Speech by Maulana Raghib Ahsan on the Condition of Islam and Muslims under Soviet Rule

Sub title : Address delivered by Maulana Raghib Ahsan, Deputy Leader of the Pakistan Ulema Delegation to the U.S.S.R

Subject: Soviet Union | Islam under communism | Muslim persecution | Ulema delegation | Raghib Ahsan

Date of publication: 1957

Language: English

Page: 43 p.

Source: National Archives of Pakistan

Serial no: 28896

Keyword: Raghib Ahsan -- Soviet Union -- Islam -- Muslims -- Ulema Delegation 1957 -- Bukhara -- Samarkand -- Tashkend -- Tajikistan | Mosque destruction -- Madrasah ruins -- Arabic script ban -- Cyrillic script | Cultural genocide -- Atheism -- Communist persecution

Abstract: This document contains the full text of a speech delivered by Maulana Raghib Ahsan, Deputy Leader of the Pakistan Ulema Delegation to the Soviet Union, on 30 August 1957 at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Karachi. He shares his impressions of the Soviet Union, focusing on the condition of Islam and Muslims. He criticises that the delegation’s tour was not free but a conducted tour managed by state authorities, which refused to let them visit Bukhara. He describes the destruction of mosques, madrasahs, and Islamic libraries, the burning of millions of books, the banning of Arabic script in favour of Cyrillic, the absence of religious education, and the mass persecution and exile of ulema, mashahir, and well‑to‑do Muslims.

Description: This speech transcript was delivered by Maulana Raghib Ahsan, Deputy Leader of the Pakistan Ulema Delegation to the Soviet Union, at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Karachi, on 30 August 1957. Ahsan recounts his visit to Central Asian republics (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) and criticises the Soviet government for conducting a controlled tour that avoided showing Bukhara, the historic centre of Islamic culture. He details the destruction of mosques, madrasahs, and Islamic libraries, the burning of millions of books, the conversion of Muslim languages to Cyrillic script, and the absence of religious education. He notes that only a few old mosques have been reopened recently for show, and that the younger generation is taught atheism. SCANNED BY: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF PAKISTAN.

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