ISLAM AND CENTRAL ASIA: A CASE STUDY OF KAZAKHSTAN

This article provides a case study of the role of Islam in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It examines the process of Islamic revival that occurred in the country following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of decades of state-enforced atheism. The study analyzes the nature of this revival, distinguishing between the moderate, state-sanctioned form of Islam and the influence of more radical, foreign-sponsored Islamist ideologies. The research explores the policies of the Kazakh government under President Nursultan Nazarbayev, which sought to promote a moderate, culturally-defined form of Islam as a component of the new national identity, while simultaneously suppressing any form of political Islam that could challenge the authority of the secular state. The paper argues that Kazakhstan represents a case of a carefully managed and state-controlled religious revival. The analysis concludes by assessing the long-term prospects for this model in the face of internal and external pressures.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a widespread religious revival across Central Asia. This paper provides a specific case study of this phenomenon in Kazakhstan, one of the region's largest and most ethnically diverse nations. The analysis begins by tracing the history of Islam in the region and the legacy of the seventy years of Soviet anti-religious policies. The core of the article is an examination of the nature of the post-Soviet Islamic revival. It argues that in Kazakhstan, this revival has been largely cultural and personal rather than political. The study details the government's strategy of co-opting and managing religion. This includes the state's role in the creation of an official clerical body, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan (SAMK), and its efforts to promote a form of Islam that is seen as compatible with the country's secular constitution and its multi-ethnic society. The paper also discusses the government's deep suspicion of and harsh crackdown on what it terms "non-traditional" or "extremist" forms of Islam, often associated with foreign missionaries from the Middle East. The findings suggest that the Kazakh state has been largely successful in preventing the emergence of a significant political Islamist movement. The paper concludes that Kazakhstan's experience offers a key example of a post-Soviet state attempting to navigate the complex challenges of religious freedom and national security, seeking to harness Islam as a source of cultural identity while neutralizing it as a potential source of political opposition.