KULOB, February 17, 2012, Asia-Plus — Attestation of imam-khatibs of 57 mosques in the Kulob region of Khatlon province has ended and six imam-khatibs have been removed from their positions.
“Imam-khatib of one of mosques in the city of Kulob has failed a test and five other imam-khatibs have not come for the test at all,” Sharif Abdulhomidov, the head of the Kulob department on religious affairs, Abdulhomidov said, noting that those six imam-khatibs have been removed from their positions.
According to him, many imam-khatibs are hiding amounts of donations made parishioners in order not to pay a certain interest on them.
We will recall that a special commission vetted the professionalism of 3,356 imams and imam-khatibs last year; 106 of them failed a test and more than 300 others were given time to improve their work.
The law stipulates that imams and imam-khatibs of mosques are selected by the appropriate state bodies in charge of religious affairs. The government has organized attestations of imams, quizzing them of their knowledge of Islamic principles since 2007.
