DUSHANBE, 15.12.2018. (NIAT Khovar) – In 2015, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was banned by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistanafter it was declared aterrorist — extremist organization. Experts have written articles about the reasoning behind this decision to declare the party an Extremist-Terroristic Organization of Islamic Renaissance Party (ETOIRP). The author of this article had also written about this issue.

Due tothe impossibility of explaining all the reasons why the ETOIRP was banned by the Supreme Court in one article, the focus here will be onone of the reasons,taking into account the works conductedby the ETOIRP in order to explore to the defenders of the ETOIRP in European countries, including the Commission for Human Rights of the UN who denounce and blame the Republic of Tajikistan (RT) for restrictingreligious freedom and violating human rights.

Tajikistan is a secular state and its law guaranteethe protection of rights and equality of all nations and followers of different religions. Article 8of the Constitution of the RT states: “The ideology of any party, public association, religious group or movement cannot be recognized as state ideology […] Religious organizations are separated from the state and cannot interfere in state affairs. Establishment and operation of public associations and political parties that propagate racial, ethnic, social and religious hatred are prohibited.”

Furthermore, Article 17 of the RT states: “All people shall be equal before the law and the court of law. The state shall guarantee the rights and liberties of every person irrespective of his nationality, race, sex, language, religious belief, political persuasion, knowledge, socialstatus.”Article 26 states that «everyone shall have the right to freely to determine his position toward religion, to profess any religion individually or jointly with others, to take part in religious customs and ceremonies or not to profess any religion.”

Considering such legal protection, all adherents of various religions coexists peacefully in Tajikistan. The followers of all religions cooperate closely, support one another and participate in one another’s celebrations and sympathize with one another’s misfortunes.

Since the political interests ofthe ETOIRP is closely linked to the geopolitical interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they do not wish to see or recognize the achievements of the secular Tajik state. The ETOIRP has tried to implementan Islamic revolution(type ofrevolutionwhich occurred in Iran in 1979) in Tajikistan with the financial and political assistance of Iran in the 1990s, with detrimental results which are now known to all nations.

However, the leaders of the ETOIRP did not draw lessons from the resulting tragic situation and did not realize the criminality of its actions against the Tajik people. Even after the Treaty on Peace and National Accord was signed on June 27, 1997, again with the financing and instigation of the government of Iran, it secretly and clandestinely continued its terrorist-extremist activities.

In order to lay the groundwork of the next planned uprising a la Islamic Revolution, members of the ETOIRPT propagated the ideas of Shiism and the Islamic Revolution in Tajikistan, thereby violating the legislation of the RT regarding religion.

Finally, in September 2015, the ETOIRP with the assistance ofGeneral HojiKhalimNazarzoda, whom the government of RT on the recommendation of the party’s leaders appointed the Deputy Minister of Defense, attempted to carry out a coup d’état in the country. This action of the ETOIRP, in the most flagrant manner, violated the requirement of the Protocol of the Peace Treaty and the generally accepted international norms, since the treaty was signed under the auspices of the OSCE.

As an example, one must cite one of the facts of extremist propaganda activities of the ETOIRP after the declaration of the national in 1997, which reveals the true nature and purpose of the party, which are clearly contrary to human rights.

It should be noted that Article 30 of the Constitution of RT states: “Propaganda, stirring and inciting social, racial, national, religious and linguistic discord and hostility are prohibited,” which fully complies with international legal documents, including Article 55 of the UN Charter. Therefore, the Article 189 of the Criminal Code of the RT calls for imprisonment from 5 to 12 years for inciting national, racial and religious hatred and hostility. During the 1990s, the ETOIRP implementing the geopolitical plans of the Iranian government, called on the people in the city squares with slogans such as «Down with America!Down with Zionism!» Thus, openly declaring their rejection and religious hatred towards Jews and Christians.

The party members and their supporters began to publish books, the contents of which were filled with hatred of Jews and Christians to justify, from the point of view of Islam, the alleged hostility of Tajik Muslims toward representatives of other religions.

