Islam in Kazakhstan

The Islam in Kazakhstan is the most widespread religion in the country; According to statistics, in 2009 70.2% of the population was Muslim. Ethnic Kazakhs are predominantly Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school , there are also a small number of Shiites and a few Ahmani Muslims. Geographically, Kazakhstan is the northernmost country in the world with a majority Muslim population. Other ethnic groups with a Muslim background in Kazakhstan are the Uzbeks , Uighurs and Tatars .

history

Mosque in Semey

The Maschhür Schüssip Mosque , Pavlodar

Islam reached Kazakhstan with the Islamic expansion to Central Asia in the 8th century. It first established itself in the southern parts of Turkestan and then gradually spread to the north. Thanks to the enthusiastic missionary work of the Samanid rulers, Islam took root in the areas around Taraz , where a significant number of Kazakhs adopted Islam. In addition, at the end of the 14th century, the Golden Horde propagated Islam among the Kazakhs and other Central Asian tribes.

During the 18th century, Russian influence in this region increased significantly. Led by Catherine II , the Russians initially showed their willingness to tolerate Islam when Muslim clergymen were invited to preach to the Kazakhs, who were viewed by the Russians as "wild" and "ignorant" of morality and ethics.

The Russian colonial policy gradually changed by the introduction of pre-Islamic elements of the collective consciousness towards the weakening of Islam. This included the propagation of pre-Islamic historical personalities and the stirring up of feelings of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to high-ranking Russian elite military institutions.

In return, Kazakh religious leaders sought to generate religious fervor by advocating Pan- Turkism, which resulted in numerous followers being persecuted.

During the Soviet era , Muslim institutions survived in areas where the Kazakhs outnumbered non-Muslims significantly. In trying to adapt the Kazakhs to communist ideology , gender relations and other aspects of Kazakh culture have been the main targets of social change.

More recently, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kazakhs have gradually made certain efforts to revitalize Islamic religious institutions. Although they are not strict fundamentalists , the Kazakhs continue to identify with their Islamic faith, and even more devotedly in the rural areas. Those who claim to be descended from the original Muslim fighters and missionaries of the 8th century command considerable respect in their communities. Kazakh political figures also emphasized the need to support Islamic consciousness. For example, the former Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Täschin recently emphasized that Kazakhstan attaches importance to the application of a “positive potential Islam, learning from its history, culture and heritage”.

Soviet authorities sought to promote a controlled form of Islam under the spiritual guidance of the Muslims in Central Asia and Kazakhstan as the unifying force in Central Asian societies, while at the same time banning true religious freedom. Religious activity has increased considerably since independence. The construction of mosques and religious schools was promoted in the 1990s with financial support from Turkey , Egypt and primarily Saudi Arabia . In 1991, 170 mosques were in operation and more than half of them were newly built. At that time there were 230 Muslim communities active in Kazakhstan.

Islam and the state

Central Mosque , Almaty

In 1990, the then First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, laid a foundation for Islam by leaving Kazakhstan from the Muslim Board of Central Asia, the Soviet-approved and politically oriented religious administration for all of Central Asia. Instead, Nazarbayev established a separate muftiate , that is, a religious authority, for Kazakh Muslims .

With the nearby Islamic governments in Iran and Afghanistan in mind , the authors of the 1993 constitution specifically banned religious political parties. The 1995 Constitution forbids organizations attempting to instill racial, political, or religious discord and places foreign religious organizations under strict state control. Like its predecessor, the 1995 constitution stipulates that Kazakhstan is a secular state ; This makes Kazakhstan the only state in Central Asia whose constitution does not assign Islam a special status. However, Kazakhstan joined the Organization for Islamic Cooperation in the same year . This attitude was based on the Nazarbayev government's foreign policy as well as domestic considerations.

literature

• Emmanuel Karagiannis: The Rise of Political Islam in Kazakhstan: Hizb Ut-Tahrir Al Islami . In: Nationalism and Ethnic Politics . 13, No. 2, April 2007, pp. 297-322. doi : 10.1080 / 13537110701293567 .

• Azade-Ayse Rorlich: Islam, Identity and Politics: Kazakhstan, 1990–2000 . In: Nationalities Papers . 31, No. 2, June 2003, pp. 157-176. doi : 10.1080 / 00905990307127 .

• Wendell Schwab: Establishing an Islamic niche in Kazakhstan: Musylman Publishing House and its publications . In: Central Asian Survey . 30, No. 2, June 2011, pp. 227-242. doi : 10.1080 / 02634937.2011.565229 .

• Wendell Schwab: Traditions and texts: how two young women learned to interpret the Qur'an and hadiths in Kazakhstan . In: Contemporary Islam . 2011. doi : 10.1007 / s11562-011-0177-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Итоги национальной переписи населения 2009 года . Statistical Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 15, 2010. 
2. ↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2006 ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. American Embassy in Astana.  
3. ↑ KAZAKHSTAN: Ahmadi Muslim mosque closed, Protestants fined 100 times minimum monthly wage . Forum 18. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
4. ↑ Kazakhstan - International Religious Freedom Report 2009 US Department of State, accessed on September 7, 2009.
5. ↑ Touraj Atabaki: Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora , p. 24
6. ↑ Ibn Athir, Volume 8, p. 396
7. ↑ Michael Khodarkovsky: Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500–1800 , p. 39.
8. ^ Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember: Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures , p. 572
9. ↑ Shireen Hunter: Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security , p. 14
10. ^ Caesar E. Farah: Islam: Beliefs and Observances , p. 304
11. ^ Caesar E Farah: Islam: Beliefs and Observances , p. 340
12. ↑ Kogan Page: Asia and Pacific Review 2003/04 , p. 99
13. ↑ Touraj Atabaki: Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora .
14. ↑ inform.kz | 154837 ( Memento of the original from October 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ Kazakhstan, Islam in in Oxford Islamic Studies Online
16. ↑ ^{a b} Country Study - Kazakhstan . Library of Congress