Kyrgyzstan: Threat of Islamisation?
The citizens of Kyrgyzstan, a nominally Muslim country, have an interesting history with Islam: While the nomadic Kyrgyz haven’t really been introduced to the religion before the 18th century, Kyrgyzstani Uzbeks from the Ferghana Valley practice a more traditional form of Islam. During the Soviet era, religion was pushed to the sidelines of society, but Islam has seen some revival since Kyrgyzstan’s independence in 1991, again mostly in the southern rural parts of the country.
Hajj pilgrims heading to Mecca from Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan. By Flickr user teokaye.
Last week, Kyrgyzstani bloggers were worried about the threat of Islamisation in their country. The debate was the result of an interdepartmental commission’s decision to allow Muslim women to wear hijabs for their passport photographs.
The decision of the commission was based on a claim that Islam prohibits women to uncover their heads and ears in front of unknown males. “We feel discomfort when we go through border control. The airport personnel demands us to take off our hijabs instead of introducing special rooms and having women personnel checking us”, Islamic representatives were quoted as saying.
However, most Kyrgyz bloggers are concerned about the decision and its implications.
Elena Skochilo (LJ user morrire), one of the most popular Kyrgyz bloggers, has quoted news, and said:
Упорной оказалась дочка Фронтбека, добилась своего…
The daughter of Frontbek seems pretty stubborn. She has achieved what she wanted…
By “daughter of Frontbek”, Elena refers to Jamal Frontbek Kyzy, who is the chairwoman of the Progressive Public Union of Women “Mutakallim”. This Islamic organisation has become one of the initiators of the “Hijab Process” and unites over 40,000 supporters.
Mirsulzhan, writing for neweurasia, added:
Такие организации, включая другие подобные структуры, как “Жанырык” финансируются арабским миром.
Such kind of organizations [Mutakallim – ed.] including other structures such as “Jangyryk”, a youth movement, are financed by the Arabic World.
Alan Kubatiev, another blogger and famous publicist from Kyrgyzstan (LJ user alan-kubatiev), also supports the opinion of Mirsulzhan about the Islamic community’s fundraising resources.
Женщина по имени Фронтбек кызы, то есть дочь Фронтбека …, победила в долгой и изнурительной борьбе, где ее никто не поддерживал, кроме соратников и исламского сообщества. Зато последнее поддерживало очень неслабыми суммами.
Frontbek Kyzy has won a long and exhausting fight. She was not being supported by anyone but her closest aides and the Islamic community. But the latter had been supporting her with a sizeable chunk of money …
Mirsulzhan also noticed that Jamal Frontbek Kyzy and her organization had become very active recently. They were also against celebrating the Saint Valentine’s Day in Kyrgyzstan, he says.
… Жамал Фронтбек кызы сказала, что некоторые мусульманки против празднования Дня Святого Валентина в Кыргызстане: - <>.
… Jamal Frontbek Kyzy said some Muslim women are against celebrating the Valentine’s Day in Bishkek: - “I don’t support Valentine’s Day because 13-14-year old girls go to parties instead of bringing up children…”
“Mutakallim” has been also supporting the idea of some politicians to allow polygamy in Kyrgyzstan. Free Kyrgyzstan (LJ user free_kyrgyzstan) comments:
Интересно, если быть такими уж прямыми, то нельзя и по бабам ходить мусульманам. И перестать фотаться, Коран против изображений. Не хочется, что-то жить как в 19 веке…
Interestingly, if they’re serious about this, they should also ask for forbidding men dating women and stop taking photos, as the Koran is against pictures. I would not like to live in the 19th century…
Alan Kubatiev believes that Islamization in Kyrgyzstan is a serious threat:
Исламизация Киргизстана принимает все более настойчивые и ригидные формы. Огромное большинство принявших - невежественны и в самом исламе, знают его лишь от не менее безграмотных мулл и проповедников, агрессивны и маргинальны.
Islamisation in Kyrgyzstan is attaining a more strong and rigid form. The most part of religious people are ignorant, they were taught Islam only from illiterate mullahs and the pulpit, they are aggressive and marginal.
Alan Kubatiev also added that the poor often turn to Islamic organisations in order to receive material support from their community.
