Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

Mosque leaders have been accused of secretly moving a large phallic monument that had been on the site of an ancient necropolis for centuries because they disapproved of it.

The huge stone phallus was located on the remains of an ancient burial ground in the village of Mangistau in Munaily District in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau Region.

It was first found some years ago by the President of the Federation of Healers and Psychokinetics of Kazakhstan, Dauir Shakirzhan, who said the ancient symbol was used by their ancestors in hopes of improving fertility.

He said: “This would have been a very sacred stone used by our ancestors for ceremonies and rituals to do with fertility. Lamb fat or vegetable oil was poured into the stone, and there we prayed for the birth of more children.”

However, when he returned later to do more research on the stone, which was located near the Shopan-Ata mosque, he said it had been removed and in its place was a different object where funds could be donated for the local mosque.

He said that it had been done without notification and illegally by people from the mosque, adding: “This is how Islamists replace culture, and our cultural values are becoming a thing of the past.”

Some agreed with him, lamenting the fact that Kazakhs were forgetting their traditional routes as they rush to embrace Arabic culture and Islam, while others said the removal of the statue had nothing to do with Islam or its values.

There is currently no information about the whereabouts of the phallus.

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