DUSHANBE, January 5, 2012, Asia-Plus — The head of the Council of Ulamo (a group of scholars and imams that provides interpretations of religious practice), Saidmukarram Abduqodirzoda, has denied report released by some media outlets that he allegedly called on Tajik Muslims not to celebrate New Year’s as baseless.
According to him, the BBC reporter asked him, “You banned commemorating the Shia ceremony of Ashura, why do not you condemn celebration of the New Year holiday?”
“I said that the Ashura ceremony is the religious ritual, while New Year is the secular holiday, meaning the end of the previous year and the beginning of the new year. It is not Islamic holiday and there is no any specific mention of this subject in Koran or any hadith about that. But my words were paraphrased,” said Abduqodirzoda.
The BBC’s Russian Service reported on December 30 that the Council of Ulamo head Saidmukarram Abduqodirzoda urged Tajiks not to celebrate New Year’s. “It contradicts both Islamic laws and Tajik traditions,” Abduqodirzoda said. “We have many others — our own, good celebrations.”
The BBC report caused a special interest after the deadly stabbing attack of 24-year-old Parviz Davlatbekov dressed as Farther Frost.
Abduqodirzoda noted that he condemns that crime and noted that a true Muslim will never commit such an act.
