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Policy Toward Islam in Uzbekistan in the Gorbachev Era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

William Fierman
William Fierman*
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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Extract

This study examines the transformation of policy toward Islam in Uzbekistan during the Gorbachev era. It considers both Moscow's policy and, as Uzbekistan began to achieve greater control over its own affairs, the policy of the republic's leaders. The article begins by placing the changes in policy toward Islam in the broader context of emerging Soviet policy toward religion during the middle of the 1960s. It then examines some of the All-Union and republic communist parties’ concessions toward Islam and attempts to use Islam in addressing the most pressing cultural, social, economic, and political problems facing Uzbekistan. The study pays particular attention to the official religious establishment and briefly explores its role in efforts by Uzbekistan's political leadership to maintain political control.

Type
II The USSR and Beyond
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 22 , Issue 1: Special Issue - Ethnopolitics in Poland , Spring 1994 , pp. 225 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastern Europe and ex-USSR 

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References

Note

1. M. S. Gorbachev, “Politicheskii doklad Tsentral'nogo Komiteta KPSS dvadtsat’ sed'momu s'ezdu Kommunisticheskoi Partiii Sovetskogo Soiuza,” Dvadtsat’ sed'moi s”ezd Kommunisticheskoi Partiii Sovetskogo Soiuza 25 fevralia—6 marta 1986 goda. Stenograficheskii otchet, p. 76.Google Scholar

2. “Programma Kommunisticheskoi Partii Sovetskogo Soiuza,” in Spravochnik partiinogo rabotnika, vyp. XXVII (1987) (Moscow, Politizdat, 1987), p. 71 Among other places, this was reiterated in a Pravda editorial on 28 September 1986 (reprinted in Pravda Vostoka, 30 Sep. 1986).Google Scholar

3. Vera Tolz, “Church-State Relations under Gorbachev,” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 360/87, Sep. 11, 1987, p. 6.Google Scholar

4. Pravda, 28 Sep. 1986, reprinted in Pravda Vostoka, 30 Sep. 1986.Google Scholar

5. For a discussion of this debate, see Vera Tolz, “Discussion of Attitude of State Towards Religion in Soviet Society Continues,” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 471/86, Dec. 16, 1986.Google Scholar

6. Oxana Antic, “Religious Policy under Gorbachev,” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 381/87, Sep. 28, 1987, p. 3.Google Scholar

7. Vera Tolz, “Church-State Relations under Gorbachev,” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 360/87, Sep. 11, 1987, p. 3.Google Scholar

8. A. I. Klibanov and L. N. Mitrokhin, “Istoriia i religiia,” Kommunist, No. 12 (Aug.), 1987, pp. 96–97.Google Scholar

9. “Sotsializm i religiia,” Kommunist, No. 4 (March), 1988, p. 120.Google Scholar

10. Ibid., p. 122.Google Scholar

11. Ibid., p. 123Google Scholar

12. Even Uzbekistan's party dailies Pravda Vostoka and Sovet Ozbekistani carried this as front page news on May 1, 1988.Google Scholar

13. Pravda Vostoka, 1 May 1988.Google Scholar

14. Pravda Vostoka, 25 Nov. 1986, cited in Oxana Antic, “A New Phase in the Struggle against ‘Religious’ Communists?” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 18/87, Jan. 14, 1987, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

15. In discussing her “reign,” a number of my Uzbek friends in Tashkent emphasized (incorrectly?) that she was not an Uzbek at all, but a Tajik.Google Scholar

16. “Uzbek Believer Recants and Denounces ‘False Mullahs,'” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 324/85, Sep. 24, 1985, p. 2Google Scholar

17. See, for example, Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 14 March 1986. Interestingly, a Pravda Vostoka editorial in January 1985 which described a mahalla (neighborhood) where religious phenomena were decreasing noted approvingly that the inhabitants were fond of celebrating Navroz (11 Jan. 1985).Google Scholar

18. Pravda Vostoka, 5 Oct. 1986.Google Scholar

19. Ibid.Google Scholar

20. Ibid.Google Scholar

21. Pravda Vostoka, 27 Jan. 1987.Google Scholar

22. Sovet Ozbekistani, 17 Jan. 1987.Google Scholar

23. Yash leninchi, 7 July 1987.Google Scholar

24. Sovet Ozbekistani, 21 May 1988.Google Scholar

25. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 13 May 1988.Google Scholar

26. Pravda Vostoka, 12 Aug. 1987.Google Scholar

27. Pravda Vostoka, 27 Nov. 1987.Google Scholar

28. For a discussion of this see James Critchlow, “Prelude to ‘Independence,': How the Uzbek Party Apparatus Broke Moscow's Grip on Elite Recruitment,” in William Fierman (ed.), Soviet Central Asia: The Failed Transformation (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991), pp. 144–149.Google Scholar

29. It is also striking that this debate appeared in the republic Komsomol's Russian-language paper Komsomolets Uzbekistana.Google Scholar

30. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 13 March 1987.Google Scholar

31. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 29 May 1987.Google Scholar

32. Pravda Vostoka, 10 Jan. 1988.Google Scholar

33. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 23 March 1988.Google Scholar

34. Kommunist Uzbekistana, No. 3 (March), 1989, p. 33.Google Scholar

35. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 23 Feb. 1989. Interestingly, in a September 1989 interview in Literaturnaia gazeta, the Mufti of Central Asia and Kazakhstan described his participation in the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Christianity in Russia in positive terms; however, he then proceeded to say that it would be “just” if the celebration of the 1400th anniversary of Islam would be celebrated “just as broadly” (13 Sep. 1989, p. 11).Google Scholar

36. Literaturnaia gazeta, May 13, 1987, p. 13, and May 20, 1987, p. 12. For an analysis of the debate about Islam written as it was just unfolding see John Soper, “Seminar Reveals Dispute over Role of Islam in USSR,” Radio Liberty Research Bulletin, RL 515/87, Dec. 11, 1987.Google Scholar

37. Komsomol'skaia Pravda, 29 April 1988, cited in John Soper, “Muslim Leaders Interviewed in Soviet Press,” Radio Liberty Research 265/88, June 15, 1988, p.1.Google Scholar

38. The coverage in the other republics is mentioned in John Soper's report of June 15, 1988, but Soper did not mention any from Uzbekistan. Looking through my own extensive files from the republic press, the first analogous report I have is from Pravda Vostoka on 26 June 1988.Google Scholar

39. Among the articles which reveal these views see in particular I. Makatov, “Aktivno perestraivat’ ateisticheskuiu rabotu,” Kommunist Uzbekistana, No. 6 (June), 1986, pp. 58–65, and Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 21 and 30 Sep. 1988.Google Scholar

40. Yash leninchi, 20 Oct. 1988.Google Scholar

41. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 16 Aug. 1988.Google Scholar

42. For a discussion of the shift of policy toward Birlik's platforms see William Fierman, “The Communist Party, ‘Erk,’ and the Changing Uzbek Political Environment,” Central Asian Survey, vol. 10, no. 3 (1991). For background on writers’ early statements of support for such issues see William Fierman, “Glasnost’ in Practice: the Uzbek Experience,” Central Asian Survey, vol. 8, no. 2 (1989).Google Scholar

43. T. Osipov and T. Iskanderov, “Konstitutsionnye garantii svobody sovesti,” Kommunist Uzbekistana, No. 11 (Nov.), 1989, p. 64.Google Scholar

44. In addition, fifty were being restored (Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 14 July 1989).Google Scholar

45. Yash leninchi, 1 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

46. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 16 March 1990.Google Scholar

47. Pravda Vostoka, 22 March 1989.Google Scholar

48. Ibid.Google Scholar

49. Pravda Vostoka, 16 and 22 March 1989.Google Scholar

50. Islam. Spravochnik (in Uzbek), (Tashkent: Ozbek Sovet Entsiklopediiasi Bash redaktsiiasi, 1986 [first edition] and 1987 [second edition]).Google Scholar

51. Oqituvchilar gazetasi, 25 Oct. 1988.Google Scholar

52. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san”ati, 12 May 1989 and Yash leninchi, 14 April 1989.Google Scholar

53. The article was reprinted from No. 1, 1989, Nauka i religiia. See Vera Panova and Iurii Vakhtin, “Muhammad payghambar hayati,” Yashlik, No. 10 (Oct.), 1989, pp. 65–69. This installment indicated that others were to follow. However, the next part was not printed either in the November or December issue of the journal.Google Scholar

54. Interestingly, some individuals criticized the publication of the Koran in a journal as a sign of disrespect (Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 16 March 1990).Google Scholar

55. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 16 March 1990 and Yash leninchi, 26 April 1990.Google Scholar

56. Sovet Ozbekistani 16 Jan. 1991.Google Scholar

57. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati 26 April 1991 and Sovet Ozbekistani 7 May 1991.Google Scholar

58. Oqituvchilar gazetasi 19 Jan. 1991.Google Scholar

59. Previously, the Uzbek edition had been printed only in Arabic-script Uzbek, which most Soviet Uzbeks cannot read.Google Scholar

60. Yash leninchi, 3 Jan. 1990; Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 16 March 1990; and Pravda Vostoka, 24 May 1990.Google Scholar

61. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san”ati, 16 March 1990.Google Scholar

62. Pravda Vostoka, 7 June 1990 and 24 June 1990. In previous years only 25 to 30 Soviet citizens went on the pilgrimage annually. The issue of the pilgrimage is one in which Moscow's approval is clear. Gorbachev himself signed an order (rasporiazhenie) making it possible for an increased number of pilgrims to go to Saudi Arabia.Google Scholar

63. A June report in Sovet Ozbekistani indicated plans were being made for over 1,000 pilgrims to make the haj (7 June 1991).Google Scholar

64. Yash leninchi, 22 Feb. 1989.Google Scholar

65. Kommunist Uzbekistana, No. 6 (June), 1989, p. 48.Google Scholar

66. See Sovet Ozbekistani, 12 May 1989.Google Scholar

67. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 8 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

68. Ibid. During the transitional stage one way that was suggested to “finesse” the question was to distinguish between presence at a religious ceremony and actual participation in it. Some maintained that whereas the latter might be considered inappropriate for party members, the former could be accepted (T. Osipov and T. Iskanderov, “Konstitutsionnye garantii svobody sovesti,” Kommunist Uzbekistana, No. 11 [Nov.], 1989, p. 65).Google Scholar

69. Yash leninchi, 17 May 1990. By the spring of 1990 the Uzbekistan Komsomol had removed all restrictions which even theoretically prevented believers from joining the organization (Molodezh’ Uzbekistana, 25 May 1991).Google Scholar

70. According to the decree, those who took advantage of this option would have to make up the time lost on their jobs (Pravda Vostoka 12 April 1991). The issue had been discussed at the Uzbekistan Supreme Soviet session in February 1991 (Pravda Vostoka 15 Feb. 1991). It is worth noting that the analogous decree issued in Tajikistan adopted about the same time did not mandate that lost work time be made up (TASS in English 1732 GMT, 8 April 1991, translated in JPRS-UPA-91–022, 1 May 1991, p. 70).Google Scholar

71. Sovet Ozbekistani, 15 Dec. 1989.Google Scholar

72. The reversal was discussed by the Uzbek writer Pirmat Shermuhamedov who mockingly cited the treatment given the holiday not long ago in the scholar Saidbaev's work Discussions about Islam. According to Shermuhamedov, Saidbaev's book answered the question about whether certain pre-Islamic practices were in fact “religious” by saying, “Without a doubt, they are religious; they have an entirely religious character. [So] they must certainly be eliminated” (Yash leninchi, 27 Dec. 89).Google Scholar

73. Oqituvchilar gazetasi, 7 Dec. 1990. Moreover, some authors began to speak of the desirability of returning to the Arabic script.Google Scholar

74. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 19 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

75. Pravda Vostoka, 19 Aug. 1989.Google Scholar

76. See, for example, Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 25 Aug. 89.Google Scholar

77. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 19 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

78. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 17 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

79. N. Usmanov, “Poleznye tochki sotrudnichestva,” Kommunist Uzbekistana, No. 6 (June), 1989, pp. 47–48, cited in James Critchlow, “Islam in Public Life: Can This be ‘Soviet’ Uzbekistan?” Report on the USSR, 16 March 1990, p. 24.Google Scholar

80. Yash leninchi, 3 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

81. Pravda Vostoka, 22 Aug. 1989.Google Scholar

82. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 2 March 1990.Google Scholar

83. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san”ati, 1 March 1991.Google Scholar

84. Yash leninchi, 17 May 1990Google Scholar

85. Yash leninchi, 24 Oct. 1990 and Oqituvchilar gazetasi, 30 March 1991.Google Scholar

86. Yash leninchi, 3 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

87. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 5 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

88. Yash leninchi, 26 April 1990.Google Scholar

89. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 16 March 1990.Google Scholar

90. The Mufti's was one of only six signatures; four of the others were prominent Uzbek writers, while the sixth was the scholar Erkin Yusupov (Uzbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 1 Dec. 1989).Google Scholar

91. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 20 Oct. 1989.Google Scholar

92. Ironically, in an interview published shortly before the Fergana Valley tragedy (in which Uzbeks clashed with fellow Muslim Meskhetian Turks) the mufti had urged Uzbeks to display tolerance towards Slavs. He had reminded readers that Islam instructs believers to treat people of other faiths with respect (Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 12 May 1989).Google Scholar

93. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 16 March 1990. For the mufti's statement see Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 8 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

94. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 13 Dec. 1989.Google Scholar

95. Pravda Vostoka, 3 Sep. 1989.Google Scholar

96. Moscow Television-1, 8:00 a.m., 26 Feb. 1991, transcribed in Radio Liberty Monitoring: USSR Today. Soviet News and Information Digest, 26 Feb. 1991.Google Scholar

97. Krasnaia zvezda, 28 Feb. 1991.Google Scholar

98. Krasnaia zvezda, 10 April 1991.Google Scholar

99. Pravda Vostoka, 16 May 1990.Google Scholar

100. Meditsinskaia gazeta, 23 Nov. 1988.Google Scholar

101. It is likely that not only the Moscow leadership welcomed a strong Soviet military. Given Karimov's reluctance to break with Moscow until the coup in August 1991, Karimov probably also favored this.Google Scholar

102. Pravda Vostoka, 19 May 1989.Google Scholar

103. Pravda Vostoka, 20 May 1989. The attempts by Nishanov and Karimov to use conservative Islam to counter reformers was nothing new. Even before the Bolshevik Revolution tsarist colonial administration had sought allies among the conservative religious leaders opposed to reform-minded jadids.Google Scholar

104. Sovet Ozbekistani, 21 Feb. 1991.Google Scholar

105. Sovet Ozbekistani, 30 Jan. 1991 and 7 Feb. 1991.Google Scholar

106. Sovet Ozbekistani, 31 Jan. 1991.Google Scholar

107. TASS report of 26 Feb. 1991 cited in RFE/RL Daily Report, 27 Feb. 1991, p. 7.Google Scholar

108. Pravda Vostoka, 2 July 1991.Google Scholar

109. Ozbekistan adabiyati va san'ati, 15 March 1991.Google Scholar

110. Such a depiction was given in Yash leninchi, 12 March 1991. While the author made it clear that he was not advocating reinstitution of this form of punishment, he indicated that the same kind of fear of punishment which once existed would benefit contemporary society.Google Scholar

111. Literaturnaia gazeta, 13 Sep. 1989, p. 2.Google Scholar

112. Yash leninchi, 29 Dec. 1989.Google Scholar

113. Komsomolets Uzbekistana, 8 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

114. Yash leninchi, 3 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar

115. The attempt to depose the mufti was even reported as successful in some of the Moscow press. See, for example, Komsomol'skaia Pravda, 9 July 1991.Google Scholar