SADUM, the muftiate of the Soviet Central Asian republics, operated three Islamic educational establishments at various times in the half century following World War II. This article argues that, far from being rubber-stamp bodies imparting official propaganda, these madrasas benefited from significant influence from three constituencies in the religious sphere: the state, SADUM, and influential unregistered ʿulamā beyond the reach of both. As institutions at the intersection of "official" and "unofficial" Islam, they offer historians of Soviet Central Asia a rare glimpse into debates about Islamic education under communism.
© École des hautes études en sciences sociales EREn MuRAt tASAR iSlAMiCAllY inFoRMED SoViEt PAtRiotiSM in PoStWAR kYRGYZStAn though far removed from the front lines of World War ii, Central Asia's religious life experienced a period of tremendous dynamism in the war's immediate aftermath. The postwar changes in Islam testify to the emergence of a new ield of possibilities for harmonizing Soviet and Islamic afiliation among a signiicant portion of the population. Many Central Asian Muslims found that dedication to islam and patriotism for the uSSR reinforced one another. World War ii generated an inclusive environment, based on notions of justice and collective sacriice that found resonance in islamic tradition. this environment gave birth to an impulse among Central Asian Muslims to belong to the Soviet union, compelling them to seek a platform of common values that they could share with the state. this platform allowed many Central Asians to view themselves as good Soviet citizens because they were good Muslims. this paper examines attempts by Muslims in Soviet kyrgyzstan in the second half of the 1940s to belong to two communities, Soviet and islamic. it argues that World War ii created an opening in the region for Muslims to make sense of their place in Soviet society on islamic terms by articulating an islamically informed Soviet patriotism. through an analysis of two conceptual spaces, which i term the views "from above" and "from below," it demonstrates that the war released an impulse towards coexistence between state and society in Central Asia. The irst space, "from above," refers to the quest for legitimacy of a muftiate, or Islamic organization, established in 1943. this Central Asian muftiate, known by the Russian acronym SADuM, forcefully argued that islam had a productive role to play in Soviet society. it deployed this argument to convince Muslim communities across the region to submit to its administrative authority throughout the 1940s. The second space, "from below," refers to the lurry of voluntary, patriotic labor Cahiers du Monde russe, 52/2-3, Avril-septembre 2011, p. 387-404. i would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful criticism of an earlier draft of this paper.
Long associated with its aggressive promotion of atheism, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted a nuanced, flexible, and often contradictory approach toward Islam in the USSR’s largest Muslim region, Central Asia. “Soviet and Muslim” demonstrates how the Soviet state unwittingly set in motion a process of institutionalization during World War II that culminated in a permanent space for Islam in a society ruled by atheists. Central Asia was the sole Muslim region of the former Russian empire to lack a centralized Islamic organization, or muftiate. When the Soviet leader Stalin created such a body for the region as part of his religious reforms during World War II, he acknowledged that the Muslim faith could enjoy some legal protection under Communist rule. From a skeletal and disorganized body run by one family of Islamic scholars out of a modest house in Tashkent’s old city, this muftiate acquired great political importance in the eyes of Soviet policymakers, and equally significant symbolic significance for many Muslims. This book argues that Islam did not merely “survive” the decades from World War II until the Soviet collapse in 1991, but actively shaped the political and social context of Soviet Central Asia. Muslim figures, institutions, and practices evolved in response to the social and political reality of Communist rule. Through an analysis that spans all aspects of Islam under Soviet rule—from debates about religion inside the Communist Party, to the muftiate’s efforts to acquire control over mosques across Central Asia, changes in Islamic practices and dogma, and overseas propaganda targeting the Islamic World—Soviet and Muslim offers a radical new reading of Islam’s resilience and evolution under atheist rule.
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