Want to make hajj? Tajikistan imposes age restriction

“Tajikistan has banned the hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, for citizens younger than 35.

“Many in the Central Asian nation believe the ban is an attempt to prevent young Tajiks from developing radical ideas and joining extremist groups such as ISIL.”

http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/157855/tajikistan-bans-hajj-pilgrimage-for-young-muslims

In secularization moves, “Tajikistan has banned headscarves for schoolgirls, barred minors from mosques, and forced thousands of students to return home from Islamic schools abroad in recent months amid reports that many Tajiks have joined fighters in Iraq and Syria.”

(Saudi Arabia cut Tajikistan’s quota of hajj visas from 8,000 to 6,300, which might indicate the Saudis are worried, too.)