Государство отдало эту часть населения безропотно и с готовностью. Плоды, которые оно пожнет лет через семь-восемь, его очень удивят.
The State has written off this part of the population. The results of this neglect will be tremendous after seven-eight years .
An anonymous commentator on Elena Skochilo’s blog replied:
Это не “безобидное проявление себя в религии”. Это первый шаг на пути поголовной исламизации. Если так дальше пойдет в скором времени вас то же принудят носить платочек и принять ислам, причем вашего мнения и не спросят. У них слоган - вы с нами или против нас… Так что разрешение ношения хиджаба-платочка - это маленький шажок к горькому началу (или концу?).
This is not an “inoffensive display of one’s religion”. This is the first step towards an all-out Islamisation. If this will proceed then very soon you will be forced to wear headscarves and accept Islam. Their slogan is “if you are not with us then you are against us”… So allowing to wear the hijab on passport photos could be the beginning of the end.
Edil Baisalov, a Kyrgyz politician (LJ user baisalov), says that every women has a right for choice - wearing hijab or miniskirt.
Время порабощения слабого пола закончилось. Кыргызская женщина свободна. Отказывать ей в равных правах с мужчинами - это варварство. Арабский мир отстает в развитии, потому что 50 процентов женского населения этих стран неграмотны. Не может государство <>. А в Кыргызстане есть люди, желающие подрезать крылья стране.
The time of the enslavement of the “weak” gender is over. Kyrgyz women are free. To refuse them their equal rights with men is barbarism. The Arab world is behind us, because there, 50 percent of women are illiterate. A state cannot “fly with one wing”. There are some people in Kyrgyzstan who would like to take one wing off their country.
Others within the Kyrgyz blogosphere also support the idea of allowing hijabs on passport photos. Almurad from Osh (Kyrgyzstan’s southern capital, the more religious area of the country), comments on the post of Mirsulzhan at neweurasia.
Почему если девушка ходит в мини - это норма? А если девушка хочет обратное? Почему последнее не считается “Ведь, их действия являются лишь проявлением личной свободы…”, как в случае первой категории?
Why is it a “normal” thing if a girl wears a miniskirt? And what if a girl wants to wear a hijab? That is only their individual liberty, exactly as with the miniskirt!
Ataman Rakin, one of the most active commentators on neweurasia, does not think (RUS) that the Islamization of the country is a threat.
… pritshyom tut ‘ugroza’? A esli Islam dayot lyudi indetitshnost, dostoinstvo i sotsialnaya oborona protiv narkomania, massovoi alkogolism i nyneshnaya pornokratiya, eto ploxa shto li?
… Why is it a threat? If Islam gives people an identity, dignity and social defense against drugs, mass alcoholism and pornography – why is this bad?
Mirsulzhan of neweurasia replies:
Мне б сильно не хотелось видеть мою страну под игом авторитаризма, также как и под игом исламизма. Считаю наиболее рациональным в этом аспекте является западная демократия, либеральные ценности. Даже ислам не может защитить человечество от наркомании, алкоголизма и порнографии. Поскольку, эти факты имеют место также и в Иране, Арабских эмиратов и прочих стран. Зачем отнимать свободу, ведь несвободный человек будет творить вещи хуже, сто раз хуже…
I would neither like to see my country under authoritarianism nor under Islamism. I strongly believe the most rational choice we can make in this aspect is Western democracy, with its liberal values. Even Islam cannot defend humankind from drugs, alcoholism and pornography. Because these facts we can meet even in Iran, Arab Emirates and etc. Why do we need to steal someone’s liberty? People without liberty can do worse things, hundred times worse things…
on August 29th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Thank you for this good and inetersting overview Mirsulzhan.
It all depends what you call ‘a threat of Islamisation’ really…
*if you mean the risk that Kyr and other ‘stans become Sharia states like Saudi Arabia or Sudan or the stronghold of a larger Jihadi movement (local or imported from Pak or Arab countries), then the threat is marginal and largely the product of fantasies, social prejudice and political smokescreens; take this from someone who has been following the issue for 10 years now: the international Jihadi movement doesn’t give a toss about Kyr. Its priorities are booting out the ‘crusaders’ out of Iraq and Afghanistan and fighting the Zionist occupiers in Jerusalem/the Occupied Territories.
