According to Kyrgyz authorities, 70 per cent of the country’s imams lack a formal and thorough religious education. For imams, such a restrictive policy has political objectives. Clerics not loyal to the president are expected to be removed in a country where 90 per cent of the population is Muslim. The country has 2,362 mosques and 75 madrassas.

Bishkek (AsiaNews) – Kyrgyz authorities have decided to force the country’s imams to pass tests on Sharia to vet their knowledge.

The official reason is that many poorly trained Muslim religious leaders could be spreading radical ideas, or be incapable of countering them.

Imams oppose the government’s decision claiming that the government wants to replace old imams with clerics loyal to President Almazbek Atambayev.

Since October 2014, the Muftiate, a quasi-government agency also known as the Muslim Spiritual Board, has required all imams to pass tests on Sharia and Arabic.

The tests are conducted by a special committee comprising Muftiate representatives, officials from the secular State Agency on Religious Affairs and members of Kyrgyzstan’s Security Council, which is chaired by the president.

The idea is to weed out imams with poor religious knowledge. In 2014, the State Agency for Religious Affairs found that 70 per cent of 59 imams surveyed lacked a formal and thorough religious education.

The tests would also help government officials gain a better understanding of how mosques around the country operate.

Kyrgyz authorities fear that poor understanding of Islam by the highest Muslim authorities could facilitate the spread of radical ideas, as evidenced by the recent rising in the number of young Central Asian recruits joining the ranks of the Islamic State group.

All Central Asian governments are working hard against the threat of Islamic terrorism, banning for example headscarves and long beards, prohibiting the pilgrimage to Makkah for people under 35, and boosting border controls with dangerous neighbours, like Afghanistan.

Kyrgyzstan’s secular authorities have long viewed Muslims with suspicion. For this reason, they have begun requiring imams to sign statements certifying they do not belong to radical groups.

“We had to go through tests in the past. What is different this time is that they [the tests] are more about internal politics,” said an imam from a small village near the Kyrgyz capital, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The current Muftiate leadership,” he explained, “is trying to stuff the Muftiate with loyal imams while getting rid of those who are tied to previous leaders. Those imams who have connections are allowed to pass; and those who do not are dismissed,”

Muslims who studied and worked in Turkey and the Gulf States have also come under closer scrutiny.

For the authorities, imams are important in a country that is about 90 per cent Muslim (out of a population of 5.6 million).

According to government statistics, 2,362 mosques operate in Kyrgyzstan today, up from about 1,700 in 2011. There are also 75 madrassas (Islamic seminaries).

• kyrgyzstan
• imams
• test
• islamic
• seminaries
• crackdown