DUSHANBE, December 16, 2008, Asia-Plus — Dushanbe’s Sino district authorities shut down unregistered mosque in microryaon 33 recently.
According to one of residents of microryaon 33, Zayniddin Huseinov, that building has been used as mosque by local people since 1928 already.
We will recall that the issue of functioning of unregistered mosques was raised in at the beginning of this year and a special commission that was set up that time justified closures of such places by saying that they did not have appropriate documents to operate as mosques.
Of 166 places functioning in the Sino district as mosques, only 19 got appropriate permits to function as mosques. The Sino district administration refused to comment on closure of mosques in the territory of the district.
In the meantime, speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the resident of the Sino district Nematullo Khayriddin noted that the authorities should set up a competent commission that could solve the issue fairly. “We consider that activity of the city commission was unfair, and therefore, some districts of Dushanbe have very few mosques and with closure of these places of worship people will not have opportunity to say their prayers,” Khayriddin said, adding that in Dushanbe’s Zarafshon area with a population of 20,000, no one mosque has been registered so far.
According to the U.S. International Religious Freedom Report 2008, Tajikistan has approximately 2,842 registered mosques for daily prayers. Friday mosques (larger facilities built for weekly Friday prayers) must be registered with the directorate for religious affairs within the Ministry of Culture. There are approximately 260 such mosques registered. Only one such mosque is authorized per 15,000 residents in a given geographic area. Many observers contend that this is discriminatory because no such rule exists for other religious groups.
We will recall that Tajik authorities shut down more than 300 unregistered mosques in Dushanbe in 2007 and those actions were characterized by some critics as undue pressure on Islamic institutions and values and a crackdown against religion. Tajik authorities have denied the actions represent an assault on Islam. They have claimed the mosque closures are simply part of an operation against unlawfully operating businesses and organizations, which include unregistered mosques.
