Tajik Society Divided on Magic Ban

Much of the outside world raised a wry smile when Tajikistan’s president Imomali Rahmon announced a clampdown on witchcraft last month.



Hot on the heels of earlier official initiatives to curb or outlaw expensive weddings and gold teeth, to many it appeared no more than another diversion from the deep social ills besetting this impoverished state.



The bill banning witchcraft, sorcery and fortune-telling, which the Tajik parliament adopted in mid-December, provides for stiff fines for those who disobey the law.



Convicted sorcerers can expect a fine of between 180 and 240 US dollars, several times the average monthly minimum wage. Repeat offenders will be subject to even larger penalties.



But while sociologists suggest sorcery is only a manifestation of wider social issues, rather than a problem in itself, the authorities insist the rising number of magicians makes drastic action necessary.



Outsiders might be surprised at the strength of popular faith in magic in a Muslim society. Yet belief in mystical healing powers, casting the evil eye and other magical practices is an enduring tradition in Tajikistan, as in other parts of the broader Central Asian region.



Such practices have persisted despite the prevalence of Islam, which frowns on such things, and 70 years of official Soviet atheism.



When police conducted a survey into the role of magic in Tajik society last year, they came up with some surprising results.



According to local media, the police survey, which started in 2006, revealed the existence of at least 5,000 regular practitioners of magic.



Many famous politicians and businessmen insist they are on the receiving end of malicious spells.



Zafar Saidov, director of the state-run Khovar news agency, supports the new law for one solid reason - he himself believes he has been the victim of supernatural curses.



“Unfortunately, some of our fellow countrymen seek the help of Pakistani and Afghan magicians,” he told IWPR. “Black magic comes into Tajikistan from outside and has a negative influence on people.”



According to folk tradition, Kashmiri wizards are the most powerful of all and there are many tales of their deeds.



These days, curses can be delivered by the latest technologies.



“Some magicians now use modern mobile phone technology and the internet for their black deeds, damaging people’s health,” said Saidov.



Rashid Abdullo, a political analyst, says magic enjoyed a renaissance in Tajikistan as a result of economic collapse and civil war in the Nineties, which created unprecedented levels of psychological distress.



As the healthcare system was unable to offer conventional psychological help to many people, the adepts of the old supernatural arts stepped into the breach.



“Many people lost confidence during the transition period,” said Abdullo. “Previously, they had confidence in the state but after the shift to a market economy, they lost faith.”



Abdullo says alternative medicine now fills a niche. “Magicians and wizards play the role of psychotherapists,” he noted. “People feel they can’t solve their problems themselves and try to enlist the help of magicians instead.”



This interest in mystical powers is by no means the preserve of underprivileged and marginalised groups. Senior officials and businessmen and their wives often visit magicians in order to secure a job, make a successful deal or win love. In consequence, magicians are often wealthy.



People line up for days in order to see the most popular magicians.



Bibi Fatima, a popular fortune-teller in the capital Dushanbe, says her clients are mostly well-heeled professionals.



“Members of parliament, artists, prosecutors, fiscal agents and businessmen come to me for amulets against the evil eye,” she says.



“For some money, I can insert bear’s teeth or claws, garlic or red pepper into an amulet. I can also advise my clients to make the fig sign when talking to their enemies,” she said, referring to the symbolically potent gesture made by inserting one’s thumb between the second and third fingers of a clenched fist.



“That helps a lot,” she maintained.



The tenets of the Muslim faith professed by most of Tajikistan’s population prohibit superstitious practices outright, and clerics condemn people for running to magicians and fortune-tellers.



Domullo Murojon Sabitzade, the senior imam or prayer leader at a Kurgan-Tyube mosque, says the quest for supernatural advice distances people from their faith in God.



“A person’s desire to seek God slackens,” he explained. “Most fortune-tellers are also charlatans. The conclusions they draw are not trustworthy, because only Almighty God governs the fate of the world. He is the only one making decisions.”



The imam concluded, “It is the Almighty to whom a person should apply and to whom he should direct his prayers. Religion is given to us as a staff is given to a blind person in the desert.”



Kimiyo Juraeva, a well-known singer, agrees, saying, “A true Muslim ought never to ask magicians for help. If you believe in Allah, He will help you. It’s better to go to the mosque and pray if you believe - and if you don’t believe in God, then why believe in fortune-tellers?”



But while many people agree that witchcraft is foolish or wrong, opinion is more divided on the government’s move to penalise the practitioners.



Abdullo thinks that since witchcraft is so popular, the government would do better to license those who practice it and earn fees from them rather than punish them.



“We should make a more rational decision and impose some kind of tax on them,” he said. “Let them continue to work.”



Lawyer Salomat Mahmudova says the interest in sorcery is deeply- rooted in Tajikistan and ought not to be pushed underground.



“They give advice to businessmen, tell traders whether to get involved in some business or not, and reveal which season is the most beneficial for concluding a deal, or arranging or cancelling a meeting,” she said.



“As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply. As long as [witches] pay their taxes, why not? Going to see a magician is the exclusive right of each person. No one should ban it.”



Lola Olimova is an IWPR editor in Tajikistan, and Mukammal Odinaeva a correspondent for the newspaper Biznes i Politika.