Allah's Kolkhozes

From Revived Tradition to Innovation

Kolkhoz Islam in the Southern Kazakhstan Region and Religious Leadership (through the Cases of Zhartï-Töbe and Oranghay

since the 1950s)

Ashirbek Muminov

he Southern Kazakhstan Region has an important place in the spiritual life of the Kazakh people. Firstly, it is the location of collections of Muslim sac-

red objects that are deeply embedded in the rich religious culture of contempor-ary Kazakhstan. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was a lively regeneration of the tradition, which had ceased during the era of athe-ism, of carrying out pilgrimages (ziyarats) from all parts of Kazakhstan and neighbouring countries to holy places in the region (Subtelny 1989; Mustafina 1992; Privratsky 2001: 154-92; Jessa 2006). Secondly, during the Soviet period, one of the settlements in the Turkestan Region turned into a hotbed for the dis-semination of ideas about the Naqshbandiyya–Mujaddidiyya–Husayniyya Sufi path around Kazakhstan and the surrounding regions: the rural settlement is the location of one of the few branches of this group to have survived the many years of repression under the Soviet regime (cf. Babadjanov 1998; ibid. 2006).

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Thirdly, in the late-Soviet and present periods this region became one of the centres of traditionalist Islam in Kazakhstan. A group of Islamic activists became famous for their efforts to estabish the Ubayy ibn Ka‘b Madrasa1 and for their preaching work in different parts of Kazakhstan. Important aspect of their un-derstanding of Islam are their rejection of other forms of ‘popular Islam’ (like il-licit innovation: bid‘ats; associationism: shirk; the worship of sacred places; the honouring of the shaykh; the observance of various ceremonies, for example, fu-neral feasts for the deceased, etc.), their appeals (da‘wats) for a ‘pure Islam’, their wearing of ‘Islamic’ clothing, growing of beards, and so on. According to unveri-fied publications, the largely unstudied ‘Islamic Revival Party’ of Kazakhstan, comprising initially around 40 people, was founded in the Lenin Sovkhoz in January 1991 and existed there for around two years.2

1 Named after an associate of the Prophet Muhammad from Medina, one of the ‘col-lectors’ of the texts of the Qur’an; during one of the numerous registration and licen-cing procedures the madrasa was renamed, firstly, Tayaqtï Ishan and then, from June 2011, Sarï-Aghash.

2 Zharinov Vladimir V., Informatsionno-analiticheskii tsentr ‘Sukhbat’ (Shïmkent, Kazakhstan): http://www.ia-centr.ru/expert/4374/ (2009/09/13); http://ru.ontustik.gov.kz/view.php?id=4397 (2009/04/30).

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Fourthly, according to the stereotype which gained authority in the Soviet period, the Southern Kazakhstan Region (which emerged by that name in 1932, and was renamed the Chimkent Region between 1962 and 1992, before returning to its old denomination in 1992) was ‘one of those rare refuges of Kazakh cul-ture, Kazakh language, and traditions of an earlier way of thinking and govern-ing’. This stereotype gained purchase under the leadership of the First Secretary of the Chimkent Regional Committee of the Kazakh Communist Party, Asanbay Asqarovich Asqarov (1978–85). By contrast with the town, the Kazakh auïl is praised for having managed to preserve its traditional culture, including its reli-gious culture. The two major centres of the movement mentioned above were located in the rural Southern Kazakhstan Region. It is for this reason that we de-cided to focus our research on the evolution of Islam in two settlements ― Zhartï-Töbe in the Sarï-Aghash District and Oranghay in the Turkestan District. In these two places migrant divines from the present-day Uzbekistani town of Olti-Ariq in the Fergana Region (Farghona viloyati) and from the present-day Tajikistani city of Ura-Teppa/Istrawshan ― Tayaqtï Ishan and ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa ― established their communities of traditionalists and Sufis. Today, the followers of these two communities play an important role in the religious life of independent Kazakhstan, the largest country among the members of the Organ-isation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

1. The Documentation

Primary Sources

Given that sources of a general nature (statistical data on the development of the material and technical base of the collective and state farms, figures indicating improvements and progress in the cultural infrastructure of the village and, in particular, in the sphere of education at a regional and republican level) have been used by Soviet historians on a number of occasions,3 we decided to focus in particular on local sources, and primarily on unpublished sources. It is worth noting that in the past, Marxist scholars avoided questions pertaining to the Is-lamic religion since they were considered to be inconsistent with the spiritual exigencies of constructing communism. The sources employed in this study can be broadly divided into four groups: 1) archival; 2) oral; 3) publications of local amateur historians, which might be refered to as ‘the history of local towns and

3 See the doctoral and candidate dissertations in Kazakhstan for the period 1935-1990, Almaty: Institut istorii i etnologii imeni Valikhanova Komiteta nauki Ministerstva obrazovaniia i nauki Respubliki Kazakhstan.

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villages’; 4) contemporary Internet publications about the present-day activities of followers of Soviet-era Islamic leaders.Archival sources: As a result of preliminary interviews with the children of ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan, we learned about the existence of an atheist film about their father. Armed with this information, we were able to locate the documentary film ‘The Road from Darkness’ among the collections at the Republic of Kazakh-stan Central State Archive of Cinematographic Material and Recordings and to obtain a copy of the film.4 One of the remarkable things about this film is that it has preserved photographs of ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan for posterity. In collaboration with Aynŭr Äbdĭräsĭlqïzï, a Candidate of Philology, we were able to uncover in-formation about Ishan’s activity at the ‘Dzhambul’ Kolkhoz in the Kentau Re-gional State Archive (Kentau) and in the South Kazakhstan Regional State Archive (Shïmkent).5 The official passports (registers) of the villages for the 2010-11 period, which we found in the rural district administrations, can also be included on the list of archival sources.

In 2011, a handwritten copy of a permit for the independent recruitment of pu-pils (irshad-nama) to the Naqshbandiyya–Mujaddidiyya–Husayniyya was discov-ered among the family of Shamïrza Qari Shaqasïmov (d. 1966).6 In spite of its lim-itations, this source remains a unique document within this branch of the Sufi path. Oral sources: When conducting interviews, particular importance was placed on the contributions of the direct descendants of religious leaders, the leaders of

4 Documentary film ‘The Road from Darkness’; authors of the scenario: V. Rapoport, L. Klimov; directors: O. Zeki, B. Shabalov; producer: Alma-Atinskaia studiia dokument-al’nykh fil’mov; date of production: 1960: Tsentral’nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv kino-fotodokumentov i zvukozapisei Respubliki Kazakhstan (g. Almaty), Arkh. № 1232.

5 The account books of the Dzhambul Kolkhoz (from 1954) in the Turkestan District of the South Kazakhstan Region: Kentau Regional State Archive (hereafter KRGA), fond 92, opis' 1a, s. 7, k. 93; ibid from 1955: KRGA, F. 97, op. 1, s. 4, k. 47; Protocol of the meeting of the Dzhambul administration № 22 from 6 October 1964: KRGA, F. 43, op. 2, s. 6, k. 64; report of the Chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs in YuKO un-der the Council of Ministers of the SSSR, A. Yuldashev (1947): South Kazakhstan Re-gional State Archive (hereafter YuKOGA), F. 1353, op. 2, s. 1, k. 6; correspondence between the official Council for Religious Cults in Kazakhstan under the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Representative of the Council for Religious Cults in YuKO (from 1947, 1963, 1964): YuKOGA, F. 1353, op. 2, s. 3, k. 17; s. 4, k. 28; s. 5, k. 35; s. 5, k. 38.

