It is 5:00 AM on the morning of Eid ul-Fitr, and Amidkhon Kurbonov, a driver from a hostel in Dushanbe has just awakened. In an hour he will join his neighbors for morning prayers, while his wife, Saboat sets up dastarkhan – a traditional spread for meals in Central Asia – in the small room where the couple has lived with their two children for the past 16 years.
Saboat has spent hours – and most of the monthly family budget – baking sweets. Eid is a very special time of the year. Friends gather, green tea is poured and hours are spent in lively conversation. Everything has to be perfect.
Meanwhile, Gulahfzo Keldieva prepares her three children for Eid. Gulahfzo, a primary school teacher and single mother, grew up in Khorog and moved to Dushanbe 13 years ago to be closer to her husband's family and to teach children at the local primary school. Every year in the Giprozem Hostel where she and her family live, the residents gather to recite a special namaaz and enjoy a meal together.
The Kurbonov and Keldieva families celebrate Eid this way annually, but this year is special. For the very first time, the Ismaili Centre, Dushanbe is to host a Jamati celebration, and there is a strong sense of enthusiasm.
At the Centre, some 60 volunteers are preparing for the Eid celebration. They have cleaned the venue, set up tables for food and even prepared gifts for the guests.
Amidkhon and Gulahfzo are among the more than 400 members of the Jamat who step through the tall doors leading to the Ismaili Centre's main corridor. The volunteers dressed in full uniforms line the halls and welcome them with smiles – many are visiting the Centre for the first time.
“The sense of purity has covered me from all around,” says Murodmamad Sulaimonov, a senior resident of the Guliston Hostel in Dushanbe. Like many others, he is entranced by the architecture of the Ismaili Centre. “It is not just the physical purity and beauty of the premises – I feel that the purity has touched my soul.”
The guests take their seats in the social hall in anticipation of the afternoon's celebration. The event begins with a welcome address by Jamati and AKDN leaders, followed by a screening of the film of Mawlana Hazar Imam's 2008 Golden Jubilee visit to Tajikistan. It is apparent that the video is rekindling sentimental memories for many in the audience.
“We could not travel for the Khorog Darbar,” recalls Gulahfzo, “so we did our best to see Hazar Imam in Dushanbe. Knowing he would visit the Ismaili Centre, we came in advance to wait for him across the street, and in a few hours he came with his family and waved to all of us. This was truly unbelievable.”
“Today, three years later, I have entered the Ismaili Center myself and just can't stop my tears,” she says.
The celebrations close with a song: Assalom Mohe Ramazon, Eidat Muborak (Greetings for Ramadan and Happy Eid). The beats of a traditional Pamiri Daf and a special Pamiri dance bring the Jamat to heartfelt applause.
As guests begin to leave the Ismaili Centre, Zuhra, a volunteer, reflects on the event: “Looking at all the cheerful faces makes us feel so proud of what we do here.” Together with her twin sister Fatima, the university student has helped to clean the Centre every weekend for the past year. “While we feel our dedication and pride at every event, today we just feel the difference,” she says.
