Being Muslim in Central Asia. Practices, Politics, and Identities

341 Pages·2018·3.715 MB·English

by  Marlène Laruelle

i
Being Muslim in Central Asia
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004357242_001
ii
Eurasian Studies Library
History, Societies & Cultures in Eurasia
Series Editors
Dittmar Schorkowitz (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology,
Halle/Saale, Germany)
David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye (Brock University,
St. Catherines, Canada)
Board members
Bakhtiyar Babadjanov
Paul Bushkovitch
Peter Finke
Svetlana Gorshenina
Michael Khodarkovsky
Marlène Laruelle
Scott C. Levi
Virginia Martin
Jeff Sahadeo
Willard Sunderland
Nikolay Tsyrempilov
VOLUME 9
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/esl
iii
Being Muslim in Central Asia
Practices, Politics, and Identities
Edited by
Marlene Laruelle
LEIDEN | BOSTON
iv
Cover illustration: Front: Custodian of the Ayshah Bibi shrine near Taraz, Kazakhstan (1999). Photo ©
Marlene Laruelle.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Laruelle, Marlene, editor.
Title: Being Muslim in central Asia : practices, politics, and identities /
edited by Marlene Laruelle.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2018. | Series: Eurasian studies
library, ISSN 1877-9484 ; VOLUME 9 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017043608 (print) | LCCN 2017046851 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004357242 (E-book) | ISBN 9789004306806 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Muslims--Asia, Central. | Islam--Asia, Central.
Classification: LCC BP63.A34 (ebook) | LCC BP63.A34 B45 2018 (print) | DDC
305.6/970958--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017043608
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issn 1877-9484
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isbn 978-90-04-35724-2 (e-book)
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ContentCsontents v
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Marlene Laruelle
Part 1
What Does It Mean to Be a Muslim in Today’s Central Asia?
1 How ‘Muslim’ are Central Asian Muslims? A Historical and
Comparative Enquiry 11
Galina Yemelianova
2 Two Countries, Five Years: Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Through the Lens of Public Opinion Surveys 38
Barbara Junisbai, Azamat Junisbai, and Baurzhan Zhussupov
3 Uzbekness and Islam: A Survey-based Analysis of Identity in
Uzbekistan 62
Yaacov Roʾi and Alon Wainer
Part 2
Islam, Politics, and the State
4 The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan: Episodes of Islamic
Activism, Postconflict, Accommodation, and Political
Marginalization 85
Tim Epkenhans
5 Power, “Original” Islam, and the Reactivation of a Religious Utopia in
Kara-Suu, Kyrgyzstan 110
Aurélie Biard
6 Islamic Finance and the State in Central Asia 130
Alexander Wolters
Contents
Contents v
List of Figures and Tables vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Marlene Laruelle
Part 1
What Does It Mean to Be a Muslim
in Today’s Central Asia?
Chapter 1
How ‘Muslim’ are Central Asian Muslims?
A Historical and Comparative Enquiry 11
Galina Yemelianova
Chapter 2 Junisbai, Junisbai, and Zhussupov
Two Countries, Five Years: Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Through the Lens of Public Opinion Surveys 38 vi Contents
Barbara Junisbai, Azamat Junisbai, and Baurzhan Zhussupov
Chapter 3 Roʾi and Wainer
Uzbekness and Islam: A Survey-based Analysis of Identity in Uzbekistan 62
Yaacov Roʾi and Alon Wainer
PIsalartm 2, Politics, and the State Part 3
Chapter 4
The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan: Episodes of Islamic Activism, Postconflict, Accommodation, and Political Marginalization 85 Islam in Evolving Societies and Identities
Tim Epkenhans
Chapter 5
Power, “Original” Islam, and the Reactivation of a Religious Utopia in Kara-Suu, Kyrgyzstan 110
Aurélie Biard
Chapter 6
Islamic Finance and the State in Central Asia 130 7 Visual Culture and Islam in Kazakhstan: The Case of Asyl Arna’s Social
Alexander Wolters
PIsalartm 3 in Evolving Societies and Identities Media 157
Chapter 7
Visual Culture and Islam in Kazakhstan: The Case of Asyl Arna’s Social Media 157 Wendell Schwab
Wendell Schwab
Chapter 8
Playing Cosmopolitan: Muslim Self-fashioning, Migration, and (Be-)Longing in the Tajik Dubai Business Sector 187
Manja Stephan-Emmrich
Chapter 9
Informal Economies in the Post-Soviet Space: 8 Playing Cosmopolitan: Muslim Self-fashioning, Migration, and (Be-)
Post-Soviet Islam and Its Role in Ordering Entrepreneurship in Central Asia 208
Rano Turaeva Longing in the Tajik Dubai Business Sector 187
Part 4
Female Attire as a Public Debate
Chapter 10 Nasritdinov and Esenamanova Manja Stephan-Emmrich
The War of Billboards: Hijab, Secularism, and Public Space in Bishkek 233
Emil Nasritdinov and Nurgul Esenamanova
Chapter 11
Hijab in a Changing Tajik Society 258
SChhaahpnteorz 1a2 Nozimova 9 Informal Economies in the Post-Soviet Space: Post-Soviet Islam and
