Countries
Tajikistan
Also Known As Tajik
Asia
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Tajikistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim of the Hanafi school, with a distinct Ismaili Shia minority concentrated among the Pamiri peoples of the mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the east, followers of the Aga Khan rather than of mainstream Twelver or Sunni authority. Persian speaking and historically part of the Bukhara and Samarkand centers of Islamic learning before Soviet-era borders separated Tajiks from those cities, the country inherited seventy years of Soviet suppression of religious practice followed by a brutal civil war from 1992 to 1997 in which an Islamist-led opposition coalition fought the secular post-Soviet government, ending in a power-sharing peace accord. That history has made the government acutely wary of organized Islam outside state channels: a 2009 law on religion declares Islam the traditional religion while subjecting every religious organization, including mosques, to registration, government-vetted clergy appointments, state review of religious literature, and restrictions on where children may receive religious instruction. Tajikistan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom by the United States since 2016, one of the most tightly controlled religious environments to have emerged from the Soviet collapse.
Facts
Law and State
Establishment Status Apostasy or Blasphemy LawTajikistan's religion law and December 2021 amendments to the Criminal Code criminalize insulting religious feelings and promoting religious superiority, setting penalties of a fine between 51,200 and 76,800 somoni, roughly 4,500 to 6,800 dollars, or imprisonment of up to three years. A lesser, noncriminal form of the offense, incitement of social, racial, national, regional or religious hatred, is punished under the administrative code by five to ten days' detention or a smaller fine. 3 Registration or Recognition RegimeThe 2009 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations requires state registration of every religious organization, subjects imported and published religious literature to government review, gives the state a role in clergy appointments, and criminalizes unregistered religious activity, private religious education, and proselytizing; Tajikistan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom by the United States every year since 2016. 3 Ban or Official WatchlistA secret Supreme Court decision of 29 March 2021, brought by the Prosecutor General's Office and upholding an earlier 2007 prohibition, declared Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist organization and banned its activity nationwide; the court declined to disclose the text or reasoning of the ruling, citing national security. The same court ruled on 14 June 2023 that Pamir Daily News, an independent outlet covering the Ismaili Shia majority Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, was an extremist organization and banned its activity in the country, though it has continued to publish from abroad. Tajikistan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act since 2016. 3 Concordat BasisSourced to the subject's own accountTajikistan holds no concordat with the Holy See. The first Apostolic Nuncio to Tajikistan, Marian Oles, was appointed 28 December 1996, placing the diplomatic relationship in place by that date. No bilateral treaty has followed the establishment of relations. 4 Status
Legal StatusThe constitution establishes Tajikistan as a secular state, but the 2009 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations names Islam the traditional religion, requires state registration of every religious organization, gives the state a role in clergy appointments and religious literature review, and restricts religious education and public religious dress. 3 Demographics
Religious CompositionAbout 97-98% Muslim, overwhelmingly Sunni Hanafi with an Ismaili Shia minority concentrated in Gorno-Badakhshan, and a small Russian Orthodox Christian remainder from the Soviet period (Pew Research Center, Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020). 1 Government
Government Type Sovereignty StatusSovereign UN member state 2 Established Year Location
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Religion and History in Tajikistan
Tajikistan's religious identity is rooted in a Persian-speaking Islamic culture that once looked to Bukhara and Samarkand, the great centers of Central Asian Islamic learning, before Soviet-era borders separated Tajiks from those cities and folded them into a new republic. The great majority of Tajiks are Sunni Muslim of the Hanafi school, while a distinct Ismaili Shia minority, followers of the Aga Khan rather than of mainstream Sunni or Twelver authority, is concentrated among the Pamiri peoples of the mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the east.
Seventy years of Soviet suppression of religious practice were followed, after independence in 1991, by a brutal civil war from 1992 to 1997 in which an Islamist-led opposition coalition fought the secular post-Soviet government for control of the new state. The war ended in a negotiated power-sharing peace accord rather than outright victory for either side, but it left the government of Tajikistan acutely wary of organized Islam operating outside state channels, a wariness that has shaped religious policy in the decades since.
The 2009 Religion Law and State Control of Islam in Tajikistan
Tajikistan's 2009 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations names Islam the country's traditional religion while subjecting every religious organization, mosques included, to a demanding regime of state oversight. Religious groups must register with the government, clergy appointments require state approval, imported and published religious literature is subject to government review, and the law restricts where and how children may receive religious instruction as well as the wearing of religious dress in public institutions.
The government has defended the law as a response to the trauma of the 1992 to 1997 civil war and to the regional spread of violent extremism, but international religious freedom monitors have documented its practical effect as tight control over ordinary religious life well beyond any security rationale. The United States has designated Tajikistan a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom every year since 2016, placing it among the small number of states judged to be engaged in particularly severe violations, a documented record that has not altered the law's core provisions in the years since.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Tajikistan directly: "article lists the Apostolic Nuncios to Tajikistan, the earliest being Marian Oles, appointed 28 December 1996, placing the diplomatic relationship in place by that date."
This source names Tajikistan directly: "community in the Zeravshan valley of Tajikistan, descends from a dialect of Sogdian."
Fought entirely within Tajikistan's borders, in the years immediately following its independence from the Soviet Union.
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