KYRGYZSTAN’S LARGEST MOSQUE UNDERGOES RENOVATION
A EurasiaNet Photo Essay by Almaz Ismanov: 1/09/04

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The mosque, called Shakhid-Tela, stands near the regionally famous Osh bazaar. It was originally built in 1908-10. In the years following the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power, the mosque, like many other religious buildings, was used as a stable. During War War II, Soviet authorities again opened the mosque for worship, but little was done over subsequent years about upkeep, and the building fell into a state of disrepair.

Renovation work began during the summer of 2003 and finished on November 28. Deputy Imam Yusuf-khodji Normatov says the mosque can now accommodate about 1,700 believers, including worshipers in the main courtyard, making it the largest in Kyrgyzstan.

Financing for Shakhid-Tela’s reconstruction was provided by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi Arabia-based organization that maintains an office in Bishkek, according to Yakubjan Sabirov, a financial officer at the mosque. Media reports said the Saudi organization donated $93,000 to the project.

Sabirov said WAMY is involved in roughly 20 mosque reconstruction projects in Kyrgyzstan, most of them in southern cities and towns that have a high concentration of ethnic Uzbeks. The Saudi organization’s financing of renovation work has been a source of controversy in some quarters. Media reports, according to Sabirov, have suggested that religious leaders have engaged in questionable practices concerning the reconstruction projects.

Editor’s Note: Almaz Ismanov is the pseudonym for a Kyrgyzstani journalist.

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Posted January 9, 2004 © Eurasianet
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