Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Over 150 followers of the Naqshbandi tariqa (spiritual order) of Sufism, including more than 10 prominent ulama (scholars) from all over the world, will take part in the Naqshbandi Tourism Festival in Uzbekistan on Nov. 7-12, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan said in a message on Nov. 6.
Guests will arrive from Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, the UK, New Zealand, China, India, Australia, the US, South Africa, etc.
The festival will be organized by the Malaysian World Sufi Center with the assistance of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Malaysia.
The main purpose of the festival, unprecedented in form and scale, is to pay tribute to the great Uzbek thinkers in the development of Islam and world civilization, as well as to organize visits to holy places, getting to know religious rites and other pilgrimage sites in Uzbekistan.
The World Sufi Center prepared brochures and a promotional video of the event, and together with an Uzbek travel company developed travel packages that are sold in the tourism markets of Malaysia and other countries.
Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Aziz Abdukhakimov earlier said that in January-September 2018, Uzbekistan was visited by 3.9 million tourists, which is twice more compared to the same period last year (1.9 million).
At the same time, he noted that these results could and should be better.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov