CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF TAJIKISTAN EMOMALI RAHMON

           Dear fellow-countrymen,On Monday the merry feast of Idi Qurbon begins which is one of the Islamic religion's blessed rites and belongs to the most revered traditions of our Muslim people. I sincerely congratulate all of you on this occasion.           On this glorious day the faithful, filled with devotion, selflessness and piety, pray before the See of the Most High for bodily and spiritual purification, because the main goal of the Idi Qurbon Feast lies in "seeking for the cognition of the essence of the only and unmatched God".           This gives humans an opportunity to purify themselves both internally and externally, to direct all efforts towards fulfilling such prescriptions of the Most High as conception of knowledge and sciences, kindness and generosity, truthfulness and justice, mercy and grace, upbringing of high morality, and other good deeds.          The rich Islamic culture plays a significant role in upbringing society's spirituality, formation and perfection of self-cognizance and self-consciousness of various peoples and nations of the world, including the people of this land.          Gratitude for the Shaper's blessings and benevolence to each other are inherent and noble properties of our nation, and rendering help, generosity towards orphans, ailing, sick and impoverished persons exactly on this day is considered a particularly good deed.           The demonstration of kindness and generosity Delong to Islam's prescriptions, because the Shaper thus decreed in the surah "The Women": "Worship only your God and take not with Him another object of worshipping; honour your parents and render to the kindred their due rights, as also to those in want, and to the wayfarers".           That is why rendering any possible help to those in need during this feast and other traditional rites is one of great and noble properties of our people, turning gradually into a good tradition.           These good and noble deeds are accomplished particularly by organizations and establishments, agencies and enterprises, generous and provident persons, and this year the scale of such a help increased considerably as against previous years. It is in accordance with our great ancestors' prescription: "winning someone's heart is equal to the circuit around the House of God".           Thanks to our independence, religious values, along with supreme human values, occupied their fitting and important place in our people's life and today regulate our societal life in many ways.           We honour these values as a pure source of virtuous morality and an efficient means of upbringing a perfect person, since they play an important role in guiding people along the road of self-cognizance and perception of human essence.           It was exactly with the aim of honoring these traditions and values that we established in this country a centre of Islamic studies, whose activities, along with studying and research of religious works, translation and publishing of religious books of the Hanafi madhhab, will become a proper contribution to raising the level of religious knowledge and literacy of our society's members.          Beside this, at present the work is ongoing on a new version of the Bill On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations, which after comprehensive discussion will be passed for endorsement to Majlisi namoyandagon of Majlisi Oli (the lower house of the Parliament). A Conception of State Policy in the Sphere of Religion is also in the process of working out which will be adopted next year.           With the aim of a better and deeper acquaintance of our country's Muslims with their Hanafi madhhab, we proclaimed 2009 The Year of the Commemoration of the Great Imam.           I have repeatedly stressed that the Islamic culture is considered a constituent part of our civilization. In the course of centuries old history the Hanafi madhhab has always played a very important role in laying grounds for all mankind's unity, national authenticity, in protecting society's security and stability, and in preserving historical values. It still plays this role nowadays.           Considering this, last year we adopted the bill on the regulation of traditions, festivities and rites. This step was primarily aimed at that folk and religious feasts and rites be observed in strict conformity with this bill, which would help raise level and quality of people's life.           In this connection I reiterate that the observance of this bill is obligatory for all citizens of this land and must become a constituent part of our people's culture.           The measures undertaken so far were primarily aimed the creation of favorable conditions for this country's Muslims and raising the level of the populace's religious literacy.           At the same time, I would like to remind that the observance of religious prescriptions, customs and rites must strictly follow the effective legislation and our ancestors' traditions, thus contributing to society's progress and intellectual development of people.           Yet, of late some groupings have emerged in this country which transgress beyond the set of religious prescriptions and beliefs of Tajikistan's people and thrust on us alien ideas, dangerous for the religious conscience of this country's populace, particularly youth.           Followers and propagators of such alien concepts should not forget that Islam has never advocated cruelty and violence, but, quite the contrary, has always propagated among Muslims peace and stability, unity and solidarity, patience and tolerance, friendship and fellowship, earnest labour and concord, calling on them to create a healthy climate in society.          Along with this, our country's Muslims must always remember the abyss of brutal confrontations our land was flung into in the 90s of the past century due to provocations and intrigues of such persons.          