SUMMARY:

Sergei Abashin begins his article by revisiting Ernest Gellner’s view of Islam’s adaptation to modernity through the internal resource (“puritan” Islam). Abashin argues that Gellner’s theory presupposes that Islam will either be replaced by nationalism or will be an alternative to nationalism as the major cultural code of modernity. Correspondingly, one can assume that nationalism is not universal and that Islamic societies will not necessarily turn to nationalism.
Abashin then focuses on the role of saints (descendants of the Prophet) in Islamic societies, who were crucial as arbiters and possessors of authority. Abashin notes that Gellner’s thesis about the gradual disappearance of saints is true of some Islamic regions of the former Russian empire / USSR (Volga region, the Caucasus), while in other regions (Central Asia) the saints (Khodzha) continue to exist and are even incorporated into new social and political structures. Abashin distinguishes between two types of saints in Central Asia: the “village saints,” who continue to operate in local communities, and “the city” saints, who converted their traditional status and incorporated it into the new national identity. Comparing the city saints to the village saints, Abashin notes that the latter focus on their social position within the local community, rather than on national characteristics or identity, and attempt to convert their symbolic and religious status into some form of privilege or authority. The city saints, on the other hand, have always been prominent among the Soviet elite of Central Asia and often opted for marital alliances with the new Soviet Uzbek elite, while representing themselves as carriers of the national tradition. In doing so, the city saints often provided additional legitimacy to the new Soviet elite.
Abashin concludes with the hypothesis that the current state of Central Asian societies prevents the development of nationalism (with different groups in society suspicious of the elite’s nationalism as a cover up for clan interests). Correspondingly, in diversified and hierarchical societies the saints play a variety of roles and have a variety of statuses, from the traditional Islamic to nationalist.