6 The text was written on fabric of the sort found in administration registers from the Soviet period. The text comprises twenty-five lines. It is written in Persian. The seal of ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa was included at the end of the document. From the formula included in this seal (‘alayh al-rahma [may he have [God’s] mercy]), it is clear that the copy was produced after the death of ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa (1 April 1967). The text includes a list (silsila) of those who disseminated Sufi knowledge and the prac-tices of dhikr from the Prophet Muhammad to Ishan ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa. At the end of the document a space is left for the name of the Ishan’s successor.

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contemporary movements, and people who had had relationships with the schol-arly figures and who took direct part in the activites of the two groups in the So-viet period. Over the course of two years, the author was assisted by researchers from the two villages ― Seĭtomar Sattarov (from Sarï-Aghash), a Candidate of Historical Science, Zĭkĭrĭya Z. Zhandarbek (from Turkestan), a Candidate of Philology, Aynŭr Äbdĭräsĭlqïzï (from Astana, born in the village of Qŭsh-Ata), who consistently and by various means informed and prepared respondents par-ticipating in the research. At the same time, we recognise that many aspects of the religious life of the residents of South Kazakhstan have been documented with clarity and precision in the seminal work of the American anthropologist Bruce G. Privratsky, who worked in the region between 1991 and 1999 (Privrat-sky 2001). For this reason, we decided to concentrate on those areas that had been excluded from the research mentioned above: 1) on theological groups (Ar. halqas, lit. ‘circles’) that were active during the Soviet period;7 2) to broaden the scope of the research to include non-Kazakh language and ethnic groups (in par-ticular Uzbeks).8 The informants can be broadly divided into three groups. The first group of respondents comprises the direct descendants and followers of reli-gious leaders who generally present their activities in a rather idealistic light (through the sacralisation of their leaders). The second group of respondents oc-cupies a neutral, distanced position with regard to the ishans, and, as such, the information it provides can be considered relatively objective. The third group of respondents is made up of opponents to the theological movement at the centre of this study (critics). Publications on the history of local settlements: Books of this sort began to appear on the eve of Kazakhstan’s independence. Notably, the administrative boundar-ies of the Sarï-Aghash District changed frequently during the Soviet and current periods (on average every 5-10 years), and, as a result, the same settlements moved from one to collective or state farm to another. For this reason, the his-tory of certain settlements has been documented in books by different authors.

7 On the basis of numerous interviews conducted with ‘ordinary Kazakhs’, Privratsky concluded that no Sufi path had survived in Kazakhstan, and that, in Turkestan, people were not familiar with the ‘collections of Sufi tariqa’ (Privratsky 2001: 57, 109). Yet, the settlement of Qŭsh-Ata, which the author of the book had visited on a number of occasions, was the location for an active centre of the Naqshbandiyya.

8 The growth of ‘Kazakh religion’ in the multiethnic Turkestan Region, without taking into account the existence of Islam among local Uzbek residents, could result in the loss of several important characteristics of Islam in this region. This is even the case when, according to official statistics, Kazakhs make up the majority of the popula-tion: around 60 per cent of the population of Turkestan and 42 per cent of the Turke-stan Region (Privratsky 2001: 6, 34). In 2011, when we carried out our study, Uzbeks made up 67 per cent of the population of the Oranghay village.

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The BibliographyThere are two major works that examine the individual settlements of the Sarï-Aghash District (Ayashev 2004; Mäulen 2008).9 While the author of the first of these books focused in particular on the settlements located around the basin of the Keles River (Sulï-Keles), the second looked at the settlements of the neigh-bouring river, the Qŭrï-Keles. The valleys of these two rivers, Sulï-Keles and Qŭrï-Keles, are known locally by the common name of ‘Qos-Keles’, meaning ‘Two Keles’). Studies of the settlements of Oranghay and Qŭsh-Ata have been located under the category of ‘kolkhoz history’ published by local patriots (is-sued in Tashkent, Ämätŭlï & Nasïrŭlï 2010).10 As a rule, the authors of these books are local residents. They worked as senior specialists in the local collective and state farms. They intended to create a textual document of the unwritten history of the region.11 Most of their evidence was derived from oral sources, of-ten from conversations between the author and experts in local history (older people, former high school teachers, among others), former leaders of different statuses, etc. Nevertheless, the authors occasionally had to consult reference publications such as the ‘Collection of Decrees of the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR for 1938–1981 (Akaev, Sipovich, Iaripova 1981) and archives in Tashkent, Shïmkent, and Almatï (Ayashev 1994: 17-9).

Äkĭms (governors) of rural districts frequently sponsor publications. As a result, these publications become official history at the auïl level: at the begin-ning of a book, it is standard practice to give transcriptions of the name/names of a village/villages (this is where legends about the ancient and mediaeval his-tory of this village are also recorded); descriptions of the settlements and the wa-terways of the region are provided; the history of administrative changes that have taken place since the 1920s; the activities of leaders of different ranks are praised;12 their individual achievements in terms of improving the material con-ditions of the region are described; the books’ appendices provide the following

9 According to available information, the writer Zhaqïpbek Ayashev has collected ma-terial for a book about Tayaqtï Ishan, although his plans were never realised (oral ac-count by Rahmanberdĭ Meyĭrbekov, born 1928, resident of the village of Qŭrkeles, 2010).

10 Tŭrsïnbay Ämätŭlï is a retired teacher (Orzumetov 2010).11 Notably, Ermek Mäulen's book was published under the auspices of the Republic of

Kazakhstan State Programme ‘Cultural Heritage’ (2004-11), which announced its first goal to be the creation of a fundamentally new history of Kazakhstan (Mäulen 2008: 2). For information on the State Programme, see: http://www.madenimura.kz/ru/

12 In accordance with the trends of the time, a book was published in Shïmkent in which the biographies of ‘influential people’ from the villages studied were included: Anonymous, Оŋtüstĭk elitasï The Élite of Southern Kazakhstan, Shïmkent: Ordabasï, 2008.

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information: a number of stories about past leaders (bis, batïrs); a list of those who died on the Soviet-German front; participants in the Afghan War (1979–89); an ethnography of Kazakh (folk) rituals, traditions, and festivals; Kazakh folk-lore; a list of national educational institutions, medical services, cultural and commercial centres. At the end, short biographies of regional public figures dis-cussed in the book are provided (or a list of individuals who have obtained the status of Doctor or Candidate of Sciences; occasionally, their photographs are in-cluded), including the author (his ancestors and descendants).

The language of this genre is exclusively Kazakh. By exploiting the potential of the Kazakh language, words such as ‘kolkhoz’ collective farm, ‘sovkhoz’ state farm, and ‘predsedatel’’ chair have been replaced by the new abbrevi-ations ‘ŭzhïmshar’ (from ‘ŭzhïmdïq sharuashïlïq’ collective farm), ‘keŋshar’ (from ‘keŋestĭk sharuashïlïq’ Soviet farm), ‘tӧragha’ (from ‘tӧrdĭŋ aghasï’ the proprietor of a place of honour). Another characteristic feature of this genre is its ignorance of the actions of the collective and state farms' administrative ap-paratus: the history of the Soviet period (of the party, state, and power struc-tures), to all extents and purposes, becomes the history of rural councils (sel’sov-ets, which, during the Soviet period, had no real power or influence compared with party and economic organs), and a description of the activities of particular individuals (with the positive aspects of their reigns being loudly celebrated, while their scandals, legal proceedings, and various crimes are passed over in si-lence). Authors such as these have turned a blind eye to the former influence of communist ideology, the activities of the Communist Party and komsomol insti-tutions, which in the Soviet period were the main actors locally.

Despite the apparent ignorance of Marxist ideology among the authors of such books, the spirit of this ideology can nevertheless be felt in their writing. This is apparent from their endorsement of the idea of establishing conditions of material welfare and their prioritisation of questions of production over spiritual requirements. It is also obvious from the fact that, when talking about Islam, the authors focus only on subjects such as the calendar according to the Hijra chro-nology and the history of several local holy places. Occasionally, one can en-counter mild criticisms of the former Soviet regime. For example, authors objec-ted in particular to: a) the coercive methods by which the state loans were sold in the post-WWII period for the ‘Restoration of the national economy’: ordinary people were forced to give all of their earnings to the state; b) state fiscal policy; c) the purchasing of bread by the people, its transportation from Tashkent (par-ticularly in 1930-45) on the interregional train ‘Tashkent-Zhïlgha’, and so on (Mäulen 2008: 66-7, 108). Controversial questions concerning the activities of Is-lamic movements still remain outside these authors’ sphere of interest. From this

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point of view, it is worth setting apart a number of texts that were published in Uzbekistan. For example, in a study carried out by the Chancellor of the Tash-kent Higher Islamic Institute Dr Haydarkhon Yo’ldoshkho’jayev, the biography and activities of Ibrahim Hazrat Mamatqulov (1937–2009), the former pĭr (Elder) of the Naqshbandiyya–Mujaddidiyya–Husayniyya Sufi path, are carefully docu-mented over a long period of time. However, the book is influenced by the ideas of critics of the ‘non-Islamic’ tendencies (from the point of view of Muslim juris-prudence, fiqh) in the Sufi master’s work (cf. Iuldoshkhuzhaev 2010).

Internet publications: There are a large number of publications on the Inter-net concerning active groups of followers of the Islamic leaders examined in the two case studies. These are most probably the work of the groups’ adversaries and opponents who groundlessly accuse them of all sorts of sins: Wahhabism, Salafism, radicalism, the worship of saints, the zombification of their followers, sectarianism, etc. In these anonymous publications, the political question is para-mount, with the result that everything is interpreted from the point of view of the threat it poses to the security of the region, creating mounting hysteria about the interference of ‘certain foreign powers’, and the like.

2. Elements of Agrarian History

The village of Zhartï-Töbe

The village (auïl) of Zhartï-Töbe is located in the southern half of the Sarï-Aghash District (audan) of the Southern Kazakhstan Region (oblïs, from Russian oblast’) in the Republic of Kazakhstan. At present, it has the official status of ‘rural district’ (auïl okrugĭ). The village is located in the valley of the River Keles, which flows through the part of the Kazakh territory that is parallel to the town of Tashkent on the northeast side. This river empties into the ‘Shardara’ reser-voir, which is located in the lower reaches of the Kazakh territory and connects with the major river Syr-Darya. The village, like all of the Sarï-Aghash District, 13 is located right on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the location

13 The territory in this district makes up part of the Keles District, which was establish-ed 17 January 1928. The district was established under its current name on 19 Octo-ber 1939 as a result of the restructuring of Keles District. In 1990, there were a total of four collective farms (ŭzhïmshar) and eight Soviet farms (keŋshar) within the Sarï-Aghash District. The territory of the district comprises 7,613,000 square kilometres. The entire length of the region’s border with Uzbekistan is 133 kilometres. The dis-trict has borders with the Shardara, Otïrar, and Qazïqŭrt Districts of the South Kaza-khstan Region. It comprises 24 rural districts and one village. In total, 213,400 people live in the rural area. As far as the nationality of the population is concerned, 88 per cent are Kazakhs, 3.9 per cent Uzbeks, 2.6 per cent Tajiks, 0.9 per cent Russians, and 4.6 per cent of other nationalities.

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of the main transport gates between the internal regions of Central Asia and the Great Steppe (Kazakhstan), and the point of origin for roads that eventually lead to the Russian Federation. It is easy to reach Tashkent by car, public transport, and by a number of different railway lines. The distance from the village to the capital of Uzbekistan overland varies from 12 to 15 kilometres in different places. The western border of the village is also close to the regional centre, the town of Sarï-Aghash (6-7 km). Other settlements located around Zhartï-Töbe include Nŭrlï-Zhol, Sarï-Aghash, Darkhan, Karl-Marx, Zhaŋa-Talap, Kök-Terek, Tegĭs-shĭl, Chicherino, Lenin-Zholï, Qŭrïq-Say, Zholbasshï and Qaplanbek.

In the past, the village of Zhartï-Töbe was part of the ‘Lenin’ Sovkhoz. The territory of the sovkhoz comprised three thousand hectares. The village was made up of four settlements (eldĭ meken, auïl) which, before the administrative reforms of 1996, had the status of ‘departments’ (bölĭmshe) within the ‘Lenin’ Sovkhoz: 1) Ïntïmaq (from Kazakh meaning ‘harmony’; the old names were ‘First of May’, ‘May First’, ‘Mayday’, Zhartï-Töbe, and in local parlance ‘the centre’); 2) Qŭrama (from Kazakh meaning ‘population of mixed tribal origin’) ; 3) Töŋkerĭs (the old Soviet name, which translates ‘revolution’); 4) Dostïq (from Kazkakh meaning ‘friendship’, formerly ‘Stakhanov’).

Today sixteen thousand people live in Zhartï-Töbe. The local population principally comprises Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Tajiks. Kazakhs make up the major-ity of the population. Kazakhs are divided into tribal groups (Sĭrgelĭ, Shaŋïshqïlï, Qoŋïrat, Qŭrama and Qozha). Latterly, the number of Kazakhs has risen. Ka-zakhs from Tajikistan (twenty families from the Istrawshan area) and Uzbekistan moved to the region as part of the ‘Oralman’ Programme.14 Tajiks also live in the region (37% of the total population).15 They have two separate schools where

14 On 18 November 1991, a month before Kazakhstan gained independence, the Kazakh government passed the Resolution on the Procedures and Conditions of Relocation to the Kazakh SSR for Persons of Kazakh Ethnicity from Other Republics and Abroad Willing to Work in Rural Areas ― aimed not only to regulate the migration of Kaza-khs to Kazakhstan, but also to develop the Kazakh auïl (village) and agricultural in-dustry complex, which was then facing a deep crisis. Oralmans are seen as foreign or stateless persons of Kazakh nationality who at the time of Kazakhstan’s declaration of independence were residing outside of the country and moved there permanently as a result of article 1 of the Population Migration Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan № 204 dated 13 December 1997 (http://www.undp.kz/library_of_publications/files/ 6838-29587.pdf).

15 Tajiks were resettled in Zhartï-Töbe in 1953–57 (the ‘Ïntïmaq’ department) from the villages of Baghistan, Nanay, Pskam, Kaptarkumushtan in the Bostandïq District of the South Kazakhstan Region (in 1957, the Bostandïq District was made part of Uz-bekistan and was renamed the ‘Bustanliq’ region) with the goal of stimulating agri-cultural development, in particular cotton growing. Another part of the Tajik popula-tion from the village of Bruchmulla in the Bostandïq District was resettled in the

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teaching is conducted in Tajik, one mosque (Nawabad) and their own imams. During the Second World War, several Qarashay families were sent here, as well as Poles, who returned to their homeland in 1957. A number of Uzbeks and Rus-sians lived and continue to live in the region.

Among the Kazakhs, the ‘khwaja’ (in Kazakh: qozha)16 and ‘qŭrama’ sub-ethnic groups deserve particular attention. The total number of qozha house-holds is 700 (around three thousand people). They live closely together, occupy-ing just seven roads. While the qozha and qŭrama are Kazakhs by culture, and Kazakh is the nationality specified in their passports, they are not included in the three zhüz that comprise the basis of the Kazakh nation. Moreover, in traditional Kazakh Muslim communities, qozha are honoured as the descendants of ‘early

‘Il’ich’ Department (now the auïl ‘Eŋkes’) of the ‘Karl Marx’ State Farm (oral account by Tŭrsïn Khan Qazhï Nŭrmanov, b. 1948, head of the Zhartï-Töbe village council, May 2011). The other large part of the Tajik population ended up in the Maqta-Aral and Zhetï-Say Districts of the South Kazakhstan Region. The official reason for the resettlement was ‘the development of agriculture’ and ‘the development of the Mïrza-Shöl Steppe’ (‘Hunger Steppe’). Highly qualified workers from different re-gions of the Russian Federation were resettled on the territory they had previously occupied. As a result of their work, the Sharbaq water resevoir and the hydro-electri-city plant on the Shïrshïq River were built. In the Soviet period, Tajiks went to uni-versity in Dushanbe, in Tajikistan; today they study in Kazakhstan itself. Interest-ingly, Tajiks never went to university in Uzbekistan. Many regional-level imams in present-day Kazakhstan come from this group. At the beginning of 2009, a total of 29,742 Tajiks were living in the South Kazakhstan region. Of these, 19,932 lived in the Maqta-Aral District, and 6,757 in the Sarï-Aghash District.

16 In traditional Muslim Kazakh communities, the Qozhas had and continue to have the function of divines. The composition of the Qozhas in the Sarï-Aghash District is heterogeneous as a result of their provenance. The largest part of the group was re-settled (as part of the class of ‘spiritual exploiters’) in the 1920s and 1930s from the ‘Qozha-Toghay’ auïl in the Otïrar District of the South Kazakhstan Region, which is located in the basin of the middle reaches of the Syr-Darya River. The other smaller part of the Qozhas (from the former pĭrs of the Kazakh tribes, who lived uninterrup-tedly in town) arrived from Tashkent. At the moment, the qozha live in the villages of the Sarï-Aghash area – Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs (‘New Life’, which was originally called ‘Qïdïr Qïstaq’, 350 families, the Qozhas make up 100 per cent of the population of the village), Zor-Töbe (1,500 people, Qozhas also make up 100 per cent of the population of the village), 13th Anniversary of Kazakhstan (150 families), Qaplanbek (120 famil-ies), Zhartï-Töbe (700 families), Qaraqalpaq, Shïmïrbay, Zhïlgha (together these vil-lages comprise 50 families), Zhemĭstĭ (30 families), Derbĭsek (30 families), Aqzhar (five families), the town of Sarï-Aghash (50 families), Karl-Marx (now called Aqniyet, 50 families), Eŋkes (formerly called ‘Il’ich’, 30 families; total number of people living in the village: 4,125), Kök-Terek (30 families), the outskirts of Keles (100 families; oral information from Zŭpar Ïsmailov, 1945, resident of the village of Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs in the Sarï-Aghash Region, former director of a middle school, now retired). The holy place of Niyaz Qozha, the ancestor of many local qozha families, is located in the auïl named after the 13th Anniversary of Kazakhstan (Ayashev 1994: 39).

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316Kazakhstan SW


Arabs’, ‘teachers of Islam’, and ‘the disseminators of Islam’. As our research de-monstrated, the qozha made up a significant group among the students of Tay-aqtï Ishan, in particular his main student sayyid khwaja/seyĭt qozha Shäkĭr Ishan Smanov (d. 1995) and four of his sons.

In Zhartï-Töbe, there are seven comprehensive schools, one nursery school, one House of Culture, three baths, two cafés, and ten shops.

The ‘Sarï-Aghash’ Madrasa (at different times called ‘Ubayy ibn Ka‘b’ and ‘Tayaqtï Ishan’) is located in the Ïntïmaq settlement within Zhartï-Töbe. There is one mosque in the villages of Töŋkerĭs and Stakhanov, two in the village of Qŭrama, and eleven in the village of Ïntïmaq.

The Village of Oranghay The village of Oranghay is located in the Turkestan District of the South Kaza-khstan Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan and is administratively subordin-ated to the äkimat (governorate) of the town of Turkestan. It is located fifteen kilometres to the southeast of the latter, the regional capital and a major reli-gious centre. The village is located between the two main towns in the region, which have the status of ‘regional subordinates’: Turkestan and Kentau (the dis-tance between them is 34 kilometres). The village is the location of a number of objects of archaeological interest: Oranghay (thirteenth to eighteenth century), Qos-Qorghan (thirteenth to eighteenth century), Qaz-Töbe (sixth to second cen-tury BC), Kül-Töbe (thirteenth to eighteenth century), Qŭsshï Ata (seventh to eighteenth century), Meyram Töbe (fifth to fourth century BC), Qotïr Bŭlaq (first to fourth century). These objects testify to the length of time the village has exis-ted here. Today the village has the status of ‘rural district’ (auïl okrugĭ). We met with the äkĭm of the auïl okrugĭ, Mrs Dĭl’dakül Akhmetova (head of the district since 2008), who provided us with the following information. The rural district of Oranghay is made up of three villages (eldĭ meken): 1) Oranghay itself; 2) Bostandïq (Qŭsh-Ata); 3) Qos-Qorghan. Until 2010, the ‘Shobanaq’ eldĭ meken was also included in the district. However, this is now part of the neighbouring rural district of Yassï.

Three enterprises make up the economic basis of life in the village: one re-pair workshop, one wood-processing, one asphalt factory and 206 agricultural units. The villages are irrigated with water from the ‘Qos-Qorghan’ reservoir, which is located above the village. The total territory of the village comprises 3819.4 hectares. Of this, 1856 hectares is made up of irrigated land and 122 hec-tares of orchards.

The village is made up of a total of 1,265 households, and 7,445 people live

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on the territory. The composition of the population is 32% Kazakh, 67% Uzbek, and 1% other.17

The social infrastructure comprises fifteen shops, two baths, one café, two canteens, one pharmacy, three comprehensive schools (1,724 students study and 175 teachers teach in these institutions),18 three libraries (in Oranghay, Qŭsh-Ata, and Qos-Qorghan; the total number of books at these libraries is 29,466), one club, one hospital, one family clinic, and three post-offices.19 At one time, a kolkhoz archive existed but unfortunately it was completely destroyed in a fire in 1958.

The auïl of Qŭsh-Ata is administratively subordinated to the rural district of Oranghay. Qŭsh-Ata is located 22 kilometres from Turkestan. 239 families live in the auïl, and the total population is 1,250. 45 agricultural units are in operation. The other part of the village, the settlement (eldĭ meken) ‘Qŭsh-Ata’ (the river, which flows through the middle of the village, constitutes the boundary) is ad-ministratively subordinated to the rural district of ‘Qarnaq’, which, in turn, com-prises parts of the town of Kentau.

Eleven nationalities make up the population of Oranghay and Qŭsh-Ata. The largest of these are the Kazakhs and the Uzbeks. They fall into 25 groups: Zhet-ĭmder, Qozha (within the Qozha, there are the subgroups of the Qŭsh-Ata qozhasï, Shaykhtar, Oranghay qozhasï, Seyĭt qozha, Zhaŋa-Qorghan qozhasï ― in all 100 qozha families in Oranghay) and the Tama.

The Uzbeks include the groups of the Mashaq, Zhĭyenbet, Tabrizi,20 Iqandïq, Nädĭr, Barlas and Palwan. The Tajiks comprise individual families.

There are three officially registered mosques in Oranghay (Mahmüt Ata, Aghzam Ata and Tömengĭ Özen).

17 Information acquired from Farhad Baymetov, advisor to the äkĭm (governor) of the rural district of Oranghay, May 2011. A total of 401,630 Uzbeks were living in the South Kazakhstan Region in 2009.

18 There were 640 places at the Mukhtar-Auezov comprehensive school in 1977. Today 1,093 pupils study there. The Mŭstafa Qazïbekov School was built in 1989 and has 300 places. In reality, 345 students study there. The third school, which is named after Qos-Qorghan, was built back in 1963, and has 180 places. 341 pupils study there. A quick survey reveals that the number of places available at schools is too small to keep up with the growing population.

19 In the registraton certificate of the rural district that we were shown by the äkimat, it was stated that there were three postal departments and a telephone exchange with 270 subscribers. In the village, there are also 361 cordless telephones but there is no mobile network antenae. By contrast with the village of Zhartï-Töbe, there are no gas facilities, email, mobile networks or other means of communication in the village. This is a reflection of the relative isolation of the village from the rest of the world.

20 They also live in neighbouring village of Qarnaq (Orzumetov 2010: 27).

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History of the Lenin Sovkhoz in the Zhartï-Töbe Village

In the early Soviet period, the territory of Zhartï-Töbe comprised parts of the auïl №. 12 of the ‘Tash-Qazaq’ District (the short form of ‘Tashkent Qazaq’).21 In 1926, the administrative centre of the district was moved to the village of Chicherino in the vicinity of Sarï-Aghash. The ruins of a mediaeval settlement (an archaeological site) by the name of ‘Zhartï-Töbe’, which literally means ‘Half Elevation’ are loc-ated on the territory of Zhartï-Töbe. The name ‘Elevation’ comes from the fact that half of the settlement was constantly hidden by the water of the River Keles, which runs alongside it. A caravansaray, tearooms and customs station is located 300-400 metres from the Elevation. In the past, travellers and merchants travelling to the city of Tashkent from the West would stop here. The ancient burial ground ‘Bes Sheyĭt’ (‘Five Martyrs’) is also located here.22 In the post-Soviet period, a major complex of Muslim educational institutions emerged in the area.

During collectivisation, the small kolkhozes of ‘Zhartï-Töbe’, ‘Qŭrama’, and ‘Töŋkerĭs’ were established on the basis of auïl villages. The main form of farm-ing in these areas was transhumance. During the winter season, the cattle were kept in the kolkhoz farms, and in the summer season they were put out to pas-ture. The pasture was located on both sides of the village: the steppe side (in the direction of Zhïlgha and Shardara) and the mountainous side (higher up the River Keles on the side of the mountain ranges of Qazïqŭrt region).

One can agree with the general conclusions of Soviet scholars and propa-ganda literature of the Soviet period about improvements to the material welfare of the lower strata of village residents. There is no doubt that the level of general education also improved. However, there was no dramatic change in the people’s quality of life. As the survey we carried out among residents of the village be-tween 2010 and 2011 shows, firstly, a large part of the nomadic population (Ka-zakhs) shifted to a sedentary way of life in restricted territories. There was little land available in the area for farming, but there were many cattle. The seasonal movement of the cattle to the mountainous region of the Qazïqŭrt region or the steppe did not resolve the situation, and new difficulties emerged (many of the cattle were lost; various financial schemes were hatched by people involved in farm life; the conditions of life for shepherds remained difficult, and so on). Thus, the categorical rejection of traditional forms of farming turned out to be a mistake. Secondly, attempts to increase productivity and improve the quality of

21 As a result of the demarcation between the volost’s of the Tashkent and Mirzachul Districts that had separated from the Kazakh SSR and the volost’s of the Samarqand Region, the Tash-Kazakh (Tashkent-Kazakh) District and 17 volost’s were created within the Syr-Darya Governorate in early November 1924 (Tapalov 2006: 52-53).

22 The local Qozhas tend to interpret the name as ‘Bes Seĭt’ (‘Five Sayyids’).

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livestock at the expense of breeding work did not produce positive results as a consequence of the differences in climate between the region (extreme contin-ental, dry climate) and those places (in Europe) where high-yielding animals were bought and produced. Thirdly, the natural growth in population each year meant that even the small achievements produced through the hard work of the collective farm workers had no effect. Thus, the rejection of animal husbandry as a branch of farming and the decision to change to agricultural farming was an indication of the first ‘cracks’ in the councils’ effort to achieve ‘a great leap for -ward’ in the quality of life of the collective farm workers.

Those who participated in our survey put particular stress on the collective nature of the work and the appropriation of that collective work by individuals. Officials played an important role in the life of the collective farm. It became standard that, whenever the occasion arose, the chairman would claim any ma-terial or other benefit for himself. At the same time, he was entrusted with the task of supporting officials at a lower level ― the senior accountant, agronomist, livestock expert, party committee members. Officials at different levels broke the rules in different ways: they kept private cattle in the kolkhoz otar, they cooked the books or concocted financial schemes, etc.

After 1953, the authorities made attempts to address the increasingly obvi-ous crisis in the work of collective farms. Among these were measures such as the enlargement of the kolkhoz, the adaptation of the kolkhoz economy from an-imal husbandry to agriculture and the transformation of kolkhozes into sov-khozes (at one point, the kolkhoz workers were transformed into advanced ranks of agricultural ‘workers’). Following the reforms enlarging the size of farms in 1953, the kolkhozes ‘Töŋkerĭs’ and ‘Qŭrama’ were combined to form the new kolkhoz ‘Töŋkerĭs’. In 1957, three collective farms, ‘Qŭrama’, ‘Töŋkerĭs’, and ‘Pervo-Maiskii’ and the ‘Stakhanovskoe’ section were turned into the ‘Lenin’ de-partment, and were all included within the large ‘Karl-Marx’ Sovkhoz.

The name ‘Karl-Marx’ appeared in local history for the first time in 1938. Be-fore that time, the ‘Eŋkes’ Kolkhoz located in the auïl was named after the Ka-zakh statesman and former chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Kazakh SSR (1929–38), Oraz Isaev (1899–1939). However, as a result of him being named an ‘enemy of the people’ and following his execution, the kolkhoz was renamed ‘Karl-Marx’. Kazakhs from the Qozha, Qoŋïrat and Qaŋlï tribes lived in the kolkhoz. In 1955, 60 families of Tajiks and 20 families of Kyrgyz were sent here from the Bostandïq area of the South Kazakhstan region.23 In 1957 the Karl-Marx and Zhaŋa-Arïq auïls were combined into the ‘Il’ich’ department.

23 At the beginning of 2000, the number of families had reached 100 (Mäulen 2008: 27).

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The enlarged ‘Karl-Marx’ Sovkhoz was established in March 1957 as a result of the unification of twenty collective farms24 and the Keles MTS.25 The sovkhoz existed for 38 years (1957–95). During this time, the total number of livestock reached 25,000, among which there were 20,000 sheep and 2,500 pigs. In recogni-tion of this achievement, the director of the sovkhoz received the ‘Hero of So-cialist Labour’ prize in 1967.

In April 1995, by decision of the Government of Kazakhstan, the property of the Karl-Marx Kolkhoz was privatized. It was divided between the workers in the sovkhoz according to their level of pay and their length of service. The work-ers combined their property to create the Karl-Marx manufacturing cooperative, which ceased to exist in 2007 as a result of members leaving the cooperative with their land and property. The collapse of the cooperative was already evi-dent in 2000, at which point most members had left.

In December 1963 something happened that contradicted an earlier decision adopted by the party: the ‘Lenin’ department was expelled from the enlarged ‘Karl-Marx’ Sovkhoz. It was re-established as the independent ‘Lenin’ Sovkhoz. The reason for this curious development was to create a special sovkhoz in order to develop agriculture. To facilitate this, irrigated, high-yielding lands in the sovkhoz were set apart. Bilal Temurovich Gadzhiev was named director of the new sovkhoz. Later, an appointee of the Centre, V. P. Kuz’min, assumed the role. It is worth noting that while the collective comprised 100% of local Muslims, the management posts were all occupied by individuals of Slavic nationalities. In 1982 the settlement ‘Kӧk-Terek’ which now has the status of ‘kent’ (small town) was separated from the ‘Lenin’ Sovkhoz.

The gulf between words and deeds generated strong doubts about the ideals propagated in communist teaching among dutiful and critically thinking indi-viduals. Firstly, according to some respondents, the loss or absence of faith in communist ideals led to terrible moral decline, and a partial disappearance of tra-

24 The following kolkhozes, which, up until this point had been served by the Keles Ma-chine Tractor Station, were included in the new sovkhoz: 1) Stalin; 2) Alghabas; 3) Orta-Töbe; 4) Zhaŋa-Talap; 5) Qïzïl-Qazaqstan; 6) Kaganovich; 7) Tegĭsshĭl; 8) Mädenĭyet; 9) Taskesken; 10) Krasin; 11) Udarnik; 12) Karl-Marx; 13) Zhaŋa-Arïq; 14) Töŋkerĭs; 15) Qŭrama; 16) Pervoe-Maia; 17) Stakhanov; 18) Internatsional; 19) Il’ich; 20) Lenin-Zholï (Мäulen 2008: 38).

25 MTS – Machine Tractor Station: Three MTSs existed in this district – in the Keles, Tobolino, and Bostandïq areas. They were established in 1929 in order to provide new collective farms with support. In the 1930s and 1940s, tractors from the foreign manufacturer ‘Fordson’ were used. Later, Soviet tractors from the Kharkov, Stalin-grad, and Cheliabinsk manufacturers appeared, although these were undermined by serious technological shortcomings. Individuals of Slavic nationality from the Altai region of Russia were sent here to work at these MTS (Мäulen 2008: 38-41).

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ditional ethical norms. It prompted displays of public hypocrisy. Among the so-cial malaises that afflicted the community were, among others, drunkenness, al-coholism, sodomy, theft, nepotism and bribery. Secondly, events in the life of collective farm workers such as death, serious illness, and the loss of a child (when Soviet doctors were not in a fit state to help) were critical factors in the growth and support for traditional religion. Despite prohibitions, everyone, apart from members of the party committee bureau, began to attend public events such as funerals (zhanaza) and funeral repasts (qŭdayï). Thus, despite its appar-ent loss of status, especially in the academic context, Islam maintained its strong position in society.

In the years of ‘stagnation’ and perestroika, the authorities made various at-tempts to prevent the collapse of the farming sector. Nevertheless, the measures they used were poorly conceived and eclectic, and eventually resulted in col-lapse. Between 1994 and 1996, all sovkhozes and kolkhozes were officially dis-banded, and the land and property of the ‘Lenin’ Sovkhoz was privatised. At-tempts were made to organise a cooperative, in which former sovkhoz managers and workers could participate with their plots of land and property. However, this attempt quickly failed and an administrative entity ― the rural district of ‘Zhartï-Töbe’ ― appeared in the place of the ‘Lenin’ Sovkhoz.

The economy of the sovkhoz: In the winter season the sovkhoz animals were kept in farms, and in the summer season they were sent to zhaylau (trans-humance) in the mountainous region (60 kilometres higher up the Keles River) or on the steppe (40-60 kilometres in the direction of the Zhïlgha and Shardara areas). In the long term, animal husbandry took second place to agricultural farming. More vegetables began to be planted and more fruit orchards were es-tablished. The cultivation of agricultural products took place in the cities of Tashkent, Sarï-Aghash, and Shïmkent. Today, most of the population works in agriculture, cultivating vegetables and fruit.

In connection with the partial closure of the border with Uzbekistan and the complication of customs procedures after 1991, the market for agricultural pro-ducts began to be orientated towards the domestic regions of Kazakhstan. Part of the population went to work in cities (Tashkent, Sarï-Aghash and Shïmkent). With the appearance and functioning of state borders, the lifestyle of villagers changed dramatically: the local population began to get involved in border trade, contraband goods and, according to rumour, even the illegal transport of prohib-ited goods.

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History of the Dzhambul Kolkhoz (Oranghay)

From the beginning of the collectivisation of agriculture, small artel’s and kolk-hozes were created on the territory of the auïls and qishlaqs of the Turkestan Re-gion. For example, in 1929, the ‘Ïntïmaq’ (‘Harmony’) Kolkhoz was established in the village of Oranghay. In 1928, the ‘Bostandïq’ Kolkhoz, which existed until 1957, was established in Qŭsh-Ata.

However, the government’s repressive actions provoked many uprisings in South Kazakhstan. A major demonstration took place in 1950 in the Sozaq Dis-trict of the Sїr-Darya District, which is located alongside the Turkestan Region, the focus of this study. This demonstration was sparked by the mass confiscation of property and the surplus-appropriation system, as well as the construction of several concentration camps for dispossessed kulaks and their families, which began in 1928. According to official documents, more than 2,000 people particip-ated in the demonstrations. On 7 February, the demonstrators, led by Sŭltanbek Sholaqov, stormed the village of Sozaq and freed their relatives who were being held there. The local police were quickly disarmed, a number of officials and act-ivists were killed, and around 20 people were arrested. The uprising was led by Sŭltanbek Sholaqov, who was elected khan, and his assistant ‘Ali Asadulla, Bey-senbayev (the former head of the local police department), Kuzhak (a former po-lice officer), D. Atinbaev, and K. Zholshiyev, S. Shalїmbetov, A. Dyuganov, O. Orazbayev and T. Ayubekov. The rebels, apart from the khan, elected a women’s council and a Biy Court. Using the slogans ‘Down with the Soviet Government!’, ‘Long live the Khan Government!’, and ‘Long live the Kazakh Government!’, the rebels sent messages to the neighbouring regions. For example, in the Qarnaq auïl, part of the population, having joined in the rebellion, killed the first Chair-man of the kolkhoz, named Atabay. As a result the auïl was for many years called ‘Atabay’ (Galiev 2009: 245 ff.), and it was only in the post-Soviet period that its old name, Qarnaq, was returned.

In 1938, the ‘Ïntïmaq’ Kolkhoz was renamed the ‘Dzhambul’ Kolkhoz (in Kazakh ‘Zhambïl’) after the famous Kazakh Soviet poet Zhambïl Zhabayev (1846-1945).

A major event in the region was the founding of Kentau, a city of miners and mountain workers, in August 1955. The town was given the same status as Moscow in terms of supplies. As a result of the founding of the town, a highway was constructed through Oranghay and Qŭsh-Ata.

