DUSHANBE, January 13, 2009, Asia-Plus — Salafis represent threat to national security of the country, Prosecutor-General Bobojon Bobokhonov remarked at a press conference in Dushanbe today, answering reporters’ question about the reason for banning the Salafiya religious movement in Tajikistan.
Although Salafis have not committed any unlawful actions and no criminal proceedings have been instituted against members of this movement, over the short period of its existence the Salafiya movement has managed to carry out an active propagation, Tajik chief prosecutor noted.
“Like Wahabbis, Salafis purpose to overthrow the constitutional order in the country,” said Bobokhonov, “We remember well the events of the 1990s when Wahabbis began confrontation, at first, with each other in Kulob and then brought the whole country to the civil war.”
As it had been reported earlier, the Supreme Court on January 8 issued a ban on the Salafiya religious movement. The court ruling specifically prohibits the import and distribution of Salafiya religious material.
Salafis espouse an ultra-traditional approach to religion, asserting that their practices emulate those which existed during Islam’s early days. Some devout Hanafi Muslims — including Islamic scholars and Tajik officials – are concerned over the growing influence and exclusionism of the Salafis. According to them, the danger is that Salafis see themselves as the purest Muslims and exclude others, renouncing many kinds of Islam — Shi”ism and Sufism among them.
Some believe Salafism is similar to Wahabbism, and many people use those terms interchangeably. It has reportedly been growing in Tajikistan in recent years and its leaders claim they now have over 20,000 supporters in the country. Tajik officials, however, downplay the figures putting them at several hundreds.
