Working fervently to curb religious expression, Tajikistan’s secular government is working hard to stifle increasing images of people following the Islamic teachings that are apparent in the growing number of bearded men, hijab and religious audio recordings. “We have secular extremism here,” Khodzhi Akbar Turadzhonzoda, a prominent Islamic leader and a former member of Tajikistan’s Parliament, told The New York Times on Sunday, July 17.
After decades of enforced secularism, new images of blossoming Islam were apparent to the eye in Tajikistan.
It is now more familiar to see bearded men and women donning headscarves.
Bazaars trading in prayer rugs, religious audio recordings and gaudy clocks featuring Muslim holy sites are also flourishing.
In a bid to curb the growing scenes of religiosity, the Tajik government has taken measures to control mosque imams and harass worshippers.
The government has also launched a campaign, which included the arrest of men with beard and ordering them to shave.
Last year, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon ordered home students from religious schools abroad and criticized a growing trend for Islamic dress in the country.
The Tajik government also imposed sermons on imams to deliver at mosques on claims of fighting radicalism, publishing a collection of 52 sermons that must be preached during the weekly Friday prayers.
Making a drastic change, lawmakers passed a law last month that would, among other things, bar children younger than 18 from attending religious services at mosques.
Though the law was not signed yet by Rakhmon, authorities have begun to enforce it in some places, raiding mosques, removing young people and fining adults accused of teaching religion without government permission.
After the law is signed, parents could face steep fines and even jail for defying it.
Power Grip
Muslim leaders have criticized the government measures as an attempt to tighten grip on power.
“This is only to deceive the people, strengthen dictatorships, and spend more money on weapons and the secret services,” Turadzhonzoda, the former MP, told The New York Times.
Western governments, including the United States, have condemned the draconian measures by Tajik authorities.
An American diplomat has recently called the Tajik measures as “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
Inheriting authoritarian Soviet rule, which banned any sign of religion such as hajj, and punished those performing prayers, many critics liken the Tajik government to a Soviet-style attempt at reversing Islam’s spread.
Many warn that banning young people from mosques may have the opposite effect.
“After this law takes effect and the government and security services start applying pressure, youth could be drawn to illegal organizations,” said Mahmadali Hait, the deputy chairman of Tajikistan’s opposition Islamic Revival Party.
“And it is possible that the level of radicalization in the country could increase.”
Tajikistan is one of the five Central Asian countries of the ex-Soviet Union which won independence in 1991.
Muslims constitute nearly 90 percent of Tajikistan’s 7.2 million population, according to the CIA factbook.
Source: OnIslam & Newspapers