Muslims in Central Asia: Expressions of Identity and Change 0822311909, 9780822311904

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CENTRAL ASIA ypressions of Identity

and Change Edited by Jo- Ann Gross

Duke

University Press

I

Durham and London

1992

©

199-2

Duke

University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper

ac

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

appear on the last printed page of this book.

To my parents, Philip W.

and Ruth Gross,

with love and gratitude

Contents

Illustrations

ix

Central Asia Book Series Preface

xi

xiii

Introduction:

Approaches

to the

Jo-Ann Gross

Problem of Identity Formation

1

I

The Sh aping andR esh aping of I den ti ty

1

The Development and Meaning of Chaghatay Identity Beatrice Forbes

2

Religious, National,

Muriel Atkin 3

Manz

27

and Other Identities in Central Asia

46

Ethnic Identity and Political Expression in Northern

Afghanistan

Olivier

Roy

73

II

Islam as a Source of Identity

4

The Hui,

Islam, and the State:

in China's

Northwest Corner

A Sufi Community Dru

C.

Gladney

89

5

Shaykh Zaynullah Rasulev: The Last Great Naqshbandi Hamid Algar 112 Shaykh of the Volga-Urals Region

6

Islam in a Changing Society: The Khojas of Eastern

Turkistan

Isenbike Togan

134

viii

Contents

III

Discourse as a Cultural Expression of Identity

7

Beyond Renewal: The fadid Response to Pressure for Edward /. Lazzehni Change in the Modern Age 151

8

Interpreting the Poetry of

Walter Feldm an 9

167

Abdullah Qadiriy and the Bolsheviks: From Reform to Revolution

Glossary

Christopher Murphy

203

Postscript

205

General Bibliography Contributors

Index

Makhtumquli

221

217

209

190

Illustrations

Figure

1

.

The Naqshbandi Lineages

Zaynullah Rasulev

Map 1 Map 2 Map 3

.

.

.

Central Asia

of

Shaykh

114

2

The Ulus Chaghatay in 1360

30

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest

92

Central Asia

Islam

may

Book

Series

play two different roles in the dramatic changes

fecting contemporary Central Asian society.

Through the

af-

first, it

surely provides an underpinning today for a culture that until the late 1920s regarded itself as

wholly Muslim. More problematic

Islam's part in the region's public reidentification set in

by Mikhail Gorbachev's program tuted around the mid-1980s. Analysts or scholars

who

of

is

motion

openness (glastnost)

insti-

interpret very recent developments

in Central Asia often seriously disagree about the cultural and political

importance of Islam in the area's

affairs.

But most recognize

the paradox created by the heritage of Islamic civilization per-

USSR. Religion played only a small part in the region's public life between the late 1920s and at least the mid-1980s. For that reason, by no means all analysts sisting in the officially atheistic

or scholars favor an "Islamic" approach to current Central Asian affairs.

A few consider that the Communist suppression of religion

in the Soviet

ground.

Union has only pushed the

Some

piactice of Islam under-

believe that latent forces of Islam merely wait to

burst out at the

first

chance to dominate the thinking and

life of

the area once again.

This divergence in interpretation of the significance of Islam, together with the intense interest among students and other informed persons concerning Islam and ethnicity in group identity, reveal the need for systematic inquiries into those linkages at this time. For the

same

reasons, the present study benefits noticeably

from bringing to readers more than one author's point of view. However, this volume generally does not address in a partisan

1

Central Asia Book Series

xii

fashion the disagreement over the degree of significance of today's Islamic religion for Central Asia. Rather, the authors carefully build a case for examining the factor of religion as a

component

group identity in the study of contemporary Central Asia. All productive approaches to the study of the culture and society of of

the region deserve appropriate attention.

manuscript

The

for publication in the Central

editors chose this

Asia Book Series be-

problems. Even more persuasive were the academic credentials, access to the local-language sources, and experience of these authors as well as their mastery of the subjects they treat. The Moscow regime's willingness to permit genuine expressions of ethnic pluralism in the territory currently under its management appears to have cooled considerably by 1990 and 1991, in comparison with its attitude toward expression of nationality during the years between 1986 and 1989. That reversal concerns religious practices as well. Whether or not Soviet governmental policy may now aim to counteract the important moves that contributed to removing some of the previous strictures from the cause

it

offers insights into those

in this selection

practice of religion in Central Asia, the subject deserves

more

in-

formed discussion. Both outside and inside the USSR, scholars and other informed persons can hardly ignore the potential effects of a revival in religious influence upon the life and art of the majority of Central Asian people, especially among that largest proportion comprising the broad base of society.

The Central Asia Book ies,

Series endeavors to issue learned stud-

documents, eye-witness accounts, and reference materials that

make a lasting addition to knowledge about the region. Edward Allworth, General Editor of the Series, Columbia Uni-

will

versity.

Andras fornia,

J.

