DUSHANBE, July 2, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Tajik imam-khatibs have been obliged to have uniform dress for the upcoming meeting with President Emomali Rahmon.

The uniform dress for imam-khatibs (leader of congregational prayer in mosque) and sarkhatibs (incumbent of the mosque) will be sewn at the Yoqout-2000 clothing factory in Dushanbe.

“The Islamic Center of Tajikistan has initiated the idea of uniform dress for imam-khatibs and sarkhatibs,” Mavlon Mukhtorov, the deputy head of the Committee on religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Islamic Center have refrained from commenting on this issue.

One of sarkhatibs said that uniforms cost 435 somoni per sarkhatib and 320 somoni per imam-khatib.

A meeting of President Emomali Rahmon with clerics is scheduled for July 4.  Imam-khatibs, members of the Shuroi Ulemo (A council that issues fatwas and religious guidance to Islamic religious organizations), senior representatives from the Committee on Religious Affairs as well as teachers and students from the Tajik Islamic Institute are expected to attend the meeting.

We will recall that Tajikistan''s Committee for Religious Affairs designed a new Hajj uniform in October 2011 and distributed it to the country’s 5,500 prospective pilgrims.

Men now don two-piece suits, while women wear long-sleeved dresses complete with head scarves, committee officials told local media.  The Tajik hajj uniform is embroidered with the country''s symbols.