DUSHANBE, April 4, 2012, Asia-Plus — Turkey’s supreme spiritual body, Diyanat, is reportedly ready to help Tajikistan reconstruct the Imam Termizi Mosque in Dushanbe. The Council of Ulamo (an Islamic council that issues fatwas and religious guidance to Islamic religious organizations in Tajikistan) is placed within the compound of the Imam Termizi Mosque.
Atovullo Qosimov, a spokesman for the Council of Ulamo, says a Tajik delegation consisting of representatives of the Council of Ulamo, the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) and President’s Executive Office recently visited Turkey, where it held talks with the Diyanat top managers.
The delegation members asked their Turkish colleagues to help them publish Quran for blind people, Qosimov said.
According to him, some 3,000 blind people live in Tajikistan and “practically all of them want to be able to read Quran. “We have published 200 copies of Quran for the people with the limited opportunities but is not enough. That is why we have applied for assistance to our Turkish colleagues,” noted the spokesman. “The Council of Ulamo also asked to help reconstruct the Imam Termizi Mosque in Dushanbe. Turkey’s Diyanat has expressed readiness to help. Turkish specialists are expected to arrive in Tajikistan in the near future to assess the volume of necessary works.”
During their stay in Turkey, the CRA representatives were also interested in Turkey’s experience in retraining imam-khatibs, Qosimov added.
