DUSHANBE, October 4, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Adashkhon Inoyatzoda, a muezzin (the chosen person at a mosque who leads and recites the call to prayer (adhan) for every event of prayer and worship in the mosque) at the Mosque named after Hoji Yaqub in Dushanbe, has been fined 280.00 somoni for non-observance of the law on holding parents responsible for their children’s action and education.

Adashkhon Inoyatzoda has been muezzin at Dushanbe’s central mosque for more than twenty-five years.

“I was fined for violating the parental-responsibilities law in accordance with Article 474 of the Administrative Code – violation of the law on religious associations,” Inoyatzoda told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, the law enforcement officers came on the last day of the holy month of Ramadan said that more then 30 underage children were at the mosque when he was reciting adhan.

Adhan is called out by the muezzin in the mosque five times a day, summoning Muslims for mandatory (fard) prayers (salah).  A second call known as igama (set up) then summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers.  In modern times, loudspeakers have been installed on minarets for this purpose.

We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon signed the law on holding parents responsible for their children’s action and education on August 2, 2011.

Many believers in the country are critical of the legislation, which bans children under the age of 18 from attending prayers in mosques.

A prominent Tajik religious figure Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda also criticized the legislation, under which parents whose underage children are caught attending prayers would be held legally responsible for allowing them to do so.