Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

Islam in Contemporary Central Asia 1 5 1consists mostly of brochures and pamphlets that introduce readers to the basictenets of Sufism or of a particular Sufi author. Most of this literature is producedby people trained in philology or history and is aimed at an audiencethat lacks many of the most basic concepts about Sufism (which are learned inmost other Muslim societies in childhood). Thus, both producers and consumersof this literature stand outside the field of reference of Sufism. Whilethese texts serve to provide a basic introduction to Sufism, the subject isframed very differently than it is in traditional Sufi tracts. Contemporary CentralAsian writing extols Sufism as an indigenous tradition of humanism, a partof the national heritage that accords with universal human values and thatcontributed to a universal human civilization (Schubel 1999). There is littleemphasis on the miracles associated with the Sufis. Sufism and Islam in generalare cast in a consciously ecumenical and cosmopolitan frame of reference,as merely a local variant of a universal phenomenon, namely, religion. Whatmarks Islam as important is, of course, its connection to national heritage.The Islamic revival in post-Soviet Central Asia remains largely a phenomenonof cultural rediscovery; it shows little sign of affecting everyday life. Thereis little concern with observing Islam’s basic prohibitions against alcohol andeven pork. The rhythms of everyday life remain secular in a way that is inconceivablein, say, Tu r k e y. Indeed, as Bruce Privratsky’s field research shows, inKazakhstan, most people call their religious life m u s ï l m a n s h ï l ï q , literally “Muslimness,”or taza jol, “the clean path,” rather than “Islam.” As he notes, “this reflectsdiscomfort with the abstraction of Islam as an ideology and a preferencefor Muslim life as an experience of the community” (Privratsky 2001, 78). Thec o m m u n i t y ’s experience of Islam need not be grounded in textual authority.R a t h e r, as Privratsky shows, for most Kazakhs, being Muslim is intertwined withcults of saints and holy places. Saints act as guardians of the taza jol for thewhole community, while holy places (such as shrines and mosques) serve torender Muslim the very territory on which Kazakhs live. The community is ipsofacto Muslim, and as long as some people (in practice, the elderly and certaindescent groups) fulfill the ritual requirements, the rest of the population is excusedfrom them. Indeed, Privratsky records low levels of knowledge of Islam.Pilgrims at the shrine of Khoja Ahmet Yesevi associate it with Islam but seldomwith Sufism. They know the figure of Ahmet Yesevi only in the vaguest terms asthe man who “opened religion” in the region (Privratsky 2001, 54–57). FewKazakhs know even the ritual affirmation of faith in Arabic and content themselveswith the Kazakh phrase Al-hamdulillah musïlmanmïn, “Praise be to God, Iam a Muslim” (ibid., 90–92).This “religious minimalism” does not mean, however, that Kazakhs do notsee themselves as Muslims; rather, they see Islam as an integral part of the wayKazakhs live. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, such understandings of Islamhave been challenged by more rigorous expressions of piety. Particularly