Afghan baad - the tradition of paying for mistakes with daughters (5 photos)

This is a tradition of the most “prosperous” Muslim countries, most widespread in Afghanistan, but often used in Pakistan. In short, damage caused to another family is paid not with sheep, but with daughters.





Daughters are not bargaining chips. Or... exactly her?

Baad basically has noble motives - to stop the blood feud. For example, if someone killed a family member of another clan. The rules say to take revenge to the point of blood for the loss of a person.



Goats are payment for minor offenses, daughters are payment for major ones

But to stop the chain of violence, which will not stop until one clan is destroyed to the last person, the one killed is replaced. And they give a woman so that she can prolong the new birth.

Of course, these are usually very young unmarried girls. Theoretically, they should be given as wives to one of the family members, but often they become maids or simply slaves if no one wants to take a wife from a hostile family.



Previously, girls were kidnapped from schools because of baada, but in Afghanistan, girls no longer have access to schools.

It is said that baad does not originate from the Islamic tradition, but has taken root in Muslim communities with the least social development. Most likely, the culture, mentality and format of life of the community (clans) had to coincide in order for the baad to strengthen as a tradition.

However, other Muslim communities do not practice baad as it is believed that an innocent girl cannot be married without her consent. But in Afghanistan, consent is not asked.



From the age of eight, a girl can already do all the cleaning work at home.

If the elder delays too much in resolving the dispute between two families, they may simply steal a girl from them to replace the deceased. And not only the deceased, if someone kidnaps or seduces someone else’s wife, she also needs another, “high-quality replacement.”

Is it possible to refuse baada?

If the family refuses, a blood feud may begin. That’s why older girls are forced to save the family. And younger girls are simply given to someone else’s family.



A girl can have a cute dress, but her mother can only wear a burqa, it’s sad that the girl won’t be able to wear beautiful dresses soon either

The girl will be lucky if she settles down there like a member of the family. But this happens extremely rarely, because everyone - from men to women of a different kind - perceives her as a free slave who can be urged on and vented on her for the loss of a relative.

It takes a lot of fortitude for people to accept a girl from a family of murders as theirs. And very, very few people end up being able to do this. This is the saddest discovery about human nature that you make when learning about this tradition.