DUSHANBE, February 26, 2013, Asia-Plus – Tajik students now practically do not read books.
Idibek Ziyoyev, Vice-Chancellor of the Islamic Institute of Tajikistan, remarked this at a roundtable in Dushanbe on February 26.
“At present Tajik youth are adopting other madhabs and we must preserve our madhab,” said Ziyoyev. “Thanks to independence, we now have an opportunity to study Islam. We need skilled personnel who could translate from Arabic to Tajik, know hadiths and other madhabs in order to preserve our madhab.”
According to him, the fact that students from the Islamic Institute do not read books evokes serious concern.
“It is difficult today to find Muslim cleric in Tajikistan who could not only preach but could also write books,” said the vice-chancellor. “They can speak for three hours, discuss important themes, but they can not write even an article.”
Organized by the News Agency Asia-Plus, the roundtable formally titled “Religious Education in Tajikistan: Problems and Ways to Solve Them” took place in Dushanbe on February 26.
The meeting brought together prominent Tajik theologians, madrasah teachers, religious figures and representatives from relevant government agencies to discuss problems of religious education in the country.
The meeting participants, in particular, discussed issues related to the national policy in the field of religious education, training of personnel for religious schools, compliance of their curriculum and teaching methods with modern requirements, problems of getting religious education abroad, etc.
We will recall that earlier, Asia-Plus arranged a roundtable on the theme of “Islam, Youth and Tolerance” that brought together leading specialists in Islam and representatives from the Committee on Religious Affairs Studies, the Academy of Sciences and the Islamic Center of Tajikistan.
