The number of girls and women wearing hijabs on the streets of Uzbekistan’s cities and districts has noticeably increased. However, public schools in the country still forbid wearing them, allowing them to be replaced by skullcaps and light-colored scarves tied backwards.
Odina Yuldasheva, 25, says that while working at a beauty salon as a wedding makeup artist, she was inspired by the ideas of girls who beautifully combined their clothes with the scarf and thought of wedding images with the hijab, and covered herself.
«I liked it all so much that one day when I came home, I told my mom I wanted to wear the hijab. I covered myself and changed my closet completely. Now I’m fine with everything. I can’t say my life has changed dramatically, but it’s definitely better. And, of course, in addition to clothes, I am religiously and spiritually learning», – she told CABAR.asia.
Today, women in Muslim garb walk freely both in small villages and in the major cities of Uzbekistan.
Moreover, it seems that religious clothing has become a fashion trend for young girls. In almost every store in Uzbekistan you can now find a stand with clothes for covered women.
Covered women bloggers demonstrate happy family life and also show various images for girls in hijab on social media.
Step by step
The attitude towards religion and its attributes in the country as a whole has significantly softened after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in 2016. The country, more than 90% of whose population is Muslim, has seen some relaxation in the wearing of religious attributes and observance of religious rites.
Gradually, mosques were allowed to recite azan (the call to prayer in Islam), and underage boys were allowed to perform collective namaz. In 2018, authorities increased the quota of pilgrims wishing to perform the hajj and reduced the cost.
In the summer of 2021, the Uzbek authorities legislated these relaxations by adopting a new version of the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations. It lifts the ban on hijabs and other religious clothing in public places. Registration of religious organizations was simplified, and now only courts can suspend their activities.
Now the family of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has become the main example for Uzbeks to follow Islamic norms. Close relatives, including his daughters, Shakhnoza and Saida Mirziyoyev, as well as those close to the president openly demonstrate their involvement in Islam in social networks.
Meanwhile, until 2016, Islamic attributes were fiercely fought in Uzbekistan for fear of spreading radical views. For wearing the hijab in public places, women were taken to the prevention station for an instructive conversation. Men there also had their beards forcibly shaved off. But it seems that the policy regarding the wearing of beards on religious grounds in the country has remained unchanged for the time being.
Although the ban on the wearing of the hijab in public places has now been officially lifted, in public institutions this point is regulated by internal regulations and acts.
Some government organizations and even universities are already more tolerant of the subject of wearing hijabs. You can see women wearing hijabs in the Tashkent metro. The employees of music schools and some universities, including the Uzbek State University of World Languages, where women in hijabs can be found among the teachers, have become tolerant.
«By way of exception»
The situation in regular schools is different. According to the internal rules and regulations of general education schools approved by the Minister of Public Education, it is forbidden to wear the hijab to school.
The Ministry of Public Education has repeatedly stated that Uzbekistan is a secular state, where religion is separated from the state, and hijabs are prohibited in schools.
This ban has repeatedly outraged the public. This can be seen in the Uzbek segment of social networks, where discussions on the subject of the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in schools often unfold.
Users have called on the authorities to allow the wearing of hijabs so that religious girls can also receive an education. At the same time, there were reports that teachers were instructed to talk to covered girls to remove their hijabs before entering school.
In September 2021, former Minister of Education Sherzod Shermatov stated that due to frequent appeals from parents about the ban on the hijab in school, as an exception, the Ministry of Education allows girls to wear light-colored scarves, provided they are tied at the back.
Today, the topic of wearing a Muslim headscarf in schools is regulated by the administration of each institution independently.
And among the parents of schoolchildren there are still those who are dissatisfied with the covered schoolgirls, and those who are for wearing them and want to give their child a religious education. Both cite their own arguments.
«We live in a secular state. Everyone should be equal in schools. And then we will start, ‘This girl is right, she wears the hijab, and this girl is wrong, she does not wear it. As a rule, it’s the parents’ – often fathers’ – desire», – said Mastura Gafurova, a Tashkent resident.
A religious studies teacher at a school in Tashkent who did not want to advertise it, said the trend of wearing religious clothing has become a fashion trend among the young population, and interest in religion in the country has grown.
«For young people it has become a way of self-expression and an opportunity to express themselves. If you’re religious, you’re a ‘right’ person with the right views on life. A neutral attitude toward religion in such circles of society became frowned upon. Girls are increasingly putting on the hijab at the request of their husbands or grooms», – she said.
A certain part of the population takes all prohibitions literally and forms additional dogmas based on them, often referring to incompetent domlahs (ecclesiastical person in Uzbekistan – editor’s note). This is especially true for women’s rights, she believes.