DUSHANBE, September 26, Asia-Plus — On Thursday September 25, the Council of Ulamo (an Islamic council that issues fatwas and religious guidance to Islamic religious organizations) of Tajikistan’s Islamic Center issued the fatwa against the participation of Tajik nationals in the armed conflicts in the Middle east, including the wars in Syria and Iraq.
“The Council members have adopted the fatwa unanimously and it is aimed at, first of all, preservation of peace and accord not only in our country but in the region as whole and suppression of terrorist and extremist activities,” Saidmukarram Abduqodirzoda, the head of the Council of Ulamo, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
The fatwa reportedly notes that participation of citizens of the country in the armed conflicts in the Middle East, including the wars in Syria and Iraq is a great sin.
We will recall that in an exclusive interview with Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service published on May 14, prominent Tajik mullah Hoji Mirzo Ibronov expressed concern that young Tajiks are being brainwashed and recruited to fight alongside Islamist rebels in Syria. Ibronov argued that there was no jihad, or holy war, in Syria, despite the claims of those intending to lure Tajik migrants to join the fight. Ibronov expressed concern that recruiters were using propaganda videos, religious sermons, and financial incentives to lure “undereducated” and “impoverished” Tajik migrants in Russia to fight in Syria. The mullah said the Syrian war was a political and geopolitical conflict, not a jihad, as foreign militants fighting against the regime in Damascus describe it.
Tajikistan”s president says some 200 Tajik nationals have joined Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. Addressing the ruling People”s Democratic Party meeting on September 18, President Emomali Rahmon said that 30 Tajiks fighting alongside the jihadi groups have been killed abroad, while several others have been arrested upon their return to Tajikistan.
