Fearful of Islamists, Tajikistan pursues bearded men focus 01/23/2011

Fearful of Islamists, Tajikistan pursues bearded men

focus

01/23/2011
DUSHANBE — Sermons imposed on imams, the harassment of men with beards — anxious Tajikistan seems ready to try anything to curb the spread of Islam in this impoverished republic on the edge of Afghanistan.

With ethnic tensions still simmering from a 1990s civil war and the continued presence of the Taliban on the ex-Soviet state’s southern border, the Tajik authorities have recently mounted their own campaign against believers.

With increasing alarm, they have been watching more and more young men attend mosques — and fewer and fewer of them sit around squares and restaurants sipping beer.

In an apparent bid to cut the growth of radicalism at its source, the government has decided to publish a collection of 52 sermons that must be preached during Friday prayers under threat of sanctions.

Five thousand copies of the sermon book have been printed and distributed to the country’s 3,000 mosques, each one of them spelling out what may and may not be covered in sermons..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110123com7.html