1st Edition
Muslims of Post-Communist Eurasia
This book discusses the evolution of state governance of Islam and the nature and forms of local Muslims’ rediscovery of their ‘Muslimness’ across post-communist Eurasia. It examines the effects on the Islamic scene of the political and ideological divergence of Central and South-Eastern Europe from Russia and most of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Of particular interest are the implications of the proliferation of new, ‘global’ interpretations of Islam and their relationship with existing ‘traditional’ Islamic beliefs and practices. The contributions in this book address these issues through an interdisciplinary prism combining history, religious studies/theology, social anthropology, sociology, ethnology and political science. They analyse the greater public presence of Islam in constitutionally secular contexts and offer a critique of the domestication and accommodation of Islam in Europe, comparing these to what has happened in the international Eurasian space. The discussion is informed by the works of such thinkers as Talal Asad, Bryan Turner, Veit Bader, Marcel Maussen and Bassam Tibi, and utilises primary and secondary sources and ethnographic observation. Looking at how collectivities and individuals are defining what it means to be Muslim in a globalised Islamic context, this book will be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology.
Preface
Galina M. Yemelianova and Egdūnas Račius
Part I: Institutionalized Islam and State-Muslims Relations
1 The Many Faces of Islam in Post-Communist Euraisa
Galina M. Yemelianova and Egdūnas Račius
2 Muftis of Central Asia
Galina M.Yemelianova
3 Religious Policy and ‘Unholy Ideologies’: The Root Causes of Islamic Radicalisation in Kazakhstan
Nodar Karimov
4 State Policies toward Islam in the Early Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods
in Azerbaijan: A Comparative Analysis
Altay Goyushov
5 Religious Self-Legitimation, Indoctrination and Pacification:
Efforts of the Chechen Government
Marat Iliyasov
6 Administration of Islam in Russia: The Case of Tatarstan
Renat Bekkin
7 The Plurality of Islamic Officialdom and Public Islam in Ukraine
Oleg Yarosh
8 Institutional Dynamics in Islamic Community and State-Muslim Relations in Lithuania
Egdūnas Račius
9 Muslim Authorities and Institutions in Hungary
Dániel Vékony
10 Restoring the House Rules: Governing Religious Pluralism in Bosnia and
Herzegovina after 1990
Zora Hesova
Part II: Muslim communities between tradition and innovation
11 Turkish Islamic influences in Central Asia and the Caucasus since the end of the Soviet Union
Bayram Balci
12 Islamic Revivalism and Women in Kyrgyzstan: The Case of the Tablighi Jamaat
Kishimjan Eshenkulova
13 Social Status and Religious Role of Muhammad Sharif al-Bulghari’s
Descendants in Contemporary Uzbekistan
Igor Pankov
14 Many Faces of Islam in Post-Soviet Georgia - Faith, Identity and Politics
Sophie Zviadadze
15 Islamic Traditionalism versus Salafi Islam: The Case of Kabardino-Balkaria
Galina M. Yemelianova and Svetlana I. Akkieva
16 Polish Female Converts to Islam and the Islamic Leadership in Poland
Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska, Michał Łyszczarz, Joanna Krotofil
17 The revival of The Revival of a Madrasa Tradition in Post-Communist Romania: The Case of Dobruja
Adriana Cupcea
18 Muslim Identities in Post-Communist Bulgaria: Turks and Tatars
Evlogi Stanchev
Index
Biography
Galina M. Yemelianova is a Research Associate in the Centre of Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus at SOAS University of London, UK. She serves on the editorial boards of the Caucasus Survey and Oriens and the National Advisory Board of Europe-Asia Studies.
Egdūnas Račius is a Professor in the Department of Area Studies and the Department of Cultural Studies at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Muslims in Europe and the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe.
