N. Tajikistan cracks down on unregistered mosques

Source: centralasiaonline

KHUDZHAND – Unregistered mosques are leading to the growth of extremism in Tajikistan, government officials and analysts say.

After Sughd Oblast Madjlis (parliament) deputies recently concluded that, they called for action against illegal mosques.

“The main cause of the development of Islamic extremism is that many unregistered mosques are operating in the provinces,” Sughd Oblast First Deputy Chairman Dzhumaboi Sanginov said, analysing the reasons for growing extremist sentiments among the population.

“Youth have been lured … into different Islamic groups, including Hizb ut-Tahrir and Salafia,” Sanginov said. “Salafists have been increasingly active in Khudzhand, the Babadzhangafur District and Isfara, especially in the past few years.”

He faulted poor legal knowledge, especially among youth, deficient ideological work and an information vacuum as reasons.

“The deputies were instructed to step up (anti-extremist education) in the cities and districts,” Sanginov said.

The official reaction comes after a series of Tajik confrontations with extremism: a September 2010 Khudzhand car bombing, battles with extremists in the Rasht Valley and the recall of most Tajiks studying in madrassas and Islamic universities abroad.

More mosques than public schools

Today, the oblast has 1,087 registered mosques, including major and community mosques for daily prayers, and nine madrassas, Makhkam Mirkamolov, senior specialist with the Sughd Oblast Administration’s religious affairs unit, said. The oblast, which has a population of about 2.3m, has about 880 public schools.

The authorities have required unofficially operating mosques, which number almost 300, to either re-register or close, Mirkamolov said. They also will be subject to inspections, he said.

“Eighty mosques have applied for re-registration,” he said. “Two Khudzhand mosques were suspended earlier this year for improperly prepared documents. Unfortunately, we have heard of mosques opened in inappropriate locations, such as tea houses.”

Authorities shut down many illegal mosques in 2010-2011, Mirkamolov said, although he said he has no statistics at hand.

“Instead of closing community mosques, the Sughd Oblast government’s religious affairs department would do better to work with them … on bringing their activities in line with the law,” haji Naimdzhon, oblast leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party, said.

Helping mosques become legal is exactly what the oblast authorities are busy doing today, Mirkamolov contended.

Crackdown has support

“I don’t see any reason to get upset about the closure of illegal mosques,” local human rights activist Makhmuddzhon Kobirov said. “No one’s rights are being violated, since the mosque administrators have been explicitly told that if they wish to operate, they must register.”

It is far more important to persuade parents to send their children to secular schools, rather than to madrassas only, he noted, and the fact that Tajikistan has fewer schools than mosques should be of concern.

“Local deputies have started an anti-extremism campaign in the regions, and I’d advise them to raise this point too (at their meetings with residents concerning religion). Similar campaigns are planned for schools and neighbourhood associations.” Iskandar Fikrotkhon, imam of a mosque in Panjikent, supported the official viewpoint.

“If the administrators of a mosque have nothing to hide and if such a mosque preaches true Islam, why conceal themselves?” he asked. “If imams preach extremism, small wonder that extremism among the public is growing. A true imam must bear responsibility for what he says to his parishioners.”