Umar Memon, Ibn Taymiyya’s Struggle against Popular
Religion (The Hague: Mouton, 1976); Christopher
C. Taylor, In the Vicinity of the Righteous: Ziyara and
the Veneration of Muslim Saints in Late Medieval Egypt
(Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999).
Central Asia and the Caucasus
The former Soviet republics of Central Asia are
overwhelmingly Muslim (the exception being
Kazakhstan, which continues to have a large non-
Kazakh population), while of the new republics of
the South Caucasus, only Azerbaijan has a Muslim
majority. However, there is a large Muslim popu-
lation in the North Caucasus that is still within
the Russian Federation. Present-day Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajiki-
stan as well as the North Caucasus are predomi-
nantly Sunni, while Azerbaijan is in the main Shii.
Islam came to Central Asia and the Caucasus
in the middle of the seventh century along with
Arab conquest (ca. 639–643). Throughout the
Middle Ages, Central Asia grew wealthy from the
Silk Road, which made its cities major centers
for the propagation of Islamic learning and cul-
ture, even during the era of the Mongol Empire
(13th century to 15th century), which provided a
degree of political unity. sUFism also played a very
important role in the development of Islam in
the region, both in the Middle Ages and modern
times. Sufis such as Ahmad al-Yasavi (d. 1166)
were particularly instrumental in Islamizing Turk-
men and Kazakh nomads. Sufism was also of the
utmost importance in establishing Islam in the
North Caucasus. Unlike Central Asia and the
North Caucasus, Azerbaijan was ruled by various
Persian states, and its people became Shia with the
emergence of the saFavid dynasty at the beginning
of the 16th century.
The Russian conquest of Central Asia and
the Caucasus over the course of the 19th century
took many forms and engendered many different
responses. In the North Caucasus in particular,
Sufi-led Islamic movements were able to fend off
Russian advances for nearly 30 years. The official
Russian policy, however, was to keep their hands
off the religious affairs of the two regions. Nev-
ertheless, under the increased influence of both
European ideas and wider Islamic intellectual
trends, there developed in the cities of Central
Asia and Azerbaijan the Jadid movement, a group
of young local intellectuals who sought to “mod-
ernize” Islam. They came into conflict with tradi-
tional religious authorities, and after the Russian
Revolution, they allied with the Bolsheviks. Many
became part of the Soviet administration. This
alliance did not last long, however—the last of
the former Jadids perished in Joseph Stalin’s Great
Terror of 1936–38.
The fragile Bolshevik hold on the two regions
in the early to mid-1920s necessitated a cautious
approach to Islam, though party ideology called
for the abolition of all religion. In 1927, with the
rise of Stalin, this changed, and there commenced
a full assault on Islam both as a religion and as
a way of life. Women were forcibly unveiled,
polygamy was attacked, and bride price was
outlawed. Islamic social institutions were closed,
religious leaders arrested, and mosques destroyed.
This fight against perceived “backwardness” did
not run smoothly, as large-scale revolts appeared
throughout both regions. By the early 1930s,
only through the mass use of force was resistance
broken.
With the coming of World War II, the Soviet
fight against religion lessened, and the overt
repression of religious leaders and places of wor-
ship declined. An officially sanctioned Islam
was promoted, with clergy and mosqUes under
the direct control of Soviet administrators. This
forced nonofficial Islam to push practices further
underground. The Soviet Union was never able to
destroy Islam, and with its collapse in 1991, Islam
regained its importance in local societies.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Islam
has become politicized throughout the two
regions, though the extent of this varies. The
continuity of leaders in the new republics has ledK 134 Central Asia and the Caucasus