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Islam in Kazakhstan

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Template:Short description Islam is the largest religion practiced in Kazakhstan, with estimates of about 74%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> of the country's population being Muslim. Ethnic Kazakhs are predominantly non-denominational and Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school.<ref name=REPORT>International Religious Freedom Report 2006 Template:Webarchive U.S. Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan</ref> There are also small numbers of Shias.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Geographically speaking, Kazakhstan is the northernmost Muslim-majority country in the world,<ref>Muslim-majority Tatarstan lies further north of Kazakhstan, but is a non-sovereign federal subject republic of Russia.</ref> and the largest in terms of land area. Kazakhs make up over half of the total population, and other ethnic groups of Muslim background include Uzbeks, Uyghurs and Tatars.<ref>Kazakhstan - International Religious Freedom Report 2009 U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 2009-09-07.</ref> Islam first arrived on the southern edges of the region in the 8th century from Arabs. According to the Constitution, The Republic of Kazakhstan proclaims itself as a democratic, secular, legal and social state whose highest values are a person, his life, rights, and freedoms.

File:Kazakhstan P9130229 (28303484369).jpg
Kazakhs performing Salah in Mosque.

Although Kazakhs identify with their Muslim heritage, religious practices are generally very moderate, and displays of religiosity, such as the wearing of the headscarf or daily attendance in mosques, are rare.<ref>Section 1. Article 1. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN</ref>

According to a survey by Central Asian Affairs, Kazakhs who self-identify as Muslims rose from 79% in 2007 to 93% in 2012, however the share of people praying daily and attending mosque weekly were found to have declined during the same period, from 22.94% to 18.20%.<ref>Junisbai, B., Junisbai, A., & Zhussupov, B. (2017). “Two Countries, Five Years: Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan through the Lens of Public Opinion Surveys”, Central Asian Affairs, 4:1, p. 10.</ref> According to another study in 2012, 10% of the Kazakhs practice Islam in its totality and stated youth were frequenting mosques more often."<ref>Achilov, D. (2012). “Islamic Education in Central Asia: Evidence from Kazakhstan”. Asia Policy, 14, pp. 85-86.</ref> In 2019, there were 2500 mosques in the country, a number which increased 37-fold since the fall of the Soviet Union.<ref>Bilal A. Malik (2019). “Islam in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan: Experiencing Public Revival of Islam through Institutionalisation”, Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, 13:3, pp. 7-8.</ref>

HistoryEdit

Template:See also Islam was first brought to the southern fringes of modern day Kazakhstan in 8th century, when the Arabs arrived in southern parts of Central Asia. Then it gradually spread across the Kazakh Steppe over following centuries.

The initial push to spread was given by the Battle of Talas in 751 AD, where nomads of Karluk Yabghu state allied themselves with Abbasid Arabs to stop the Chinese Tan dynasty advance.
Following years, Islam took hold in the southern portions of Turkestan and thereafter gradually spread northward.<ref>Atabaki, Touraj. Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora, pg. 24</ref> Islam also took root due to zealous subjugation from Samanid rulers, notably in areas surrounding Taraz<ref>Ibn Athir, volume 8, pg. 396</ref> where a significant number of indigenous people converted to Islam.

Template:See also In 1000s, Khoja Ahmad Yasawi, a Turkic poet and religions leader of Sufi Order made a big impact in spreading Islam among both sedentary and nomadic peoples of Central Asia, by writing in Middle Turkic language. He was widely regarded as one of the great spiritual leaders of the region. Which lead Timur to erect a Mausoleum in his name several centuries later.

Template:See also During Golden Horde period, the first ruler to convert to Islam was Berke Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. However Berke did not promote it to his subordinates.
Only in 1321, ruler of the Horde - Özbeg Khan publicly converts to Islam by Ibn Abdul Hamid, a Sunni Sufi Bukharan sayyid and sheikh of the Yassawi order. Further he makes the Islam official religion of the state, and starts promoting it among his subordinates. From that point on, all of the khans adopt Islamic names following Turco-Mongol tradition.
Following centuries, after dissolution of Golden Horde, all khans of Kazakh Khanate being from Jochi lineage would continue to have Islamic names.

