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Hujra phenomenon: How do Uzbekistan’s children learn about Islam?

05 August 2023 09:00

According to an article by The Diplomat, the apparently increasing number of hujra, clandestine religious classrooms, in Uzbekistan indicates a growing need for formal religious education that is not attainable for many at present. Caliber.Az reprints this article.

The story of a young schoolboy falling from the fifth floor in an attempt to escape from his teacher’s beatings sparked heated discussion among netizens in Uzbekistan. The boy ended up with multiple broken bones and other injuries. The teacher, Yusuf, opened a hujra (literally meaning “cell” or “room” in Arabic), an underground illegal religious school, for about 15 children in his rental apartment in Tashkent and took 200,000 Uzbek som ($15) from each parent to teach Islam. Local media report that he frequently beat his students. Yusuf is currently serving a 15 day term of imprisonment as an administrative punishment. 

Local news outlets are rife with such stories, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has made a point of publishing about their hujra raids, though with limited details. For example, the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Tashkent city reported that in February 2023 they had ended the activities of a few people who were teaching their “personal religious concepts” arbitrarily, without having any formal religious education or license. Two of them were teaching at a local study center, “Yasin education,” while another had opened a Telegram group channel and taught Islam to three people.

One married couple was allegedly teaching Islam to children in their home.

Uzbekistan is a Muslim majority country, but has a strictly secular government. Citizens enjoy a constitutional right to profess any, or no, religious belief. After seven decades of Soviet-promoted atheism and three decades of Karimov’s iron fist against Islam, the trend of living publicly religious lives is growing more apparent.

Yet religiosity in Uzbekistan must remain within the boundaries of state sanctioned Islam only. Religious materials are created and disseminated to the public, both in print and online, only after “a positive conclusion of theological expertise,” often by the Committee of the Religious Affairs of Uzbekistan. Tashkent also controls the appointment of imams at local mosques and oversees the content of their sermons. Imams and other Islamic religious figures are cautious in their activities and remain moderate in their preaching.

Caliber.Az
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