It requires the review all religious literature and the mandatory annual registration of all foreign missionaries, who can be expelled if deemed to pose a threat to the "constitutional order and public peace".
The new law will have to be signed into law by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Kazakhstan's veteran leader proposed tough new laws to his compliant legislature a month ago.
The new law, which has stirred debate in officially secular Kazakhstan, stresses "the historic role of the Hanafi school of Islam and of the Christian Orthodox faith in the cultural and spiritual development of the Kazakh nation".
Islam is the dominant religion in Kazakhstan, which has a large Christian minority, belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the CIA Fact Book, Muslims make up 47 percent of the population, Russian Orthodox 44 percent, Protestant 2 percent and others 7 percent.
Ethnic Kazakhs are historically Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school.
Islam was brought to the Kazakhs during the 8th century when the Arabs arrived into Central Asia.
Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of Turkestan and thereafter gradually spread northward.
Criticism
The new law has drawn criticism from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Europe's main rights and security watchdog.
"The new law appears to unnecessarily restrict the freedom of religion or belief," said Janez Lenarcic, the OSCE's human rights chief.
Kazakhstan is one of the OSCE's 56 member states.
US-based watchdog Freedom House had called for Kazakhstan's senate to reject the new law, describing it as "repressive".
"These provisions are very troubling, as they grossly curb Kazakhstani citizens' right to freely practice and express their faith," Susan Corke, Freedom House's senior program manager for Eurasia, said in a statement issued on Sept. 22.
A day earlier, Kazakhstan's lower house of parliament had voted in favor of the bill.
"This latest piece of legislation signals the continuing deterioration in the country's human rights and religious freedom situation," Corke said.
Kairat Lama Sharif, head of the government's Religions Agency, said many other countries had also taken steps to curb the spread of extremist ideology.
Asked to respond to the Freedom House statement, he said: "Many Western countries are making their own laws. Three states have already introduced laws to ban the hijab in their countries."Several European countries have enacted laws banning the wearing of headscarf and face-veils.
Source: OnIslam.net
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