Number of mosques in Kyrgyzstan grows 100 times during independence

The number of mosques in Kyrgyzstan has grown more than 100 times during its independence. The report «Education of Kyrgyz citizens in foreign Islamic educational institutions» says.

«With the acquisition of independence, interest in religion was awakened in the republic, and the religious and spiritual vacuum that had been forming over many years of restrictions during the Union’s time quickly began to fill up. One of the indicators of this process is the speed at which the construction of mosques began and the widespread opening of the madrasahs,» the document says.

According to the Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Kyrgyzstan (SDMK), there are currently 78 madrasahs in the country, while in 2013 there were 67 of them. In early 2017, at least 6,000 children attended them.

«It is natural that with the growth in the number of mosques and madrasahs, the requirements to the level of qualification of religious workers also increased. As a result, citizens’ interest in the Koran and the Arabic language turned into a need for religious education, and they began to actively leave the country for religious knowledge,» the authors of the report note.

The document was prepared by the Bulan Institute for Peace Innovations in cooperation with the State Commission for Religious Affairs under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic.