Why is it that I am immediately suspicious of an article entitled ‘Central Asia Rediscovers its Muslim Roots’ (courtesy of Reuters)? Is it because I think it will perpetrate the myth that Islam was totally dead during Soviet rule? or is it because I fear it will repeats old canards about Central Asian muslims not being ‘proper’ muslims and not knowing what ‘real’ Islam is?

I raise the points in connection with a review by Devin De Weese of Yaacov Ro’i's Islam in the Soviet Union (2000). He argues that scholars such as Ro’i are guilty of patronising the beliefs of Central Asian muslims, insinuating that their’s is not a valid form of Islam. Worryingly, says de Weese, this is an interpretation shared also by so-called ‘Wahabbist’ proselytizers.

There was some lively discussion in regard to my earlier post on religion and politics in Uzbekistan, into which I tried to project an element of historical and cultural background. I’m particulary interested in the traditional, “unofficial” Islam of jamaats and sufi tariqahs, aspects of which are discussed in Alisher Aikhamov’s paper for the CACI-Silk Road Studies Program on Akramiyya.

Ilkhamov argues ‘It would appear that the inability to distinguish between radical and moderate Islamic movements remains a characteristic of the current political regime.’ He concludes:

‘Ultimately, if the Uzbek government is to promote its image abroad and boost its relations with its own population, it would be important for the leadership to make a distinction between moderate Islamic activism and radical groups which employ violence against the state and call for establishing a Caliphate.’

What is fascinating is that the debate surrounding Islam in Uzbekistan very rarely has anything to do with the religion itself; often the focus is on the intersection of Islam with politics, economics, foreign affairs or security. The transnational nature of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the military capacity of IMU or the economic significance of Akramiyya is held to be of greater interest than doctrinal differences between strands of Islam in Uzbekistan, which arguably speaks volumes about the lack of a religious studies background among experts of contemporary Central Asia.