In 1957, the four neighbouring kolkhozes (‘Bostandïq’ in the village of Qŭsh-Ata, ‘Eŋbekshĭ-Diqan’, Qos-Qorghan’, and ‘Zhambïl’ in the village of Oranghay) were united in one major kolkhoz by the name of ‘Zhambïl’. The kolkhoz pro-

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duced agricultural goods. For example, in the 1970s, in one year it produced 5,000 tonnes of grain, 4,000 tonnes of cotton, 600 tonnes of watermelons, 300 tonnes of potatoes, 350 tonnes of corn, 250 tonnes of grapes, 620 tonnes of meat, 1400 tonnes of milk, 3500 Astrakhan sheep skins, 450 tonnes of wool and 250 quintals of cocoons. The main types of agricultural productions were thus wheat and cotton.

Between 1991 and 1996, the chairman of the kolkhoz was Toqtamŭrat Kha-tanbayev, who, at the end of his career, was responsible for the reformation of the kolkhoz. Five cooperatives appeared in place of the kolkhoz, its land was di-vided between 1100 families. In 1994, the chairman of the auïl village council began to be called the äkĭm of the auïl district.

During the years of the Terror, most of the local Islamic experts had been physically eliminated and, as a number of respondents noted, the ‘elders’ who had knowledge of traditional religion have almost all died. When the new gener-ation of Soviet young people needed to find something out about Islam, they consulted religious authorities from other regions. Among them was one of the lesser-studied major figures of the Soviet 1940s and 1950s, Tayaqtï Ishan.

3. Men of Islam and Their Congregations

Tayaqtï Ishan and the Qozhas of Sarï-Aghash

One of our respondents, Sälĭm Bürkĭtbayev, born 1937, resident of the village of Zhĭbek-Zholï, who knew Tayaqtï Ishan personally and was in contact with him between 1949 and 1956, informed us of his real name — Zhünĭs [Yunus] Töre.26 The existing members of the family of Shäkĭr Ishan Smanov (‘Abd al-Jabbar and 'Abd al-Sattar Smanov) knew him by the name of ‘Ata-Allah Qari. It is likely that ‘Zhünĭs’ was Tayaqtï Ishan’s real name, and ‘Ata-Allah Qari’ was his honorary title. Uzbeks also called him ‘Tura Buva’. Given that in the Fergana Valley ‘töre’ is the name given to sayyids (descendants of Prophet Muhammad), it can be con-cluded that Zhünĭs Töre was a sayyid. Nevertheless, most respondents (Kazakhs) believe that he was an ordinary Uzbek, and not a distinguished sayyid. Until evidence is uncovered concerning the genealogy of Tayaqtï Ishan, the question of his sayyid origins will remain open.

Zhünĭs Töre was born around 1875 in the Altï-Arïq area of the Fergana Re-gion. He studied in Bukhara.27 For a long time he lived in Altï-Arïq (‘Abd al-Sat-

26 Töre or Tura literally means ‘lord’. In the region where nomadic culture is dominant (Kazakhstan), this word is used to refer to descendants of Genghis Khan, in the Fer-gana Valley — it is a synonym of the word sayyid.

27 According to one respondent, he taught at the Mir-i ‘Arab Madrasa in Bukhara for 45

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tar Smanov believes that he was also connected with Marghilan, since he had the nisba [place name] of Marghinani/Marghilani). He had a wife and son.28 It is dif-ficult to determine the approximate date and reasons for his exile from his homeland in the Fergana Valley. All of the respondents sketched the same scene: during the repression of the Basmachi Movement in Fergana, he supported the Red Army in the belief that, if the teaching of communism was concerned with ordinary people, the poor, the oppressed, and orphans, if it strove for social equality, then it must correspond with the basic postulates of the Qur’an. After the beginning of the repressions and unjust actions on the part of the Soviets, he was forced to leave the Fergana Valley (‘qughïnda boldї’ [was sent into exile]), following strong criticism from the local population for his former position on Soviet ideology. Zhünĭs Töre was not able to return to his homeland until 1953.

Initially, he lived in the Qoylïq area of the Tashkent Region, which is located on the road to the Uzbek capital from the direction of the Fergana Valley. Later, he moved to the settlement of Kӧk-Terek in the Keles District of the Zangi-Ata Region of the Uzbek SSSR, near to the Sarï-Aghash District of the Kazakh SSR. 29 Here he settled down in the home of an elderly woman (Tayaqtï Ishan’s students called her ‘aya’ [lady]), and got married to her. This family also included the wo-man’s daughter from a former marriage. She did not have any children by Tay-aqtï Ishan. Tayaqtï Ishan adopted an orphan of Uzbek origin by the name of Ma-lik (‘Abd al-Malik Ishan, born in Khwarezm, also from the töre status group). From this time, he lived with his family in the settlement of Qŭrama (Zhartï-Töbe), where he died in 2008. After his death, Malik Ishan was buried in the Bes Seyĭt graveyard next to Tayaqtï Ishan.

Respondents mentioned two places where he could often be found: the cent-ral mosque of the ‘Spiritual Board of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakh-stan’ (SADUM, 1943-92) on the Hast-Imam Square in Tashkent, where he went to attend Friday prayers (zhum‘a namazï) and the bazaar in the Old Town of Tashkent (Eski Juwa), where he would go begging (duanashïlïq zhasadï, tĭlen-shĭlĭk qïldï, qayïr-sadaqa sŭradï: played the holy fool, went begging, sought alms). They also mentioned another dervish hostelry (khanaqah, destroyed un-der state orders in 1962) on the outskirts of the bazaar, where in the attic space

years. When he was mistakenly executed in 1959 in Qara-Saray (a region located in the north of Tashkent), he was 99 years old (oral source from Smanov ‘Abd al-Jabbar, born 1960, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, 2011).

28 It is said that his son held an important post in the party, either in the Fergana Val-ley, or in the Navo’iy Region of the Uzbek SSR.

29 Oral account by Aydaraliyev Qayumjon, born 1924, former resident of Zhartï-Töbe, personal acquaintance of Tayaqtï Ishan for 10 years, now a resident of Tashkent, June 2011.

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on the second floor he rummaged through heaps of old papers and fragments of ancient Muslim handwritten books. He had great respect for these handwritten books, the paper (Pers. qaghaz) medium of information. Up until the formation of the SADUM this mosque was, to all extents and purposes, the most important one in Tashkent. People brought and left books in the mosque that had been copied out in Arabic script, fearing what would happen to their families if they were caught with ‘illicit literature’. The earliest date recorded in connection with his presence at the bazaar (Eski Juwa) in the Old Town of Tashkent is 1946.30

Tayaqtï Ishan publically adopted the outward behaviour ‘diwana’ (in Kazakh ‘duana’, the fool for Allah): he would sit atop a ‘wooden horse’ (holding a stick with the skull of a horse stuck on the top — this was the source of his nickname ‘Tayaqtї’), shout ‘giddyup!’ to his ‘horse’ and swear loudly.31 On his shoulder, he always carried a dirty cotton bag (qap) filled with rubbish. Children would con-stantly run after him, little boys would throw stones at him and make fun of his ridiculous appearance. He would keep what people gave to him in his bag, and later give it away to the needy. He acted very strangely: he would ask for money (aqsha), objects (zat), food (tamaq, qauïn) and then would throw everything people had given him over his head, behind him (artïna shashïp ketedĭ). He would get up early in the morning and before the morning prayers (bamdad) would wake everyone up, calling them loudly to prayers. The pinnacle of this strange public behaviour was when, together with his students Manap Sopï Ibra-gimov, known as ‘Qarasaqal’ (born in 1927) and Shäkĭr Ishan Smanov (born in 1916, or, according to his passport, 1924), he gave out pieces of dry clay to people performing their ritual ablutions in the toilet of the mosque (taharat khana) be-fore the Friday prayers in Hast-Imam.

