Muslims could progress and protect their culture if they are united, Deputy Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs Azizur Rahman Mansour said at the International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Friday.

Mansour considered the unity of the Islamic Ummah as a universal principle of Islam, saying it is a religious duty of Muslims to maintain unity and neglect is a sin.

He pointed out that during the three years of the rule of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, Sharia law has been in force, security has prevailed throughout the country, opium cultivation and drug trafficking has been reduced to zero, major construction projects have started, and the country is moving towards self-reliance.

The three-day International Islamic Unity Conference was opened in Tehran on Thursday.

The European Union Parliament on Thursday in an adopted resolution on the human rights situation in Afghanistan condemned the countries that uphold the Islamic Emirate by normalizing relations.

EU Parliament also criticized the new law of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced recently by the Islamic Emirate.

EU has also demanded new sanctions against the IEA.

The resolution stated: “MEPs want the EU to support the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity and call for Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to be held accountable, through the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation and the establishment of a UN Independent Investigative Mechanism.”

The resolution, however, urges the EU and donor states to increase humanitarian aid and funding to support basic needs, livelihoods and Afghan civil society.

The resolution was adopted by 565 votes in favor, 8 against and 43 abstentions.

In the meantime, IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said that the imposition of sanctions and pressure by some countries on the caretaker government has failed as in the past and the Afghan government wants positive interaction with all countries of the world.

“The European Union is experiencing the failed ways that they have already taken this path and have not gotten results,” said Mujahid.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers positive interaction as the only solution to all problems,” he added.

Earlier, the UN Security Council also expressed serious concern about the implementation of IEA's Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law in a meeting regarding the situation in Afghanistan.

IEA, however, regarding the criticisms of the implementation of vice and virtue said that this law was compiled based on Islamic Sharia and considered opposing it as a contradiction with Islamic Sharia.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Friday called on scholars to avoid discussing controversial topics that cause agitation among the ordinary people.

A statement issued by the office of the Prime Minister states that scholars should avoid discussing “rare” issues that could cause misguidance among some and that ordinary people cannot understand.

The statement added that "some of the strange issues whose occurrence is not common should not be expressed in mosques and public gatherings, because the enemies of Islam make fun of such issues."

IEA also called on preachers and teachers to avoid publishing "specialized, complex and detailed academic and sufi topics in the media" because they are "special" and for "special audiences".

The statement said that "those scholars who incite disputes, promote superstitions, and use inappropriate words in the media" should not be invited to events.

“Islamic Emirate does not allow anyone to create discord, division, strife, and misguidance and it will take serious actions to prevent them,” the statement said.