09:44, 23 декабря 2024, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Baktygul OSMONALIEVA
At the third People’s Kurultai, the President of Kyrgyzstan informed delegates that clergy would start receiving salaries starting in 2025. The public reacted ambiguously to this news, noting that, according to the Constitution, religion is separate from the state. Sadyr Japarov commented on the decision in a traditional interview with Kabar state news agency.
«These funds will not come from the budget. There are sources that the Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Kyrgyzstan (SDMK) had previously ignored. We want to use these sources to develop the activities of mosques, or rather imams.
We, as a secular state, do not interfere in religion, and religious figures do not interfere in politics. In this regard, we cannot allocate funds from the republican budget. But the state provides support to the SDMK as much as it can.
For example, next year, we want to install electronic boxes in each mosque to collect charitable funds, abandoning iron or wooden ones. Now you can transfer your donations using QR codes via phone. The money will go directly to the SDMK account.
The muftiyat and the Ulema Council will decide for themselves where to send these funds,» the head of state said.
The President reminded that all believers need a mullah, from birth until death.
«When a child is born, we call the mullah to read the first adhan to the newborn, thereby giving the child a name. When we get married, we call the mullah to perform the Nikah ceremony. When a person leaves this world, representatives of the clergy read janazah (the last prayer). Mullah does not ask for money, everyone gives the amount that they consider necessary or can. Mullah do not receive a salary. Therefore, we want each of them to receive one. They will educate and guide those who have gone to other schools to the right path, they will return everyone to the Hanafi madhhab and everyone will obey only the SDMK. All the schools that have dispersed will come to order. We are one people, but we have divided into 15-20 schools. This is not safe,» Sadyr Japarov noted.
According to him, there is a Council of Ulemas, there is a muftiyat, the Kyrgyz say «bodononu soiso da, kasapchy soisun» («let a professional do the job»).
«If the SDMK is engaged in guiding those who adhere to other schools in Islam to the right path, it will be much more effective than law enforcement agencies punishing them. The muftiyat will do better, it will re-educate better. We have to learn to obey imams in matters of religion. Each imam has to talk to citizens if he sees that a person has gone to the wrong school. Then our country will have a bright future, we will be able to pass on to the next generation a strong, developed country where order and rules are observed,» the president summed up.