Tajikistan breaks new path for dialogue among civilizations

By K.N. Pandit

Tajikistan, a less known country of Central Asia owing to its small population and 98 per cent of mountainous terrain in the lap of Badakhshan mountains is poised to perform an important role with far-reaching consequences to the existing socio-political scenario in the East.

In September last, President Imomali Rahman declared 2009 as the year of Imam Azam Abu Hanifa, the greatest 8th century Sunni Hanafi theologian of Islamic world who formulated the shria law to occupy centre stage in Islamic theological science. 

Commentators unnecessarily attached political undertones to President Rahman’s initiative. Who does not know that Islamist extremists were vigorously active in Tajikistan soon after she, like other eleven states, declared herself independent from Soviet Union? In the same vein, Uzbekistan has been the hotbed of religious extremism with extensive links among Taliban and Al Qaeda ranks in Afghanistan and NWFP. Islam Karimove the President of Uzbekistan was forced to come down with a heavy hand on insurgents centered in Ferghana Valley.

Tajik President has made a good study of the causes of rise of religious extremism in and around his country. In a bid to revive and reinforce social philosophy of Imam Abu Hanfia to find a solution to the cataclysmic situation of contemporary Islamic society, he has opened a door for new strategy and new approach which hopefully would defy outright rejection by the orthodoxy. This has to be a debate within the Islamic fold.

More than half of the world Muslim population adheres to the Hanafi theological school brought by Imam Abu Hanifa 1300 years ago. Included among them are the Muslims of Central Asia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and many other countries. Although we have four prominent theological schools of Islam but the popularity and response which Hanafi School has received remains unsurpassed.

On 5-6 October 2009, three prominent socio-cultural organizations of Tajikistan with the collaboration of Tajik government organized an enormous international symposium on the life and thoughts of Imam Abu Haifa in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. More than five hundred delegates from nearly one hundred countries participated in the symposium that was very meticulously organized and conducted. Included in the delegations were the leading Muslim scholars and erudite like the Rector of Al Azhar, and celebrated Imams of Turkey, Paksitan, India, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries. It lent the symposium grace, credibility and dignity that it rightly deserved.

In his hour long address to the delegates assembled in the magnificent Barbod Auditorium in Dushanbe, President Rahman made a historic speech, which will one day resound in many religious and secular gatherings in the Islamic world. The crux of his address was that if we follow the social philosophy of the Great Imam, we shall find that there is no scope for what is erroneously called “war of civilizations”. But there is every scope of “dialogue between civilizations”. This he said emanates from the conviction of Imam Abu Hanifa that people are free to observe their faiths and Islam does not in any way block the prospect of coexistence with other faiths which are also sent by God.

Appreciating  independent views of Imam Abu Hanifa, the President said that we don’t have another example in Islamic history that a distinguished scholar of of Islamic jurisprudence of his status refuses the offer of Qadi made to him by the Abbasid Caliph. He had rejected both houses of the caliphs viz. the Ummayids and the Abbasids as non-consistent with the basics of Islamic polity. Owing to his firm belief in and original interpretation of Islamic theological concepts, he tried to create universal appeal and profile of Islam. Thus his services to the faith and Islamic civilization are without parallel.

The impact of this move of the Tajik President may not be immediately felt or recognized but the fact is that he has opened the door for a big debate among contemporary Islamic scholars, theologians and politicians. If Muslims are able to spread the right word of this great Imam, it would generate a friendly atmosphere for logical discussion of issues facing Islamic society today.

Tajikistan has seen worst days of civil war rooted in religious extremism in post-independence period (1991- 1996).  Through is sagacity and farsightedness, the Tajik President brought about rapprochement with the dissenting groups in 1996, which stabilized the economy and law and order situation in the war-torn country. Today, Tajikistan is gradually marching  towards prosperity and reconstruction under the able guidance of her President. The change is visible in almost all walks of life. The country promises to come out of woods within another decade if peace and tranquility prevail in the region. His move to galvanize Muslim society into positive and constructive dialogue without any harm to the basics of faith and religion, is aimed at striking balance between reason and faith not by invoking the philosophy of great Greek philosophers but by invoking the precepts of great doctors of Islamic theology like Imam Abu Hanifa.  One can say with confidence that other Muslim societies will emulate his example.

(The writer is the former Director of Centre of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University).