KULOB, June 30, Asia-Plus — Kulob authorities are taking efforts to ward off attempts of spreading Salafi literature among local population.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Emomali Bulbulov, a chief specialist with the department for religious affairs within the Kulob mayor’s office, said that members of the unregistered Islamic group of Salafi sect are activating in the country.
According to him, 62 Salafi books were confiscated from the Kulob resident recently. “He has nothing to do with the Salafi sect; they just paid him $200 for spreading the books,” Bulbulov said, noting that imam-khatib of the mosque at the Hiloli Ahmar Street, Hoji Mirzo Ibronov, helped them stop spread of the Salafi literature.
“Copies of each of confiscated books have been sent to imam-khatibs, courts, prosecutor’s offices as well as state institutions and public associations,” said Bulbulov. “They should know against what they should fight at the present stage.”
Salafism is a Sunni Islamic school of thought that takes the pious ancestors (Salaf) of the patristic period of early Islam as exemplary models.
Salafis view the first three generations of Muslims, who are Muhammad”s companions, and the two succeeding generations after them as examples of how Islam should be practiced. This principle is derived from the following Sunni hadith by Muhammad: The people of my generation are the best, then those who follow them, and then those who follow the latter (i.e. the first three generations of Muslims)
The principal tenet of Salafism is that Islam was perfect and complete during the days of Muhammad and his companions, but that undesirable innovations have been added over the later centuries due to materialist and cultural influences. Salafism seeks to revive a practice of Islam that more closely resembles the religion during the time of Muhammad. S
alafism has also been described as a simplified version of Islam, in which adherents follow a few commands and practices.
Salafism is often used interchangeably with “Wahhabism”. Adherents usually reject this term because it is considered derogatory and because they believe that Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab did not establish a new school of thought nor self-describe themselves as such.
The International Religious Freedom Report 2007 released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor noted that in 2006, a new unregistered Islamic group of the Salafi sect began worshipping in Friday mosques in Dushanbe, Sughd, and Khatlon. An estimated 5,000 Salafis practice in Dushanbe without interference from other Muslims or the Government.