E. Bodrogligeti,

Advisory Editor, University of Cali-

Los Angeles.

Richard N. Frye, Advisory Editor, Harvard University.

Edward Allworth

March

1

99

General Editor, Central Asia Book Series

Preface

The chapters included in this volume originated as papers presented at a workshop on ''Approaches to the Study of Islam in Central and Inner Asia/ which was sponsored by the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, and held in March 1988. Implicit in the planning and organization of this project was my be7

lief

that a comparative interregional, cross-disciplinary discussion

of Islam and identity in the Muslim societies of pre-modern and medieval Central Asia would result in a meaningful dialogue through which issues of religious, ethnic, and national identities could be discussed. Current developments in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East have demonstrated the resilience of such identities in the face of social, economic, and political changes. However, as the contributors in this volume demonstrate, issues concerning identity formation and the construction and reconstruction of ethnic, religious, and na-

tional identities are

modern

fold: first, to

present a variety of approaches to the process of

identity formation litical,

a phenomenon confined to the The purpose of this volume is two-

by no means

era of nation-states.

which take into consideration the

cultural, po-

and historical factors involved in that process; and second,

to demonstrate the fluidity tity in the

Muslim

and multiplicity

of concepts of iden-

societies of Central Asia.

The problems involved in the transliteration of eight languages Turkmenian, Uzbek, Tajik, Russian, and Chinese) are considerable. The system employed for Persian, Arabic, and Russian is that of the Library of Congress, except z has been used instead of z for the letter zed in Persian and Arabic. (Persian, Arabic, Chaghatay,

xiv

Preface

Khoja rather than khwaja has also been used. Words accepted in English such as ulama, madiasa, Qufan, etc., will be spelled as commonly used in English-language journals. Foreign words have been italicized the first time they are used; diacritical marks have been used for Persian and Arabic words throughout the text. An attempt has been made to spell personal and proper names consistently throughout the book. However, regional and localized spellings have been used whenever appropriate. In the case of Turkic languages, which as yet have no standardized transliteration system, I have tried to respect the systems adopted by individual authors. In addition to those

scholars

who

who have contributed to this volume,

participated in the original

other

workshop were Edward

Allworth, Yuri Bregel, Robert Canfield, Jonathan Lipman, Robert

McChesney, Eden Naby, William

Roff,

Morris Rossabi, Nazif

Shahrani, and Maria Subtelny. Their contributions to the workshop, although not explicitly represented in this volume, added a great deal to the final

form

of the project,

and they are

much

ap-

preciated. I

am

grateful to Professor Richard Bulliet,

who

as director of

the Middle East Institute at Columbia University fully supported the project from the planning stages to

its

completion.

I

also

am

Edward Allworth, who encouraged me to prepare the original manuscript for publication and whose advice, as general editor of the Central Asia Book Series, was indispensable. I would like to express my appreciation to Trenton State College, which provided me with the grant support and time needed to complete the introductory chapter and the editing of the manuscript, and to John Karras, chairman of the history department, whose constant encouragement throughout the project was so helpful. I would also like to thank Haideh Sahim, whose assistance with the Persian transliteration was so valuable, and Mehrdad Izady for his grateful to

help in drawing the maps.

McChesney for

I

am

particularly indebted to

Dru Gladney, John

Thomas

and Robert their insightful suggestions and comments on the

Allsen, Walter Feldman,

Karras,

introductory chapter.

Jo-Ann Gross

Introduction:

Approaches to the Problem

of Identity

Formation

Jo-Ann Gross

Central Asia

is

perhaps most distinctive for

its

cultural and geo-

political position as a frontier region. Historically, Central Asia

has served as a point of convergence for nomadic and sedentary

and Islamic periods. This convergence resulted in a unique integration of social and cultural traditions. In the post-Mongol period, for example, the convergence of Perso-Islamic and Turko-Mongolian traditions affected the civilizations in the pre-Islamic

character of the economies, political ideologies, popular religious

and social organization in Central Asia, parts of Russia, Northwest China, the Eastern Islamic world, and even parts of the Arab world. The effects of a dual Turkic/Iranian sociopolitical and cultural framework of traditions is one which persists in many Central Asian societies today, as reflected in several of the chapters included in this volume.

beliefs, arts

and

literature, languages,

Scholars studying the

dilemma

of

how

to deal

in so diverse a region.

1

Muslim societies of Central Asia face the with the dynamics

The

of identity

formation

researcher dealing with Central Asia

confronts a cultural and historical field in which knowledge of several languages

and meanings

is

is

imperative, and the sifting of cultural symbols

a part of the dialectical process of untangling the

threads of identity.

If,

for

example,

we

consider the post-Mongol

societies of medieval Khurasan, Transoxiana, or istan, the

question of ethnicity and group identity

At the heart

of studies that deal

Chinese Turkis

a crucial one.

with such societies are questions