Friday, April 04, 2025

Islam in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is 95% Muslim, but it is a secular country. During the Soviet times religion was repressed and many of the mosques were closed and people were forced to practice in private at home. After independence practicing Islam was encouraged again, but it was stressed to us that the government is very wary of religious fundamentalism and keeps a close eye on religious activity. I saw very few obvious mosques and almost no active call to prayer, which feels very different than other Islamic countries I have been to. The Turmenbashi Ruhy Mosque is big and sparkly mosques, but it seemed more for show than for daily religious practice. 

These days there are no madrassas (religious schools) in Turkmenistan. Anyone wanting to study to be an imam has to go to Turkey to train. This is part of the effort to keep Turkmenistan secular. In Uzbekistan there is a bit more, but still there is only one madrassa allowed in each of the 12 territories  of the country. 

The biggest evidence of how little the presence of Islam was is that I don't have any picture to show Islam in practice there.


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