Introduction to PostSoviet Central Asia

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Introduction to Post-Soviet Central Asia

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• http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/casplaw.html
• http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/casplaw.html
• http//www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/caspoil.htm
• http//www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/caspoil.htm

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Emergence of New States

• End of Soviet hegemony
• New states, new tensions
• What governmental forms will succeed?
• What role will ethnicity play?
• What role will Islam play?
• What will be the impact of the move from Soviet
  control/structure to new ones on the economies,
  infrastructures and environments of the new
  states?

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Socio-Historical Legacy

• All new CA states share recent colonial past
• National Delimitation shaped new national
  identities based on language and territory
• 1936 Soviet constitution solidified new national
  frameworks when five CA states granted status of
  Union Republics

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• Soviet nationality policies did not eliminate old
  patterns of identity, but added to the complexity
  of defining collective identities in the region
• Homo Sovieticus assimilated by CA populations,
  especially elite

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Unity or Diversity in CA

• Pol. Develop in region shows more diversity than
  uniformity
• The 5 independent states are distinct entities
• Ongoing identities in formation

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Post-Soviet CA/Shaping an Islamic Identity

• Current international boundaries among the five
  CA states are those drawn in the 1920s and 30s
  (and conform to no obvious geographic or ethnic
  divisions)
• Ethnic identities in CA typically correlated with
  religious identity (T, KH, K, U, and TU are
  Muslim European are Orthodox)

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Factors influencing Islamic Identity

• Traditional and indigenous Islam shaped by Hanafi
  teachings
• Sufism
• Folk practices
• Settled vs. nomadic
• Shiism
• Post-independence foreign influences
• Islamist movements

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Hanifi

• The Hanafiyyah school is the first of the four
  orthodox Sunni schools of law. It is
  distinguished from the other schools through its
  placing less reliance on mass oral traditions as
  a source of legal knowledge. It developed the
  exegesis of the Qur'an through a method of
  analogical reasoning known as Qiyas (see Sunni
  Islam). It also established the principle that
  the universal concurrence of the Ummah
  (community) of Islam on a point of law, as
  represented by legal and religious scholars,
  constituted evidence of the will of God. This
  process is called ijma', which means the
  consensus of the scholars. Thus, the school
  definitively established the Qur'an, the
  Traditions of the Prophet, ijma' and qiyas as the
  basis of Islamic law. In addition to these,
  Hanafi accepted local customs as a secondary
  source of the law.

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Sufism

• Sunni culture of CA cannot be understood without
  its Sufi dimension (Roy 2000145)
• Of 4 Sufi tariqas in CA, 3 are indigenous
• Naqshbandiyya most famous
• Pre-Islamic origins of Sufi practices demonstrate
  the incorporation of popular practices into Islam
  in the region

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Popular Islam

• Strand of Islam NOT inconsistent with Islam
  taught in madrasas or practiced by Sufis
• Pilgrimages (ziyarat) to shrines and tombs of
  Sufi masters
• Shrine visitation predates Islam some practices
  have links to Shamanism

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• The Turkmen society remains to this day based
  largely on neighbor and commune relations clan
  and tribal solidarity influence of yashuli
  (elders) worship of holy sites, and belief in
  magic, superstitions, and rituals reminiscent of
  witchcraft. (Safronov 200074)

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Settled vs. Nomadic

• Variations in religiosity among the ethnic groups
• Uzbeks and Tajiks Islamicized 7th 8th
  Centuries other groups as late as the 18th
  Century
• Uzbeks have relatively more religiosity
• Chief Muftis of CA tend to be Uzbeks even outside
  of Uzbekistan

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Islamist Movements in CA today

• Islamic Renaissance Party
• Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
• Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Freedom Party)

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Islamic Renaissance Party(IRP)

• Est. 1990 (before independence) as pan-USSR
  Islamic movement
• Denounced official Islam called for
  establishment of social justice and Islamic
  schools
• Following break-up of USSR, IRP split into
  separate parties in the countries

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IRP

• IRP in Tajikistan received support from Taliban
• Participated in the Tajik civil war
• Recognized as political party in 1997 in
  Tajikistan

