Hejab Debate Rages in Tajikistan

As the start of the new school year approaches, disputes over whether girls should be allowed to wear Islamic dress are inevitable.

There is no official ban on hejab, but the education ministry is against it and requires pupils to wear standard school uniform.

Hejab, typically the Iranian-style costume which leaves the face open, less frequently the Gulf-style niqab with only a slit for the eyes, are now a common sight in Tajikistan.

Saidbek Mahmudollaev of the government’s Committee for Religious Affairs expresses the commonly-articulated official view that these forms of Islamic dress are recent imports. He believes Tajiks should shun what he sees as a product of “globalisation”, and stick to more traditional forms – long dresses and headgear made out of the brightly-coloured silk made locally.

Vox pops on the streets reflect divided opinions about the need for hejab and the values underpinning it.

“I consider myself a good Muslim but I am no advocate of Islamic dress, including hejab for women,” Dushanbe resident Jahongir Boboev said. “At the start of the 21st century, any religion, no matter how conservative in outlook, must adapt to new conditions. I don’t think that wearing hejab should now be seen as the main thing that defines how devoutly Muslim a woman is…. It isn’t the external things that are important for faith.”

Another man, Rahmatshoh Obidov, said he required his wife to cover out whenever she went out.

“I can’t stand it if anyone one except me looks at my wife,” he said. “I can’t deal with it – I go mental.”
 

The audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.