reforms, he said, while its statesmen and clergy saw the need for a more skilled population.
The key, Akyol said, lay in public education, leading to many modern schools opening across the empire — first for males, and later females.
He said the empire’s push for education was formalised in the Public Education Statute of 1869, which led to the setting up of the Dârülmuallimât, a school to train female teachers, and the Necm-i Terakki (Star of Progress) School in Istanbul.
“Why is this history important? It is because it shows that by depriving females of their right to education, the Taliban is reversing a step forward that Islamic civilisation already took some 150 years ago,” Akyol said in a speech delivered at an international conference on the Taliban’s weaponisation of religion held at the United Nations in New York last month.
When contacted, Akyol remarked that a “caliphate” represents a higher and more comprehensive form of Islamic authority than an “emirate” — the title currently claimed by Taliban-led Afghanistan.
Therefore, Afghanistan should have no difficulty emulating the Ottoman Empire when it comes to policies on educating girls and women, he said.
“The irony, and the tragedy, cannot be overstated,” Akyol told FMT, referring to the Taliban’s decision to ban women and girls from education and work, reversing two centuries of Muslim progress.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world that does not allow girls and women to attend secondary schools and universities.
In November last year, education minister Fadhlina Sidek confirmed that her ministry had hosted officials from the Afghan education ministry.
Akyol believes the Taliban could, through continuous engagement, be persuaded to reconsider its policies. History has shown that even repressive regimes could take steps towards moderation, he said.
“The Taliban perceives female education as a Western imposition. The Ottoman experience rather shows it was an authentic Islamic development,” said Akyol, citing a hadith that declares the pursuit of knowledge to be a religious obligation.