During the 18th century, Russian influence rapidly increased toward the region. Led by Empress Catherine, the Russians initially demonstrated a willingness in allowing Islam to flourish as Muslim clerics were invited into the region to preach to the Kazakhs whom the Russians viewed as "savages", ignorant of morals and ethics.<ref>Khodarkovsky, Michael. Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800, pg. 39.</ref><ref name=EncycSex572>Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures, pg. 572</ref>

Russian policy gradually changed toward weakening Islam by introducing pre-Islamic elements of collective consciousness.<ref name=Hunter14>Hunter, Shireen. "Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security", pg. 14</ref> Such attempts included methods of eulogizing pre-Islamic historical figures and imposing a sense of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to highly elite Russian military institutions.<ref name=Hunter14 /> In response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though many were persecuted as a result.<ref>Farah, Caesar E. Islam: Beliefs and Observances, pg. 304</ref> During the Soviet era, Muslim institutions survived only in areas where Kazakhs significantly outnumbered non-Muslims due to everyday Muslim practices.<ref>Farah, Caesar E. Islam: Beliefs and Observances, pg. 340</ref> In an attempt to conform Kazakhs into Communist ideologies, gender relations and other aspects of the Kazakh culture were key targets of social change.<ref name=EncycSex572 />

In more recent times, Kazakhs have gradually employed determined effort in revitalizing Islamic religious institutions after the fall of the Soviet Union. While not strongly fundamentalist, Kazakhs continue to identify with their Islamic faith,<ref>Page, Kogan. Asia and Pacific Review 2003/04, pg. 99</ref> and even more devotedly in the countryside. Those who claim descent from the original Muslim warriors and missionaries of the 8th century command substantial respect in their communities.<ref>Atabaki, Touraj. Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora.</ref> Kazakh political figures have also stressed the need to sponsor Islamic awareness. For example, the Kazakh Foreign Affairs Minister, Marat Tazhin, recently emphasized that Kazakhstan attaches importance to the use of "positive potential Islam, learning of its history, culture and heritage."<ref>inform.kz | 154837 Template:Webarchive</ref>

Soviet authorities attempted to encourage a controlled form of Islam under the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan as a unifying force in the Central Asian societies, while at the same time prohibiting true religious freedom. Since independence, religious activity has increased significantly. Construction of mosques and religious schools accelerated in the 1990s, with financial help from Turkey, Egypt, and, primarily, Saudi Arabia.<ref>From the article "Kazakhstan, Islam in" in Oxford Islamic Studies Online</ref> In 1991 170 mosques were operating with more than half of them being newly built. At that time an estimated 230 Muslim communities were active in Kazakhstan. Since then the number of mosques has risen to 2,320 as of 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012 the President of Kazakhstan unveiled a new Khazret Sultan Mosque in the capital, that is the biggest Muslim worship facility in Central Asia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Islam and the stateEdit

In 1990 Nursultan Nazarbayev, then the First Secretary of the Kazakhstan Communist Party, created a state basis for Islam by removing Kazakhstan from the authority of the Muslim Board of Central Asia, the Soviet-approved and politically oriented religious administration for all of Central Asia. Instead, Nazarbayev created a separate muftiate, or religious authority, for Kazakh Muslims.<ref name=LOC>Country Study - Kazakhstan Library of Congress</ref>

With an eye toward the Islamic governments of nearby Iran and Afghanistan, the writers of the 1993 constitution specifically forbade religious political parties. The 1995 constitution forbids organizations that seek to stimulate racial, political, or religious discord, and imposes strict governmental control on foreign religious organizations. As did its predecessor, the 1995 constitution stipulates that Kazakhstan is a secular state; thus, Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian state whose constitution does not assign a special status to Islam. Though, Kazakhstan joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in the same year. This position was based on the Nazarbayev government's foreign policy as much as on domestic considerations. Aware of the potential for investment from the Muslim countries of the Middle East, Nazarbayev visited Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia; at the same time, he preferred to cast Kazakhstan as a bridge between the Muslim East and the Christian West. For example, he initially accepted only observer status in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), all of whose member nations are predominantly Muslim. The president's first trip to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, which occurred in 1994, was part of an itinerary that also included a visit to Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.<ref name=LOC/>

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