Central AsiaWomen’s religious associations and gatherings in
Central Asia are closely connected with the histor-
ical, political, economic, ethnic, and social evolutions
of the region. Their larger presence was noticed
during the last decades of the twentieth century and
they have become still more evident since the col-
lapse of the Soviet Union, when the Central Asian
republics gained their independence and Islam was
recognized as an important element of ethnic-reli-
gious identity.
Until the Russian conquest of Central Asia in the
second half of the nineteenth century, state power
and religious authority were closely intertwined.
During the centuries that followed the introduction
of Islam to Central Asia, the female presence within
Muslim religious institutions was almost non-
existent: while the public sphere was reserved for
men, women were restricted to the private sphere
(women’s gatherings took place mostly within the
home). This opposition between the public and pri-
vate persisted throughout the twentieth century.
After the tsarist conquest, most Islamic institu-
tions such as mosques, religious schools, and courts
were placed under the control of the Russian gov-
ernment, while others, such as waqfendowment
and alms giving (zakàt) were banned. Despite the
close control and prohibitions imposed by the Rus-
sians, Islam continued to expand. During the
period of the tsarist government, as before, Muslim
women played an almost insignificant role within
official Islam. Some of them, wives of mullahs, gave
private lessons to girls belonging to the richer fam-
ilies. These women clerics (in Uzbek, otins) be-
came more evident in the religious world of Central
Asia during the twentieth century. At the end of the
nineteenth century, with the birth of the Jadidist
reform movement in the Muslim regions of the
tsarist empire, an interest in the Woman Question
emerged in the Islamic Russian world. Whilst
remaining within the framework of Muslim values,
the reformists wished essentially to modernize the
education system. In their program, which re-
mained at a theoretical level, the Jadidists sup-
ported the unveiling of women and their education.
Central Asia was influenced by this attempt at
modernization, even if it did not represent the cul-
tural center of the movement, which was strongest
Religious Associations
in Crimea, the Middle Volga, and the Caucasus.
With the October Revolution, power relation-
ships in Central Asia underwent important changes.
Islam as a religious and social system was placed
under attack from the Bolsheviks. The Soviet gov-
ernment adopted different religious policies during
its existence. After 1917, religious schools and
courts were prohibited, and the waqflands were
confiscated. After 1922, with the introduction of
the New Economic Policy, these restrictions were
eased. From 1925, following the regionalization of
Central Asia, the Soviet government took up a
more intransigent and authoritarian position to-
ward religion; strong anti-Islamic campaigns were
implemented during the 1930s. After the Second
World War, an increase in religious activity and an
impulse to the faith, due in part to the new spirit of
cooperation of the government with the religious
institutions, were registered; this revival again fell
into abeyance during the Khrushchev era (1957–
64) with his campaign of religious persecution.
During the 1970s, a new détente developed: the
pressure on believers was slackened, even though
atheistic propaganda was still disseminated. Dur-
ing the 1970s and 1980s, there was a resurgence of
Islam in Central Asia.
Between 1917 and 1991, most of the pre-revolu-
tionary Islamic traditions survived and in some
cases were strengthened. During these decades,
Central Asian people lived in two dimensions: one
public and Sovietized, the other private and
Islamized. In this way, the official Muslim religion
coexisted side by side with the more popular,
underground, and familiar religion, where women
have always predominated. The prevalence of be-
liefs in female spirits and the female reliance on
Muslim clergy, amulets, and pilgrimages to the
shrines of the saints gave the perception of a
“women’s religion” in Central Asia. Women’s gath-
erings had a private dimension, where the official
religion and the state could not enter.
After 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union,
the Islamic resurgence became more marked. Islam
became a fundamental part of the religious-cultural
identity of the Central Asian people. The presence
of Muslim women in society increased. In Uzbe-
kistan, some religious schools exclusively for women
were opened and some male schools started to
accept female students. In Kyrgyzstan, departments