Ytterligare julrestriktioner i Tadzjikistan

Islam, the predominant religion throughout Central Asia, was brought to the region by the Arabs in the 7th century. Since that time, Islam has become an integral part of Tajik culture. The Hanafi school of Sunni Islam has been the official religion in Tajikistan since 2009. This fact makes Tajikistan the only former Soviet state with an official religion. While the Soviet Union made largely unsuccessful efforts to secularize the society, the post-Soviet era has seen a marked increase in religious practice in the country. The majority of Tajikistan's Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam, and a smaller group belongs to the Shia branch of Islam. The Russian Orthodox faith is the most widely practiced of other religions, although the Russian community shrank significantly in the early 1990s. Some other small Christian groups now enjoy relative freedom of worship. Tajikistan also has a small Jewish community.