DUSHANBE, February 17, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- A ceremony of handing over certificates of 15 new mosques registered in Rasht Valley, eastern Tajikistan to their imam-khatibs took place in Dushanbe on February 16.  Besides, copies of Holy Quran in Tajik were handed over to them.

Speaking at the ceremony, the deputy head of the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA), Mavlon Mukhtorov noted that a mosque is a place for worship but not for political games and gossips.

He noted that only an official tariff of 52.00 somoni is paid for registration of a mosque.

According to the statistical data from the Committee on Religious Affairs, 47 new mosques have been registered in Tajikistan since the beginning of the year: 44 mosques for daily prayers; two Friday mosques (larger facilities built for weekly Friday prayers); and one Friday cathedral mosques.  In 2011, 151 new mosques were registered in the country.