DUSHANBE February 9, 2012, Asia-Plus — Hearing over defamation lawsuit filed by Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, a prominent Tajik religious figure, against Saidmukarram Abduqodirzoda, the head of the Council of Ulamo (a group of scholars and imams that provides interpretations of religious practice), was continued on February 8. The sides have failed to reach a compromise.
Plaintiffs – Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda and his brother Eshon Nouriddinjon Turajonzoda – accuse Abduqodirzoda of defamation and fabrication of a statement by members of the Council of Ulamo.
The head of the Council of Ulamo yesterday noted that the lawsuit was filed only against him, while the statement had been signed by all members of the Council of Ulamo.
Meanwhile, Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda noted that he talked to “80 percent of members of the Council of Ulamo” and they said that they had been forced to sign the statement. “Signatures of members of the Council of Ulamo were collected after we filed the lawsuit. They collected the signatures with help from the State Committee for National Security (SCNS). “Members of the Council of Ulamo are ready to appear in court and openly say that they were forced to sign the statement,” Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda said.
For his art, Saidmukarram Abduqodirzoda said that all members of the Council of Ulamo were acquainted with the text of the statement. According to him, the Council of Ulamo has 25 members and 14 of them attended the meeting, while the remaining 11 members received the statement copy each.
Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda said they were ready to withdraw the lawsuit if all members of the Council of Ulamo confirmed that all of them signed the statement or if the head of the Council of Ulamo admitted his mistake and made the amende honorable to them.
We will recall that Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda filed a defamation lawsuit against Abduqodirzoda on December 20.
Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, and his brothers, Nouriddinjon and Muhammadjon, came under pressure from the authorities in early December.
On December 6, 2011, the Council of Ulamo accused the Turajonzoda brothers of commemorating the Ashura ceremony, which is commemorated by Shi’a Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad.
The statement by the Council of Ulamo alleged that Nouriddinjon and Muhammadjon performed the Ashura ritual at the Muhammadiya Mosque on December 2.
“We are surprised that the ritual [of Ashura] was performed by members of the prominent religious family of Turajonzoda who claim to belong to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam,” the statement said, adding “This ritual is entirely in contradiction to the Hanafi tradition…”
Responding to the statement, Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda said that none of his brothers had commemorated the Ashura ceremony. He also noted that the statement attributed to the Council of Ulamo was invalid because several members of the council had called him and insisted that they had not signed the document. According to Turajonzoda, the statement was part of an effort aimed at “discrediting his family in the eyes of President Emomali Rahmon.”
The authorities have suspended the functioning of the Muhammadiya Mosque in the Vahdat district for three months. Turajonzoda, told Asia-Plus that the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan stated on December 9 that the functioning of the mosque has been suspended for celebration of the Ashura ceremony.
The Muhammadiya Mosque in the village of Turkobod, some 30 kilometers east of Dushanbe, belongs to the Turajonzoda family. Muhammadjon Turajonzoda served as the mosque’s imam after the elder brother, Nouriddinjon, had been forced by the authorities to resign in January 2011.