Switching to Satr: An Ethnography of the Particular in Women’s Choices in Head Coverings in Tajikistan 280
Marintha Miles Its Role in Ordering Entrepreneurship in Central Asia 208
Bibliography 301
Index 325
Rano Turaeva
Part 4
Female Attire as a Public Debate
10 The War of Billboards: Hijab, Secularism, and Public Space in
Bishkek 233
Emil Nasritdinov and Nurgul Esenamanova
11 Hijab in a Changing Tajik Society 258
Shahnoza Nozimova
12 Switching to Satr: An Ethnography of the Particular in Women’s
Choices in Head Coverings in Tajikistan 280
Marintha Miles
Bibliography 301
Index 325
List of FLiigsut roefs Faingdu Traebsl easnd Tables vii
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
3.1 Do you consider yourself to be a believer? 69
3.2 What do you consider yourself in the first place? 69
3.3 How often do you attend mosque? 70
3.4 Do you observe the Uraza fast? 70
3.5 Do you feel islamic tuition should be allowed in schools?  73
3.6 If you had the means to help people living in a war zone, whom would you
prefer to help?  76
3.7 If you had the means to help people in need, whom would you help first of
all? 76
3.8 Do you think islam is stricter and more demanding than other
religions?  78
7.1 The text reads: “Daily prayers are made up of only four movements.
1. standing straight; 2. bending; 3. touching the head to the floor; and
4. kneeling. These four actions—that a four-year-old could do—are difficult
only if you don’t have motivation. M. Tazabek” 163
7.2 The text reads: “Friday’s Etiquette. Whoever… 1. performs the major ablu-
tions, 2. goes to Friday prayers, 3. recites the salutation during prayers,
4. listens to the sermon until the end, and 5. prays with the imam, will have
his minor sins committed between two Friday forgiven” 164
7.3 Yerzhan Mayamerov, the head mufti of Kazakhstan 166
7.4 Mukhammedzhan Tazabek, founder of Asyl Arna 168
7.5 Just a washing machine cleans a shirt, reading or reciting the Qurʾan cleans
the heart or soul 170
7.6 “The Qurʾan is my soul’s nourishment” 172
7.7 Magical fairy dust emanates from a Qurʾan 174
7.8 The text reads: “If you are searching for a path to God…” 175
7.9 True happiness is a person who makes the best of what God has
provided 178
7.10 “Peace is more precious than money, brother!” 179
7.11 “How can one (morally) save and earn money?” 180
7.12 “Living a blessed life—it is not merely happy moments. It is loving, trusting,
protecting, and respecting one another for God” 181
7.13 “There is not a rule for women that says ‘do not work, do not make money’
But, we would not lose anything if we taught our daughters, before anything
else, ‘you are the mother of the future’” 182
viii List Of Figures And Tables
7.14 “A Director’s Regre” 183
7.15 Asyl Arna’s new logo 186
8.1 Famous Tajik pop singer Farzona  188
8.2 Tradeswomen dressed up in fashionable „Dubai style“ clothing 188
8.3 On Dubai Deira’s vibrant Al-Nasser Square: Muslims performing the Friday
prayer nearby the Red Mosque 196
10.1 Banner on Sovetskaya Street in Bishkek critical of Islamic style clothing for
women 234
10.2 Online poll: Do we need banners, “Kairan elim”? “Bannery ‘Kairan elim,
kaida baratabyz?’ razmeshchaiut po vsemu Kyrgyzstanu” 234
10.3 Banners installed in the central parts of Bishkek critical of Western style
clothing for women 235
10.4 Members of Mutakalim and sympathizers rally in front of the Ministry of
Education against the ban of hijab in schools 242
10.5 Islamic Fashion Week in Bishkek. “V Bishkeke vpervye proshel pokaz
musulʾmanskoi mody” 244
10.6 Activist Muslim women’s bike ride in Bishkek 245
10.7 New banner on Sovetskaya Street with the Kyrgyzstan Olympic team 256
11.1 Female labor force and participation rate in Tajikistan, 1990–2014 278
Tables
2.1 Trends in religiosity by country, 2007 and 2012 46
2.2 Explanatory factors/independent variables included in regression
models 50
2.3 Determinants of weekly religious services by country, 2007 and 2012 52
2.4 Determinants of daily prayer by country, 2007 and 2012 52
2.5 Determinants of support for Shari’a law by country, 2007 and 2012 57
10.1 Age distribution of survey respondents 250
10.2 How respondents explain the social pressure and discrimination against
them 251
10.2 How respondents explain the social pressure and discrimination against
them 251
Notes oNno Ctoenst orinb uCtoonrtsributors ix
Notes on Contributors
The Editor
Marlene Laruelle
is an Associate Director and Research Professor at the Institute for European,
Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), Elliott School of International Affairs,
The George Washington University.  Dr. Laruelle is also a Co-Director of
PONARS (Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia),
Director of the Central Asia Program at IERES and a researcher at EUCAM
(Europe-Central Asia Monitoring), Brussels.  Dr. Laruelle received her Ph.D. in
history at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO)
and her post-doctoral degree in political science at Sciences-Po in Paris.