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IRP

• IRP demonstrates one model for responding to
  Islamism as well as incorporation of Islamists
  into political process

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Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)

• Established 1990s
• Called for establishment of Islamic state and
  overthrow of Karimov in Uzbekistan
• 1997-2001 IMU based in Afghanistan sold drugs to
  finance operations
• 1999-2001, IMU conducted raids, kidnappings, and
  bombings (?) in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

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IMU

• Leader of IMU charismatic, Juma Namangani
• IMU attracted others to its camps
• 2001, Namangani believed killed in Afghanistan
• Currently not as strong, cells exist

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IMU

• IMU is a model for radical Islam in Central Asia
  it is a group willing to resort to violence to
  promote its cause

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Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Freedom Party)

• Founded in 1953 in Saudi Arabia and Jordan
• Dedicated to the just distribution of
  resources, profits, property, just governance,
  the elimination of corruption and the common
  brotherhood of the entire Muslim world

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Hizb-ut-Tahrir

• No set program to fight corruption of governments
  or to achieve goals of justice and education
• Promotes its cause through distribution of
  literature
• Calls for overthrow of corrupt CA governments
• Does not espouse violence though literature
  violent in tone (anti-Western, anti-Jewish)

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Shiism

• Several Shiite groups in CA
• Largest are Ismailis (Pamir Mtns. of Tajikstan,
  spiritural leader is the Aga Khan)
• Other smaller Shiite groups (Twelver Shiites in
  Turkmenistan
• Shiism of Iran little to no influence in CA

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Outside Influence(s)

• After Soviet period, non-CA countries financed
  major projects in CA
• Saudis promoted Wahhabism built mosques in
  region subsidize Hajj distributed Korans
• Turkey subsidized education
• Iran made some effort to promote Shiism in
  Turkmenistan and Tajikistan

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Religion in Post-Soviet CA

• Islam continues to be state-regulated
• New leaders do profess/identify themselves as
  Muslims (Karimov took the oath of office on the
  Koran and traveled to Mecca)
• Current leaders recognize need to be Muslim

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• Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan most direct control
  of religion Kyrgyzstan more relaxed
• States follow Soviet model of regulation

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Regulation of Religion

• Laws and official/formal institutions
• Promotion of official Islam
• Suppression of dissidents (stepped way up with
  US-led war on terrorism)

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Laws and Institutions

• Each state declares itself as either secular or a
  state that separates religion from the state
• Each state has new constitution which provides
  for protection of human rights
• CA states guarantee freedom of religion and
  conscience

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CA Constitutions

• CA Constitutions
• Prohibit discrimination based on religious belief
• Protect atheism/non-belief
• Prohibit hostility formed on basis of religion
• Prohibit political parties based on religion

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Contd

• Ratified the International Covenant on Civil and
  Political Rights and European Convention for
  Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

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Reality

• No CA state has truly independent judiciary or
  political system
• Roll back of new laws promulgated in the 1980s
  and early 1990s which granted religious freedom

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Reality contd

• Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious
  Associations
• Oversees procedures for registering religious
  groups (Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan require
  registration of all religious groups. Failure to
  register is a criminal act)
• CA states continued Soviet practice of Committee
  on Religious Affairs

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Reality

• In Turkmenistan, religion is completely
  government controlled. State appoints and pays
  the clergy

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Official Islam

• State continues to play role with religion
• Controls many religious schools
• Support an Islam that supports the state
• Sites closed during Soviet period, reopened and
  now venerated (Naqshbandi tomb outside Bukhara)

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Official Islam

• Establishment of official Islamic institutions
  for example, Karimov established the Islamic
  University
• Each CA state has created its own muftiate

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Official Islam

• CA muftiates coordinate religious activities at
  mosque level and supervise education at religious
  schools
• State/muftiate relationship not governed by
  written law but

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Official Islam

• As in Soviet period, have resistance to
  official Islam.
• Have clergy operating outside approved
  institutions
• These clergy subject to imprisonment/arrest

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War on Terrorism in CA

• Religious activity suppressed in the name of war
  on terrorism
• Uzbekistan, member of coalition of the willing
• Non-registered Islamic groups subject to arrest
  treated as enemies of the state

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