*if it means that more and more people find an identity, dignity and social responsibility in Islam, then that is not a threat but a good thing. Again, the fact that a person wants to live ‘more the Muslim way’ does not mean that he or she wants a Sharia state. BTW, if you are interested: the PEW Research Centre and the sociologist Tair Faradov carried out empirical studies (for the Uzb and Azer case, but relevant for Kyr as well) that clearly show/suggest that.
IMO, Islam in Kyr is no longer a quasi-exclusive matter of ‘Uzbeks from Osh and Jalalabad’. First, it is growing fast among ethnic Uighurs and Dungans too, who are both much smaller groups but economically important and very active. Is it a coincidence that minorities with a clearer, more outlined identity seem to fare better in Kyrgyzstani society than most Kyrgyz? When I was in Tokmak in 2004, a police major — ethnic Kyrgyz himself — told me: “We have much less trouble with the young Dungan here than with our people. The Dungan, they are more Muslim. So their families stick together more, they work harder, drink less and take less drugs. And that’s why they live better than us.”
Second, during my most recent stay in Kyr (summer 2006) one of the things that stroke me compare to the years before is the larger visibility of Islam around Bishkek, i.e. not in the centre but the wider suburbs like Novopavlovka, Lebedinovka, Alexandrovka etc… Migration from the southern provinces to these (cheaper) townships and the presence of Dungans and Uighurs there explain things partly, but not everything. And this brings us to another important point: it is a typical illusion to think that ‘religion is something for the poor’ and motivated by ‘material gain’. It is the case with these evangelist Christian sects, yes. But in the case of Islam, there are other factors. The dirt poor don’t think about anything besides daily survival and, if there is a bit of surplus left, escapism (mostly alcohol).
The driving factor behind renewed interest for Islam is not so much poverty but *social mobility*. Social enviroments change, often abruptly: USSR collapse, ‘transition’, etc. That makes them mobile, most often when they try to cope with those changes: a) horizontally mobile (eg. rural-urban migration, seasonal work abroad) and well as b) vertically mobile (eg. impoverishment/enrichment, change of occupation, access to new media, people’s intellectual status that does not match social-financial status; etc.). In turn, that leads to a) erosion of traditional cultural frameworks (Soviet/traditionalist) and leaves a cultural void which has to be filled (that’s where religion, in this case Islam, comes in); b) new expectations/ambitions and, unavoidably, frustrations.
“Так что разрешение ношения хиджаба-платочка - это маленький шажок к горькому началу (или концу?). So allowing to wear the hijab on passport photos could be the beginning of the end.”
What I noticed in all these years is, that those who are most panicky and hyper-ventilating about that so-called ‘Islamskaya ugroza’ are either ethnic Russians (esp. women) and heavily russianized/westernised ‘urban Kyrgyz’ who most often have no clue about/have a visceral fear for anyone and anything outside of their own surroundings. Yes, it is the beginning of the end of the pretentious illusion of moral superiority of some… But then again, what have those ‘some’ brought or achieved in the end?
“Edil Baisalov, a Kyrgyz politician (LJ user baisalov), says that every women has a right for choice - wearing hijab or miniskirt.”
Yes, he wrote than on 24.kg too: http://www.24.kg/questions/2007/08/23/60091.html The sheer question – в мини-юбки или хиджабы – is already imbecile and immature. Is there no third, middle option? BTW, I’d invite all of you to read the comments. I’d also like Baisalov to explain why some make all that fuss when a woman chooses hijab, while the same think that a degrading pornographic attire is the norm.
“The Arab world is behind us, because there, 50 percent of women are illiterate.”
Well, Baisalov better do his homework before ventilating outlandish conventional truths and illusions:
*First, that is true for a number of Arab countries (eg. Yemen) but in others which I visited (Jordan and Morocco, for instance), let me tell you that people live noticeably better and society generally is much more developed than Kyrgyzstan.
*Second, I also find it funny that he takes women literacy as the only standard to judge who is behind whom. This being said, with the deterioration of the education system (for which you can’t blame Islam, but the IFIs and the rotten regimes that they fund), it is highly questionable whether Kyrgyzstan’s (or other ‘stans) 98-st.% literacy rate still corresponds with reality.
