After Tajikistan banned the use of hijab last June, with the country’s president calling it an “alien garment,” the Muslim-majority, Central Asian nation is set to tighten its rules on Islam, with the ex-Soviet republic forbidding Tajik women from wearing “black clothes” and Tajik men from sporting long or bushy beards.
Tajikistan prohibits 'black clothes' after hijab ban:
Emomali Rahmon's campaign against radical Islam has intensified since the bloody attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall in March.https://t.co/D1jjNG74qE— Ruchir Sharma (@ruchirsharma_1) August 9, 2024
The state-backed Council of Ulemas issued a fatwa or an Islamic religious decree on July 26th, banning women in Tajikistan from wearing "black clothes" and "tight-fitting and transparent clothing” for women, proclaiming that the black color is incompatible with the country’s “national and geographical characteristics." In Tajikistan, the term "black clothes" often tends to be a euphemism for the hijab.
Sulaimon Davlatzoda, the country’s head of the State Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, also told a press briefing in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, that "a joint task force of the Culture Ministry, the Women's Committee, and the Religious Affairs Committee is working together to determine what clothes are most compatible with our national values and traditions."
The fatwa and the announcement from the state committee came after the Majlissi Milli, the upper house of the Tajik Parliament, passed a law last June regarding the "regulation of traditions and rites. " The law also bans wearing "clothing foreign to Tajik culture," a term Tajik authorities use to refer to Islamic dress, which they argue is an outward sign of potential religious extremism.
Muslim-majority Tajikistan Bans Hajj, Bans Hijab and forces all men to shave their bread.
96.4% of the Tajikistan Population are Muslim. This ban is strictly implemented with police arresting women wearing Hijab for the past 7 years. pic.twitter.com/J0XQzOqWRp— Arun Pudur (@arunpudur) May 21, 2024
The July 26 fatwa also echoed the Tajik regime’s long-standing position on female clothing, promoting a national costume for Tajik women consisting of a dress, trousers, and a kerchief. The edict also explained that this three-piece national costume was fully compliant with the Islamic practice of mandating women to cover their entire bodies except for their hands, feet, and faces.
But the Tajik government has not only banned the hijab and the Islamic dress for women. The Tajik regime has also gone after Tajik men sporting long and bushy beards. According to Abdullo Rahmonzoda, head of the country’s youth and sports committee, men are not encouraged to wear beards as they are an "expression of solidarity with terrorist groups" and represent a "threat to national security."
What about his suit lol
— Atheist mantis (@N01h3a) June 23, 2024
Last May 23rd, police in Dushanbe’s Shohmansur district briefly detained 13 men and demanded that they shave, with one of the men arrested saying the authorities warned them they "will be arrested if caught again with long beards.”
A day before this arrest, authorities rounded up a group of hijab-wearing women and took them to the police station on May 22nd. One of the women arrested said their fingerprints and mugshots were taken, and they were made to promise to not wear “alien” clothes again before being released on the same day.
In a country where more than 90% of the population identifies as Muslim, these bans and the crackdowns that came after them are a part of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon’s campaign against radical Islam that started in 1997.
Well, because Tajikistan is for the Tajiks, and not for some Arabian religious overlords to dictate.
— Thinn (@ThinnLii) June 20, 2024
Rahmon, who has been in power since 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has been criticized by human rights activists and organizations for his authoritarian and heavy-handed rule over Tajikistan, which has included clamping down on independent media, political plurality, civil rights, and religious freedoms.
