Tajikistan president says students studying religion abroad "are all becoming terrorists and extremists", should come home

Radio Free Europe - August 25, 2010

Tajikistan Urges Parents To Recall Children From Foreign Religious Schools


DUSHANBE -- The president of Tajikistan has asked parents of students attending religious schools abroad to bring their children back home, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

Emomali Rahmon made the call via state-run Tajik TV's First Channel during a meeting on August 25 with residents of Farkhor district in the southern province of Khatlon, which borders Afghanistan.

The president requested that students go to study religion within Tajikistan instead, because those studying abroad "are all becoming terrorists and extremists."

He added that there were functioning government religious schools and that it would be better that students study in these schools or be sent abroad, as long as they have the permission and regulation of the Committee for Religious Affairs.

Rahmon's comments come as authorities continue to hunt for 25 Islamic militants who staged a brazen prison breakout in Dushanbe on August 23.

Officially, some 2,000 Tajiks are currently studying at religious schools in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, and Pakistan, though the actual number is thought to be higher.

Abdulloh Rahnamo, a theologian with the Strategic Analytical Center at the office of the president, says that he agrees with the president's request and that it is the ideas of graduates from foreign religious schools and madrasahs that bring about religious and security problems.

"Unfortunately, experience shows that -- along with the science of religion -- concepts, ideology or political or religious views also develop," Rahnamo says. "We cannot condemn any of these beliefs, thoughts, or schools of thought or political rule, however, the social environment of Tajikistan is of one religion and therefore the wanted or unwanted entrance of a non-Hanafi religion into this environment will cause a dispute."

He adds, however, that the level of religious teaching within Tajikistan is not equal to that of foreign schools.

But independent expert Mahmud Latifi says that the attendance of Tajik students at foreign religious schools is not a problem if they are under the supervision of diplomatic representatives of Tajikistan.

He said that in all foreign countries, including Western countries, there are foreign ideas and that if Tajik students are taught to be patriotic and know themselves they will not adopt radical foreign ideas.

Tajikistan keeps a tight rein on all forms of religion, and has banned at least two religious groups that are not of the Hanafi branch of Sunni Islam -- the Salafi and Jamoai Tabligh movements.


This article was found at:

http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajikistan_Urges_Parents_To_Recall_Children_From_Foreign_Religious_Schools/2137668.html

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Radio Free Europe - September 8, 2010

Tajiks Stopped From Traveling To Iran, Pakistan For Religious Courses

By Farangis Najibullah


Dozens of Tajik students, professors, and scholars were taken off a Tehran-bound plane at Dushanbe's airport as they were traveling to Iran on various religious education programs, officials in Dushanbe have said.

Officials removed the group from the plane on September 4, but did not publicly comment on the issue until today.

Education Ministry officials said the authorities had acted because they did not have enough information about the aim of the trip to Iran.

Rajabali Sangov, head of the ministry's department of international relations, told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that the ministry received a vague letter from the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe informing them that 71 Tajik students and professors, among others, were traveling to Iran to undergo short-term educational courses.

He said the letter came only the day before the group was planning to get on a flight to Tehran. Sangov said the ministry found out that none of the group had official permission from the relevant authorities to leave their studies or jobs to go abroad.

"If they were indeed going with educational programs, why didn't they inform the Education Ministry about their plans?" Sangov asked.

"After all, the ministry is in charge of educational matters and projects in Tajikistan. Besides, most of them are students and teachers and they were going away at the beginning of the academic year," he added.

"They should have informed education officials that they were going to be absent for some time. They were to spend one month in Iran, and we don't know what exactly they would study there."

'Bring Them Home'

It's not the first time Tajik officials have stopped students from traveling abroad to study at foreign religious schools.

Late last month, the ministry canceled its earlier decision to send 10 Tajik students to Pakistani madrasahs, citing "technical" reasons and a "lack of clarity" in their learning programs.

The moves came days after President Emomali Rahmon urged parents to remove their children from foreign madrasahs.

During a trip to southern Khatlon province shortly before the new academic year started, Rahmon said foreign madrasah graduates could pose security threats to the country.

"We have opened our own religious university, and we prepare our mullahs right here," Rahmon said, and implored parents to bring any of their children studying abroad home, "otherwise the majority of them would turn into extremists and terrorists in five, 10 years time."

"They don't only study religion there," the president said. "They will come back and create problems for the nation and government."

Religious Renaissance

People in the predominantly Muslim country have attained considerable religious freedom since the collapse of communism nearly two decades ago.

Tens of thousands of mosques have been built, thousands of Muslims have been given an opportunity to perform the hajj pilgrimage each year, and major celebrations in the Islamic calendar have been approved by the government as public holidays.

At least 20 official Islamic madrasahs and an Islamic university operate in the country. In addition, hundreds more students attend religious schools in countries like Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

However, Rahmon's secular government has come under criticism in recent years for restricting Islamic practices.

Security and law enforcement agencies have conducted raids on mosques and private houses to prevent mullahs from running unsanctioned religious classes. Officials have outlawed the Islamic head scarf, or hijab, in schools and public offices.

And this week, Tajikistan's Council of Islamic Ulema, a pro-government independent religious body, urged imams not to call children and students for prayers in mosques.

The council insists its only aim is not to harm school attendance, as some prayers take place during school hours. Yet the call has outraged some imams, who say the authorities are unhappy with the steadily increasing number of children turning up for mosque prayers.

Importing Extremism?

The authorities have repeatedly highlighted the threat of extremism and terrorism posed by graduates of foreign religious schools, notably by those who attend unofficial madrasahs.

Authorities say officially 2,000 Tajiks are studying at foreign madrasahs through educational grants and quotas, and intergovernmental agreements.

But regional media estimate that several thousand more students have been sent privately to foreign religious schools. An estimated 4,000 Tajiks reportedly study in Pakistani madrasahs alone.

Tajikistan's embassy in Islamabad has repeatedly expressed its concern that some of the students have ended up in underground schools run by extremist groups.

Tajikistan has banned a number of religious groups, including the Salafi movement, which the government claims is being run by foreign madrasah graduates with radical ideas.

Many such graduates, however, insist the authorities' fears are baseless.

Dushanbe resident Said Muhammad Ghozi says he studied in a madrasah in Pakistan along with his four brothers in the 1990s. Now his sons and several of his nephews study at the same religious school.

"We didn't study anything remotely radical there," Ghozi said. "Our educational program solely focused on Islam and also on computer studies."

Many others in Tajikistan, however, share the government's concerns.

Abdullo Rahnamo, a Dushanbe-based analyst of religious and social issues, says that unfortunately, there have been real security threats posed by graduates of foreign schools, particularly those who attend underground schools, and promote the ideas of different religious sects upon their return.

RFE/RL's Tajik Service contributed to this report

This article was found at:

http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajiks_Stopped_From_Traveling_to_Iran_Pakistan_For_Religious_Courses/2152337.html


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