The Contributors
Aurélie Biard
is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Labex TEPSIS at the School for Advanced
Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris and an associated researcher at
the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan, and Central Asian Studies (CETOBaC,
CNRS). Her research examines the impacts of present-day reconversion to
Islam among post-Soviet youths, on community re-building and social integra-
tion. As part of the CERIA Initiative she is in charge of the research axis
“‘Bourgeois’ Islam, Prosperity Theology and Ethics in Muslim Eurasia.” Her
main publications include “The Religious Factor in the Reifications of ‘Neo-
ethnic’ Identities in Kyrgyzstan,” in Nationalities Papers and “Islam, Ethno-
Nationalism, and Transnational Faith Community in Kyrgyzstan,” in Religions,
Nations, and Transnationalism in Multiple Modernities.
Tim Epkenhans
is professor for Islamic Studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany). Tim
studied Islamic Studies and History at the Universities of Münster, Cairo,
Tehran and Bamberg, where he completed his PhD on early Iranian Modernism
in 2002. Between 2002 and 2009, he worked for the German Ministry of Foreign
Affairs at the Embassy in Dushanbe and as the director of the OSCE Academy
in Bishkek. Tim’s research is currently focused on late Soviet and post-Soviet
Central Asia, especially the relationship between state, society and religion
(Islam). Among his recent publications are The Origins of the Civil War in Taji-
kistan: Nationalism, Islamism, and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Space (Lexing -
ton, 2016).
x Notes On Contributors
Nurgul Esenamanova
Acting Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Social and Humani-
tarian Sciences, Kyrgyz Law Academy. Nurgul has extensive research experience
in the sphere of religion, religious policy and various Islamic groups in
Kyrgyzstan. Her latest research is on people imprisoned on the extremism
charges.
Azamat Junisbai
is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College. A native of Kazakhstan,
he got his Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University in 2009. His interests
include social stratification, welfare state attitudes, and public opinion about
political modernization in post-communist societies. Dr. Junisbai’s research
has received generous support from a wide range of sources, including the
National Science Foundation (NSF), Social Science Research Council (SSRC),
and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER).
His work appeared in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Social
Forces, Poetics, Europe-Asia Studies, Central Asian Affairs, and Demokratizatsiya:
The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. 
Barbara Junisbai
is assistant professor of Organizational Studies at Pitzer College, a member of
The Claremont Consortium, in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Prior to her appointment, Barbara served as Pitzer’s Assistant Dean of Faculty
and then as assistant professor of Political Science and International Relations
at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan. She holds a Ph.D. from
In diana University. Her work on post-Soviet politics and society has appeared
in Perspectives on Politics, Europe-Asia Studies, and Central Asian Affairs, among
others.
Marintha Miles
is currently a PhD student in Cultural Studies at George Mason University. Her
research explores the political intersections between migration, transnational-
ism, economics, gender, and religion in Tajikistan. She has periodically lived in
Tajikistan, and worked and researched in the country since 2011. She previously
received a MA in Anthropology at The George Washington University, and a BA
in International Studies from California State University.
Emil Nasritdinov
is an Associate Professor in the Anthropology Department of American Uni-
versity of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He has first-hand research
expe rience in Kyrgyzstan and in the broader Central Asian region and Russia