For example, the book Why Did You Turn from Islam?from the beginning to the end exudes hatred, insults and contempt for Jews and Christians. The content of the book is based on the teachings of Imam Khomeini and the ideas of the Islamic Revolution, which the government of Iran is trying to export to other countries.

The first chapter of the book is called“The Essence of the Jew” and the first part is called “The Despicable Nation.”The chapter states that “there is no more despicable and unacceptable nation in the world than the Jews. Their unseemly deeds are unparalleled in history. It is enough to remember how the Jews subjected the great prophet Moses to great misfortune, though he dedicated himself to gaining their freedom. The sufferings that Moses experienced due to the ignorance of Jews is the clear sign of this evil nation” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.32).

Further, it is said that the Jews are the defilers of the history of mankind. It goes on to state that “the demand to see God, infidel practices, murders and thousands other evil activities defiled human history” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.32). Without any proof, Jews are accused of inciting regional and religious wars, even inciting the First and Second World Wars, and religious sects such as Baha’i in Iran and so on. As we can see that the author of the book has simply ignored the wide proven causes of WWII and the tragedy of the Holocaust. This is becausethe political priority of the ETOIRP is placed above all evidence.

All the anti-Jewish and anti-Christian activities of the ETOIRP is simply implementationof the ideologies of Imam Khomeini and the current leaders of Iran, which can be used as evidence to claim that all the anti-Jewish and Christian activities are heavily influenced by the geopolitics of Iran which the ETOIRP  wanted to propagate among Tajik people to underpinthe Islamic revolution.

In his book The Islamic StateImam Khomeini states that the “current world consists of two sides: in one side are all the Muslims, in the other side all the enemies of Islam under the mask of imperialists, materialist, Jews, Christians and unjust creatures gathered to break Islamic rights and to cheat and defeat Muslims” (Khomeini, 1979, p.29). Here, we can see that there is no big difference between the members of the ETOIRP, Imam Khomeini and current leaders Iran.

The second part of the book reflects the Islamic perspective about Moses and Jesus Christ and claims that the Christian approach pertaining these issues are meaningless, and thus should be rejected. For example, the Biblical teaching regarding God is considered illogical, asthe Christians God is seen as human-like andvisible to the eye.

It is widely believed that Christianity is one of the oldest monotheistic religions and according to the Bible, the spirit has no end and no beginning, is unchangeable in his rulings, justice, grace and truth. The Trinity represents on God and has all the attributions of one God.

However, the ETOIRP rejected the claim of Christian monotheism and accused Christians of infidelity. According to ETOIRP members, “after the departure of Jesus, Christians accepted the Trinity and its association with the God of infidels and changed the previously pure religion of Jesus” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.47).In brief, by such explanations and justification, the ETOIRP concluded that Christians are nonbelievers. Such a conclusion legalized jihad, a holy war, against nonbelievers.

The book also touches upon the recognitions of prophets from the Christian perspective. The ETOIRP recognizes and affirms all the prophets based on the Islamic teachings but nullifies the Biblical teaching about God’s messengers.

From the Christian perspective, prophets are viewed as alcoholics, adulterers and liars, the book states.The ETOIRP members’ views about the Christian view of the prophets is driven basically from the Old Testament, which criticizes the prophetsNoah and Solomon. Nonetheless, the main source of Christianity is the New Testament, which consists of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s Gospels. The point that the ETOIRP uses to criticize Christians is very debatable. According to the thinkers of the ETOIRP, “Christian missionaries caused a stir among Muslims to show and convince them that the prophets themselves were alcoholics, adulterers, and liars” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.51). Why Did You Turn from Islam? was published by the Committee of Cultural Affairs of the ETOIRP. A question might arise here: How can Christiansdare to blame and criticize their religion? Doesn’t it seem funny and offensive?

In the book Why Did You Turn from Islam?the proponents of the ETOIRP compare Jesus in the gospel of John and the Koran and claim that in the Koran Jesus was blessed, “but Christ which is in Bible was not only disgraced but was condemned” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.54). This is because, according to the members of the ETOIRP, the original Bible was amended and changed by the followers of Christianity.  In sum, according to them, the current Bible is an “unauthentic book” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.55).

