180208_identity

Mansi Mehrotra

In another effort to revive Samanid Persian culture and language amongst Sovietised (Russified) Tajiks, the governments of Iran and Tajikistan have planned to jointly celebrate the 1150th birth anniversary of the Persian poet Abu Abdullah Jafar-ibn-Mohammad Rudaki (858-941) in 2008. Rudaki's birthplace is now located in Tajikistan and he is recognized as the founder of the Persian (Tajik) literature. He was one of the earliest exponents of modern literary Persian in Perso-Arabic script. Those who believe that Rudaki was a follower of the Ismaili branch of Islam usually cite Maruf Balkhi, a Samanid poet, as saying: "I have heard the king of poets, Rudaki as saying, "Do not give allegiance to anyone, save the Fatimids (the first Ismaili dynasty)."

Tajikistan and Iran plan to organize a series of comprehensive programmes, including seminars and literary festivals, to be held under the agreement signed between Iran's Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization (CHTHO) and Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan (ASRT). The programs are scheduled in several Iranian cities and in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe. UNESCO also plans to commemorate Rudaki through holding projects with the support of Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

In post-Soviet Tajikistan the Samanid royal dynasty is regarded as the founder of the modern Tajik national identity. It was during their reign that the word "Tajik" came into prominence ["Tajik" is derived from T āzīk/g (Middle Persian) denote non-Turkic, Iranian]. Samanids revived Persian culture and language that was washed away after the conquest of Arabs. It is noteworthy that the changes which took place during this time, occupied every sphere of life: cultural, linguistic, social, art, economy, politics, and scientific.

American scholar Richard Frye observes that the process of Persian renaissance began in Central Asia rather than in Iran. It was due to the difference of the social groups in these two parts of the Muslim world. The mercantile, trade society of Central Asia was much more suitable for the development of an egalitarian Islamic society than a hierarchical caste society of Iran. Therefore, the Samanids, the real rulers of Transoxiana and Khorasan, who made Bukhara, Samarkand and Herat as centres for learning Persian culture throughout the eastern part of the Persian-speaking world, could be seen as pioneers of Iranian renaissance.

In the present times, Tajiks seek cultural guidance from Iran for the restoration of their Persian identity which they share with Iran and Afghanistan. It is because Iran was able to preserve the Persian identity while during the Soviet period Tajiks not only lost their cultural capitals to Uzbekistan, but also their distinctive identity was almost distorted by Russian and an artificially designed Soviet ethno-national identity. At the same time, Soviet atheistic policy made Tajiks secular and religiously ignorant. Their cultural identity supersedes sectarian differences with Iran. Majority of Tajiks are Sunni whereas the majority of Iranians adhere to Shiite Islam.

In late 1980s, Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, a policy of openness in public discussions about current and historical problems, led to peoples' movement for cultural revival in some of the Soviet republics. Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (TSSR) was the only Soviet Central Asian republic where people organised a cultural movement that led to the passage of a language law in 1989. The language law officially renamed "Tajiki (Farsi)" as national language of TSSR and called for gradual reintroduction of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. The word in brackets (Farsi) was omitted later by Rahmon's government.

Presently, the 'cultural renaissance' is a movement initiated by the political elites where the local population remains apathetic towards such efforts. Schools, media and celebration of cultural festivals are used as mediums by the government to reinforce Tajik national identity.

In an effort to counterbalance Islam, Tajik government celebrated 1100th anniversary of the Samanid Empire in 1999 and 2700th anniversary of Zoroastrian holly script Avesta in 2001. The efforts to endorse cultural renaissance in Tajikistan is for nation-building, protecting cultural uniqueness amongst their Turkic Central Asian neighbours and maintaining secular beliefs in the country.

Tajik leadership has shown more signs of being disinterested to promote ethno-religious identity and has undertaken measures to restrain Islam from taking roots in social and political structure of Tajikistan. In this regard, government has implemented some severe measures like closing and even bulldozing of "illegal" mosques, banning women from wearing hijaab (head scarves) and miniskirts in educational institutions, making it compulsory for male students at the Islamic University of Tajikistan to dress in suits and ties and shave their beards, introducing uniforms for teachers and bringing in a Tajik pattern of naming newborn children.

The idea to contain Islamic identity has manifold objectives. First, it would weaken the social and political position of the Islamists, the only substantial political opposition in Tajikistan. Secondly, Islamic revolution will be antagonistic to Iranian religious identity, which might deter Tajik-Iran multi-faceted relations and is likely to bring strong reactions from their Central Asian neighbours and western countries. Finally, encouraging religious identity might push the country into dark ages particularly due to the absence of strong political ideology and dearth in economic opportunities in Tajikistan.

18/02/08

Tajikistanweb's Note: Mansi Mehrotra is a PhD aspirant/student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Darius Rajabian contributed to this article.