SUMMARY:

Addressing the factor of post-Soviet Islam in Central Asia, Adeeb Khalid argues that for decades Islam was envisioned as an archetypical opposition to communism, while the study of Central Asian societies was the prerogative of nationalities studies as a subdiscipline of Sovietology. Despite the emergence of several profound studies of Islamic societies in the (former) USSR, the view that automatically ascribes political meaning to Islam still predominates, now turning it from a victim of Communism into a major threat to regional security.
Arguing against a view of Islam as a rigid system independent of local context, Khalid maintains that responsible research into Islamic societies of Central Asia must take into account Soviet history: as the USSR fell apart, the re-Islamization of the region proceeded along with the persistence of ethno-national identities in a way specific to the early 21st century.
According to Khalid, during the Soviet period Islam and tradition were attacked, Islam was provincialized, and Soviet Muslims were cut off from the rest of the Muslim world. At the same time, the transmission of religious knowledge was limited. Nevertheless, the authorities established the Central Asian Spiritual Administration for Muslims (SADUM), quite in disregard of Islamic tradition, in 1943. SADUM did help train a small number of theologians and maintain a minimal presence of Islam in Central Asia, while the Soviet-promoted national intelligentsia focused on developing and sustaining ethno-national identities.
Soviet authority did not mean the annihilation of local communities, which often assumed a Soviet form as collective farms or other institutions. It was through these communities that Islam was often transmitted. Sufism became widespread for it was well suited for informal existence. As a result, Islam became a marker of local and national identity, without requiring a Muslim to subscribe to religious rules and regulations.
Khalid stresses that this situation was widespread among premodern societies. In Central Asia, the Jadid movement attempted to reform and reinvigorate Islam in the 19th century. Yet, the Soviet “localization” of Islam was not just a return to the pre-Jadid situation: during the Soviet period Islam became part of the cultural heritage of the nation.
Adeeb Khalid sees the Soviet experience of intervening in Islamic life and tradition as part of a broader context (although the Soviet case was unique in its longevity and fortitude). The author notes that discussions of post-Soviet Islam in Central Asia are conducted in the context of a “return” to original national culture, of which Islam is a part. Discussions of Islam demonstrate that references made to it are possible only in the context of some other topics (progress, education, culture, etc). The disintegration of the Soviet Union saw the persistence of party nomenklatura riding the national rhetoric. Khalid briefly surveys the role played by Islam in contemporary Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, describes these regimes’ struggle against various Islamic movements, and concludes that ethno-national identities in contemporary Central Asia appropriated Islam as their own.