yamen%jomby@cs.wisc.edu (Soner Yamen) (04/16/91)
Below is an excerpt. regards, - Soner yamen%jomby.cs@cs.wisc.edu LETTER FROM TASHKENT By M. Sadiq M.Y. The Muslim Religious Board for Central Asia and Kazakhstan, I am Chairman of, is guiding the religious life of Muslims in five Soviet Republics. They are: Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Kazakhistan, Kirgizia and Turkmenia. Our work is wide and many-sided. It covers a set of most important aspects, the first of them being the management of Mosques. We have 400 major Juma Mosques under our guidance, as well as nearly 1000 small local praying houses, where everyday and Friday prayers are performed. Nearly all Mosques are manned by Imams, who received their education in our religious schools. They fluently speak Arabic and possess a deep knowledge of the Islamic sciences. We leaders of the Board, keep the work of the Mosque under our permanent supervision, watching that their activity should develop on the principles of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad [may peace be upon Him] We often remind our believers the words of our Prophet: 'After my death two things will be left for you: the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah. If you adhere to them you will never deviate from the right path'. Our Department of Fatwa helps to keep our people along the path of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah. The second aspect of our work is the training of religious functioners. Young Imams are trained in two institutions of learning: the Medressah 'Mir-Arab' in Bukhara and the Islamic Institute bearing the name of Imam al-Bukhari in Tashkent. Many workers of our Religious Board have received their education in Islamic Universities in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Jordan. Now in connection with the policy of 'perestorika', the field of our activities has become considerably enlarged. We plan to build many new mosques and praying houses in places, where they are needed. We shall have to train more well qualified religious workers. For this sake we must enlarge our religious schools in order to be able to admit a large number of students. New buildings for the Tashkent Islamic Institute and the Medressah 'Mir-Arab' in Bukhara will be constructed. The Board considers, that peace-making activity is its foremost duty. We therefore aim our efforts at the consolidation of friendship and mutual understanding among nations, and at fruitful collaboration and solidarity of all peace-loving forces of our world. [...] Contacts are kept by means of personal meetings, through correspondence, participation in the conferences, seminars and symposia, held in the Soviet Union and abroad. Every year several Muslim delegations visit our country at invitation of the Board. They come from S.Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan etc with the aim to get acquainted with the life of Muslims and with the activities of our religious organisations. They receive firsthand information about the position of religion in the USSR. And, I am sure they leave our country full satisfied with everything they have seen. The Islamic conferences we periodically convene, enjoy great popularity. We invite prominent scholars and religious leaders from Muslim countries. The last Islamic International Conference was held in 1986 in Baku. Its motto was: 'Muslims in the struggle for peace'. Six hundred delegates took part along with numerous guests from 60 countriesof Asia, Africa, Europe and America. Leading international organisations such as the United Nations Organisation, the Muslim World League, Makkah al-Mukarramah, the World Muslims Congress, Karachi etc, were represented. The representatives of our Religious Board often take part in the international forums, convened by the World Peace Committee, by the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organisation, by the World Council of Churches and many others. Members of our Board are invited to participate in the meetings of the Supreme Council of Mosques in Makkah, in the seminars of the 'Islamic Thought' in Algeria and in the annual sessions of the Royal Acadamy in Jordan. We have a large number of correspondents with whom we exchange letters and religious literature. We exchange greetings on the occasion of Islamic holidays, our friends from abroad write to us about their problems, about the work they carry out in their corresponding regions. These letters and the printed materials they send acquaint us with the situation of Muslims in different parts of the world. The first-hand information helps us to better understand Islam, its contemporary development, its role in the life of our co-religionists in the world at large, attend meeting and seminars they convene. We publish the magazine 'Muslims of the Soviet East' in six languages: Arabic, English, French, Persian and Dari. It is being read in 90 countries. As we know from the letters of our readers, it enjoys great popularity, because in conveys true information about the life of Soviet Muslims and activities. As well as it supplies data about the history of Islam and Islamic monuments of architecture, which are concentrated in Samarkand, Bukhara, Horezm and many other places of Central Asia. We plan to make our magazine still more informative and print more copies. To satisfy the need of the believers for religious literature we reprint periodically the Holy Qur'an and publish the works of our prominent scholars of the past, who are known and respected throughout the world. Thus we have published 'Sahih al-Bukhari', 'Al-Adab al-Mufrad', a book by Imam al-Termezi 'Shamail an-Nabaviya'. From the works of our contemporary autors we have published the book, written by our late Mufti Z. Ibn Ishan Babakhan, entitled 'Islam and Muslims' in the Land of Soviets. We plan, of course, to increase the number of our publications in the future. I wish to ask the readers of this article to write us, if they have any questions concerning our activities. May the Almighty Allah be mercyful to all of us, may He reward us with His love and benedication. Muslim Religious Board for Central Asia and Kazakhistan, Tashkent, the USSR -------------------------------------------------------------------------- regards, - Soner yamen%jomby.cs@cs.wisc.edu