📷 Image Credits: The Siasat Daily
Muslim-majority Tajikistan is set to impose a ban on hijab after the country’s parliament approved the law referring to it as an ‘alien garment’. The move comes as the government continues its efforts to put an end to public religiosity and the promotion of Tajik culture. Moreover, the central-Asian nation, where over 95% of the population is Muslim, has also banned the custom of ‘eidi’, children seeking money during Eid, in the country.
The hijab ban is the country’s latest development to promote its ‘secular identity’. President Rahmon Emomali stated that the move was aimed at ‘protecting ancestral values and culture’. Earlier, he had also called hijab a foreign clothing.
According to a report from Asia-Plus news, those violating the law will face hefty penalties, ranging from 8,000 to 65,000 Somoni. Government officials and religious authorities who fail to abide by the new law will face much higher fines. The bill to ban hijab was passed during the 18th session of the Tajik Parliament.
In Tajikistan, mosques are not permitted to allow women inside, only state-controlled religious education is approved for children, and long beards are banned. Mosques are banned from allowing Friday prayers for those under 18 years old, and the government has shut down numerous mosques and forbids foreign religious education.
The Tajik government has implemented strict measures to control religious practices in the country, including restrictions on sermons during weddings, banning loudspeakers for the call to prayer, and monitoring imams and students learning Islamic education abroad. These actions have resulted in the shutting down and destruction of mosques, synagogues, and churches that do not comply with government regulations.
Overall, Tajikistan appears to be intensifying its efforts to curtail public displays of religiosity and promote a secular identity, with the recent ban on hijab being a significant part of these measures to shape the country’s cultural and religious landscape.
