The rise of the Jama'at al Tabligh in Kyrgyzstan: the revival of Islamic ties between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia?

After two centuries of close relationships, especially under the Mughals, Islamic ties between India and Central Asia have been considerably weakened, first after the Tsarist colonization and then by Soviet religious repression and ideological isolation. However, when Central Asian post-Soviet republics became independent in 1991, they renewed all kinds of links with the Indian subcontinent. Moreover, the revival of Central Asian Islam benefited from inspirational international Islamic sources from Turkey, the Arab countries and India. The latter drew less attention from analysts than other sources of influence, although it has gained ground all over the region in past years, particularly in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where the India-based Jama'at al Tabligh has achieved significant success. This Islamic organization, established in British India in the 1920s, defines itself as a non-radical and non-political movement, promoting 'basic' Islamic faith and practice. So far, the Jama'at al Tabligh has been tolerated by local authorities who would rather use them as a shield against the more radical Islamic groups that are openly opposing the regime. Keywords: Islam in Central AsiaIslam in KyrgyzstanIndiaIndian Islam in Central Asia Acknowledgements This research was supported by two French research centres, the Institut Français d'Etudes sur l'Asie Centrale (IFEAC) and the Centre Franco-Russe de Recherches en Sciences Sociales et Humaines of Moscow. Notes We have conducted hundreds of interviews with tablighis in different cities in Kyrgyzstan (Osh, Bishkek, Jalal Abad, Batken, Nawkat, Isfana), Kazakhstan (Almaty, Astana), Tajikistan (Doushanbe) and India (New Delhi, Deoban, Loucknow, Kolkata). The research was conducted over at least three years, between 2007 and 2010. We participated in many religious assemblies and gasht organized by different tablighi groups in Kyrgyzstan. This website offers interesting analyses of the religious and political situation in Kyrgyzstan: www.analitka.org. A polemical question over which analysts disagree. Even the contemporary disciples of the movement disagree on the connections binding the Jama'at with Sufism. All the new research conducted on Islam during the Soviet period insists and underlines the limits of repression used by the state against Islam. The Soviet attitude towards Islam was very ambivalent: repression accompanied by a relatively tolerant attitude towards Islam, shown by, for example, closing their eyes to illegal and underground Islamic education. For more details, see the research in progress co-ordinated by Stéphane Dudoignon, From Kolkhoz to Jamaat: the transformation of rural Islamic background communities in the former USRR. An interregional comparative study, 1960–2000s. Available from: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/(en)/geschichte/abteilung/arbeitsbereiche/osteuropa/from-kolkhoz-to-jamaat/research_programme.html www.uni-bielefeld.de/(en)/geschichte/abteilung/arbeitsbereiche/osteuropa/from-kolkhoz-to-jamaat/research_programme.html) [Accessed August 2011]. Interview with representatives of the State Committee for Religious Affairs, Osh, Kyrgyzstan, August 2010. Interview with Abdulmalik, Uzbek tablighi member originating from Kokan, Nizamuddin, India, February 2010. Interview with Ashirbek Muminov, research fellow at the National Kazakh Institute of Oriental Studies, Almaty, March 2010. Interview with Abdullah and Daoud, member of the Jama'at al Tabligh, Bishkek, July 2010. Interview with Rawshan Eratov, chief of the 'Da'wa' department of the Board for Religious Affairs in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, 3 August 2010. This is the point of view of the official religious administration, which asks political authorities to facilitate the activities of JT in Kyrgyzstan. The notion of mashwara (from the Arabic shura, meaning council or assembly) was initiated by the first thinkers and activists of the JT. In principle, the mashwara is a very democratic institution, in which everybody can take part, to take action or express personal views and suggestions about any subject concerning the da'wa, the mission, or the movement itself. Interview with Rahmatullah, a very active member of the Jama'at al Tabligh, Osh, Kyrgyzstan, October 2010. Interview with Kanibek, deputy chief of the State Committee for Religious Affairs, Osh, July 2009. This religious naqshibendi endowment based in Istanbul is very active in all the former Soviet Union. See its website: http://www.hudayivakfi.org [Accessed August 2011]. See the website of this foundation: http://www.tunahan.org [Accessed August 2011].