This is a lot more than it seems.
According to Muslim belief, men are not allowed to cut off their beards. So why are the police rounding them up, taking them in, and shaving off their beards?
The Tashkent police responded to the criticism in late August, saying that for security reasons some men were asked to shave off the beards so that their faces resembled the photos on their biometric passports.
Since coming to power in 2016, President Shavkat Mirziyoev has taken modest steps to relax restrictions on religious freedom in the predominantly Muslim country of more than 30 million people.
But religion in Uzbekistan remains strictly regulated by authorities.
The government reportedly continues to bar the wearing of the Islamic hijab in schools and offices. A 1998 law prohibits the wearing of religious clothing in public, with the exception of religious figures.
There have also been frequent reports of police singling out men with long beards, a campaign presented by officials as an effort to combat radical Islam in Central Asia's most populous nation with deep Islamic roots and traditions.
Get that last part? To combat “radical Islam.”
As all of Islam is radical, what is the real goal of this president?
Could it be to reduce or even eliminate the power of the Mullahs?
More @ Fresh Anti-Beard Campaign Reported In Uzbekistan
It also makes me wonder if the leadership there isn’t following what they see the Chinese authorities doing in their Xinjiang Region?