Today the religious conscience of the nation must contribute to securing firm independence, rapid social and economic development and political stability of this country. In the present-day rapidly changing world religious establishments, including mosques should be not only places of worshipping but also centres of culture and high morality, schools of humanism and spirituality for Muslims.           Yet, these days we see that some persons are propagating views entirely contradicting the fundamental prescriptions of our madhhab.           This may result in the mergence of ideological discord and dissension in our society, so we should never give way to such illegal actions/In present-day conditions our society has no need in thrusting on it of any newly emerging ideas and trends, because our people follow the madhhab of the Great Imam, the teaching which as early as one thousand and three hundred years ago had solved all the questions in Islamic religion.           The Hanafi madhhab is one of the main madhhabs in Islam, being recognized as such by leaders of other madhhabs and outstanding scholars of social sciences in the world. In the course of history it merged with our national traditions, turning into a constituent part of our ancient history and civilization.          The core essence of the Hanafi madhhab consists in that it provides a simple and reasonable way of Islamic worshipping, observance and protection of rights of the poor and impoverished, equality of all members of Muslim community and respect for man and personal freedoms.           The teaching of the Great Imam's madhhab is based on the Holy Koran, Prophetic hadiths, opinions of the Prophet's companions, reasoning by analogy and adoption of judgment. While solving all questions of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), the Great Imam took them into consideration, compared all opinions and eventually passed his judgment.           In this connection, imam Dhahabi quotes a story of how the Commander of the Faithful Abu Ja'far was falsely informed of the Great Imam's methods of reasoning by analogy. Replying to the ruler's letter, Abu Hanifa, wishing to remove all doubts and prove the correctness of his methods, wrote the following:          "O Commander of the Faithful! The news that reached to you is false. In the beginning I turn to the Book of the Most High, then to the tradition of the God's Messenger, thereupon to the fatwas of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman, and finally to the fatwas of the Prophet's companions. In cases where companions' opinions regarding the solution of a question differ, I make use of comparison (qiyas), because there is no direct relation between Lord and His subjects".           The ideological reform, made by the Great Imam in as early as the eighth century CE, embraced all aspects of the Hanafi fiqh, with al their nuances.           It is to be noted that the Great Imam Abu Hanifa was the teacher of all Sunni imams, since Imam Ahmad Hanbal took lessons from Shafi'I, Imam Shafi'I was taught by Imam Malik and the latter made use of the Great Imam's madhhab.           So it is a blunder for those venal persons who think that some countries of our regions, including Tajikistan are a religious vacant lot for them to accomplish their selfish actions.           In recent years, with the aim of reducing Islam's influence, reaching impure goals and kindling discord and conflicts among representatives of various peoples and nations, some circles have been propagating the idea of the confrontation of civilizations and religions, with systematic using of the term "Islamic terrorism".          From world's high tribunes, we have repeatedly expressed our view regarding this issue, stressing that connecting terrorism with Islam is an erroneous and malevolent persuasion.           On the contrary, the bright religion of Islam may play a significant role in the strengthening of societal system, stability and security, and in the enrichment of the spiritual and moral world of not only Muslims but all the mankind as well.            Basing on its inherent values, human potential and rights, social justice, freedom of thought and appeal for peace, tolerance and refraining from violence, Islam may also contribute to scientific progress and societal development.            Learning and knowledge, as well as occupation with earnest labour are recognized by shari'a prescriptions and Islamic teaching as main obligations, being equal to God-worshipping.           God the Most High and the noblest Prophet consistently stressed that the faithful must earn their daily bread by hard work. Thus, Muhammad told in one of his hadiths the following: "There is no food more delicious than that earned by one's own work".           It is worthy noticing that recently a large group of our pilgrims have left for blessed Mecca to perform hajj. Because the number of those wishing to perform the great hajj is increasing with each year, we decided to distribute the quota established for Tajikistan among cities and districts on a proportional basis. So, this year more than 5 thousand citizens of our country will visit blessed Mecca and sacred Medina with the aim of accomplishing the rites related to the hajj.            I am fully confident that on performing the great hajj they will return to Homeland with pure hearts and intentions, to make a precious contribution to constructive work and flourishing of the native land, as well as to the propagation of high morality and decent behaviour, particularly among youth.            To conclude, I once again sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of the Idi Qurbon Feast, wishing each family prosperity, tranquility, happiness, dignity and well-being.           Happy holiday, dear fellow-countrymen!                                                                   Translated by NIAT "Khovar"