Moreover, the book also criticizes some Christian religious festivals.For example, the Christian religious rite of Eucharist, which involves drinking wine and eating bread, was ridiculed as nonsense, which is a very rude judgment.

Furthermore, the ETOIRP members heavily criticized the idea of salvationand described it as “paradise selling.” To illustrate, “a man originating from Isfahan came to the Pope and bought hell and got the assurance of the Pope and approached people and shouted: Good news and assurance!” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.58).When Christians started to listen to him, the Isfahani said: “the greatest news for Christians is that none of the Christians should go to the Pope and ask to buy paradise due to fear of hell, I bought hell for the sake of you and I don’t allow any of the Christians to get hell!” (ETOIRP, 1999, p.59).

The author of the book continues to say that after that incident, people stopped visiting the Pope and attending church, thus the Pope and the church faced financial deficiencies. Hence, the Pope came to the Isfahani man and took back the assurance from him and from that time the Pope andthe church again started “selling paradise.”

It is noteworthy to mention that the author’s hero in this argument is an Iranian man, through which the author not only condemns Christianity but elevates and introduces Shia teachings and tries to awaken Tajik people to pursue the Islamic revolution. According to Imam Khomeini’s teachings, Islamic revolution should spread all over the world and turned into a political revolutionshould become victorious over nonbelievers and non-Islamic religions (Khomeini, 1979, p.27).

Worthy of note is that Why Did You Turn from Islam? was written especially against the Muslims who converted to Christianity or other religions and the ETOIRP members described them as “murtad-returners”.However, these claims cannot be evidence to nullify Jews and Christians and their holy books. Here, the main targets of the ETOIRP members arethe promotion of the Islamic revolution.

Through advising murtads, returners, the ETOIRP members plotted to implement the politics of Iran and associate Christians and Jews with infidels and affirm that the punishment for murtads is death (ETOIRP, 1999, p.120). Of course, the repercussion of this type of a call plays an important role in the minds of Tajiks, especially youths, and incentivizes them to hate other religions which then brings instability and chaos to Tajikistan.

For instance, in the 1990s when the ETOIRP openly politicized their activities,most Jews and Christians fled the country. They became fearfulbecause of the sense of Islamophobia mainly due to demonstrations, attitudes and behaviors of the ETOIRP members. Thus, in today’s world, for the revise of Islamophobia, the ETOIRP members played and play a role. Even though, the role of Jews and Christians were very great in the development of industry, education and culture of Tajikistan, the ETOIRP members destroyed everything during the 1990s.

It also should be noted that the killing of UN officers in Tavildara in 1997 and the killing of cyclists,who were mainly Christians, on July 29, 2018 in Danghara, Tajikistan, were acts committed by the ETOIRP members. In addition, the initiator and leader of the terrorist attack of July 29, 2018 in Danghara was Abu Usama Noraki whowas among those who had studied and trained in Iran. Some ETOIRP members actively participate in wars in Syria and Iraq, and can be found in the terrorists groups in Afghanistan. Accomplished and organized activities of the ETOIRP is reminiscent of acts committed by fascistsin Germany. The fascist killed people in gas chambers,whereas the ETOIRP members killed the people in the container leaving them hungry.In brief, the activities of ETOIRP members in in compliance with fascist, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, anti-international law and anti-human rights ideology. The double standards that are held by many Western countries against sovereign states and the presence and support for the ETOIRP members may downgrade the status ofthe Commission for Human Rights of the UN and the OSCE in Muslim countries. Thus,banning of the ETOIRP by the Supreme Court of Tajikistan was very crucial and natural, which is fully in line with international law and the OSCE principles. Therefore, the Commission for Human Rights of the UN and the OSCE authorities’ recognition of the ETOIRP as a terroristic organization is very crucial and vital for the stability and security of the international community.

Kamar NURULHAKOV,
Expert,Center of Islamic Studies
under President of Tajikistan

Literature:

Publication of cultural committee of the ETOIRP.Why did you turn from Islam? 1999.

Khomeini Ruhollah. Principles, Sociaux et Religuex.1979.