*Third, Islam is no longer an exclusively Arab matter. Yes, its origins are Arabic, Arabic if the language of the Holy Quran and the Haramain (the holy centres in Mekka and Medina) are in Arabia. Yet today, only some 30% of the Muslims in the world are of Arab background. Several larger non-Arab and Muslim-majority countries (Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia) are far ahead of Kyrgyzstan and other ‘stans on most fronts.
“кроме соратников и исламского сообщества. Зато последнее поддерживало очень неслабыми суммами.”
”She was not being supported by anyone but her closest aides and the Islamic community. But the latter had been supporting her with a sizeable chunk of money …”
So what? At least, there we have an example of a female social initiative that was not sponsored by – or merely taken for the sake of – one or another IO or NGO grant. BTW, I like his use of the word ‘soratnik’, which is usually used for ‘partner in crime’ rather than ‘aide’. Most revealing for his mindset. lol
“Such kind of organizations [Mutakallim – ed.] including other structures such as “Jangyryk”, a youth movement, are financed by the Arabic World.”
That’s not better or worse than certain liberal groups that are being funded by NDI or neocon-linked structures like IRI, isn’t it… ? ;)
“mass alcoholism and pornography – ”
Ya skazal ‘pornoKRATIYA’ (pornoCRACY). Which is more that just (the circulation of) pornography. It is a mentality that considers everything that is being promoted through pornography as the norm.
“I strongly believe the most rational choice we can make in this aspect is Western democracy, with its liberal values.”
OK, and I hope you will be consequent with that in the case of a scenario like this one: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6912052.stm ;)
on August 29th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
This post got also published on GV and was translated into Arabic by Yazan:
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/08/29/kyrgyzstan-threat-of-islamisation/
on August 29th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Thank you Ben for referring me here,
I will only reply my comment on GV.
While I was translating this for Arabic Lingua, I was struck with a couple of seriously disturbing, to say the least, generalizations…
“Arabic world is behind us, because there, 50 percent of women are illiterate.”
Where exactly do you get that? literacy levels in countries like Syria, Lebanon, and the North Africa are all more than 90%, and in the levant especially it is close to 97%…
Most of the Arab countries are much more high up in the Human Development Index…
[The only arab countries that scored less than Kyrgyzstan are Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Djibouti and Yemen]
The Syrian parliament has 14% of it women, that’s higher than in the US.
This kind of insensitivity and ignorance to other cultures is very very disturbing…
on August 30th, 2007 at 9:50 am
“I was struck with a couple of seriously disturbing, to say the least, generalizations…”
Yes Yazan. This sort of comments is quite typical for *certain* pretentious and outlandish intelligentsia (incl. journalists and NGO leaders) in the ‘Stans. They’re frustrated, so they need to get a feeling of self-esteem by spitting on societies and cultures which they consider ‘inferior’ while all too often they don’t know jack shit what they’re talking about.
When you speak to these people about Islam and the Islamic world, the first association they often make is ‘ah yes it’s like Afghanistan’ while Afghanistan is not ‘the Islamic/Muslim world’ and vice-versa.
In fact, many people do not (want to) see the other side of what we get in the media: turmoil, poverty, extremists … Yes that all exists. Yet what also exists is, that many countries where Islam is much more present than in the ’stans have economic dynamism, confident forward-looking people and an active civil society (yes, often faith-based) that is much more than a grant-driven affair.
I’m sorry to have to say that, but compared to that, the Kyr and other ‘Stans face rather pathetic.
There’s also this cliché that women who wear hijab are by definition poor, illiterate and oppressed and women in miniskirts ‘cosmopolitan’. In fact I met (and worked with) many hijab-wearing women who chose to do wear that and who were much more educated and socailly-professionally active than most half-naked bimbos who basically copy MTV and the magazines.
BTW, indexes and social indicators are of course useful to have a base for comparison but they do not tell everything. Often they are co-based on govt. stats, whereas like the USSR, local elites and intelligenstia like to keep up a façade of modernity and development.
on September 18th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I would like to ask Mr. Baisalov to be carefull with the numbers, if you are giving a per centage of illeterate women in the Arab world, you have to cite the source.