According to people who knew Tayaqtï Ishan well, in private he used to wear glasses and spend the whole night reading books, he dressed simply, was a neat and tidy person, and kept a neat beard. He had great physical strength: re -spondents remembered an occasion when he miraculously lifted a heavy exercise weight. In a moral sense, Tayaqtï Ishan stood out for his exceptional integrity, something that was reflected in his reserved attitude to young people (‘äyelge qŭshtarlïghï zhoq edĭ’). In conversations with his students, he radiated know-ledge and gave detailed answers to any question that he was asked. When he gave his sermons, he sat on his haunches and did not leave the room, even to re -lieve himself (‘quïghï mekem edĭ’). He spoke gently with his interlocutors, in

30 Oral account by Qazaqbay Khojayev, born 1938, resident of the settlement of Zhĭbek-Zholï in the Sarï-Aghash region, imam of the village mosque, 2011

31 All of the respondents without exception attested to the fact that his favourite word was ‘jalab’ — ‘cunt’).

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their own language. Tayaqtï Ishan was highly proficient in Uzbek, Kazakh, Rus-sian and Korean. He was also able to read Islamic books in the main languages of Islam (Arabic, Persian and Turkic).

Tayaqtï Ishan visited the settlement of Zhĭbek-Zholï (formerly called ‘Qïsh-Köpĭr’, ‘Cherniaevka, ‘Poltoratskoe’) in 1948. He brought here Bürkĭtbay Nazï-mov (1896-1990), the father of Sälĭm Bürkĭtbayev and a qozha (seyĭt) by birth. The latter was an influential person: in 1941-45, he worked as the chairman of the collective farms ‘Aghanay’, ‘13th Anniversary of the Kazakh SSR’, and ‘Voro-shilov’. In 1949, Bürkĭtbay opened a traditional tearoom in Cherniaevka. At this time, Tayaqtï Ishan was renting an apartment in the house of Täzhĭbay. Here, he became intimately acquainted with one of Bürkĭtbay’s relatives (the father of his spouse), Seyĭt Qozha. Indeed, it was through Seyĭt Qozha that Tayaqtï Ishan be-came friendly with Bürkĭtbay at this time. His tearoom and house became the location for the group’s first majlis (gathering).

Tayaqtï Ishan continued to lead a double life in Cherniaevka: in the day he would wander around the populated parts of town (qaŋghïradï) begging, and at night he would become a teacher of Islam. It should be noted that Tayaqtï Ishan had no need for the things he collected: money and food. He gave them away to the needy. The ishan appealed (da‘wat) to everyone to adopt Islam. Two of his students accompanied him — Nïshanbay Äuliye32 and his adopted son Malik (‘Abd al-Malik Ishan). Later (around 1951) Shäkĭr Ishan also joined them. Tayaqtï Ishan never demonstrated any interest himself in holding the position of imam. During their night gatherings, the students began their lessons with the second sura of the Qur’an, al-Baqara, and finished with the sura Ya-Sin. The process was always the same: Bürkĭtbay would read the Qur’an, often stopping on demand, and Tayaqtï Ishan would translate into Kazakh and interpret (‘Qŭrandï audarïp, tapsĭr zhasadï’) the recited verses. In the intervals between the Qur’an lessons and interpretations, another of his students, ‘Abd al-Qadir, would read the tale (qissa) ‘Dümbĭl’ (Corn Head) in Kazakh.

People soon found out about the majlis. The local community at the Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs Kolkhoz near Cherniaevka, which was made up exclusively of qozhas, disliked Tayaqtï Ishan. They considered him to be ‘too clever’ (‘aqïldï), to have to high an opinion of himself since he allowed himself such freedom of interpreta-

32 People called him Nïshanbay Äuliye, Nïshanbay Ishan, Nïshanbay Shaykh. He had the gift of prophecy. For example, he predicted the arrival of Ghaffar-‘Ali Khodzha-yev’s (1896-1990) four children; that his wife would be from Turkestan; and, finally, the conditions of his own death (oral account by Qazaqbay Khojayev). The other of Tayaqtï Ishan’s holy students was called Fakhr al-Din Ishan.

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tion with the Qur’an. This was the prudent position of the mukallafs,33 which closely adhered to outlook established by the mediaeval authority of the tradi-tional madhhab (theological and juridical school). The older generation of qozhas were followers of traditional Islam. Most of them were traditional teachers of Is-lam (pĭr) from different Kazakh tribes. For example, respondents named the last figures of the old order: Sïddïq Baba Qauïnshï (a pĭr of the Zhaghalbaylï tribe), Nŭr Qozha Ishan, Mŭzappar Pĭr, Sattar Pĭr, Ayna Qozha and others. Tayaqtï Ishan tried to maintain good relations with them. For example, he always invited the local leader Zhünĭs Qozha34 to be the imam for the congregational prayer (zhamaghat namazï).

The district policeman of the village of Cherniaevka, Äbutälĭp Rïsbekov, a Qoŋïrat by birth, also knew about the majlis. He asked Tayaqtï Ishan the follow-ing question: ‘What are you doing, what are you reading and do you have per-mission to do it?’ According to respondents, at his request, Tayaqtï Ishan pro-duced some sort of ‘paper’. They took him by car to Sarï-Aghash and later to the regional centre, Shïmkent. At the Regional Executive Committee, the authorised person for religious affairs, a certain qozha, saw him and registered Tayaqtï Ishan’s document. After his return from Shïmkent, he was able to do what he wanted and no longer had to keep looking over his shoulder. This was demon-strated by his act of giving two widowed women away to be married to men who already had wives (‘nekelep berdĭ’), the building of new mosques (‘meshĭt saldï’) and his encouragement of ordinary people to follow Muslim norms of be-haviour, such as what to do and what not to do (‘islam dĭnĭn tarattï’).

Opinions differ over the nature of the ‘paper’ (qaghaz, document). Some be-lieve that the chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Councils of the Uzbek SSSR (1925-38), Yuldash Akhunbabayev (1885-1943), had given it to Tayaqtï Ishan. He was a fellow-countryman of Tayaqtï Ishan, born in the Mar-ghilan District of the Fergana Valley and an active participant in the battle against the Central Asian Muslim opposition to the Red Army. Rumour has it that Yuldash Akhunbabaev saw Tayaqtï Ishan and questioned him about his activities. Tayaqtï Ishan answered: ‘Your dogs (itlar) don’t give me any peace.’ Akhunbabaev gave an order for a document to be prepared and said: ‘Now even lions won’t touch you!’ In this version, emphasis is placed on the fact that Akhunbabaev and Tayaqtï Ishan participated together in the suppression of the

33 The adult Muslims who abide by the norms of the sharia, the religious law of Islam34 It is said that Zhünĭs Qozha was the secretary of the party organisation and fought

on the front for four years. Despite this, he prayed, and even acted as imam during the performance of public prayers (zhamaghat namazї).

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armed Muslim opposition to Soviet power and the fact that they were fellow-countrymen.

According to another version, it is Ishan Baba Khan b. ‘Abd al-Majid Khan, the chairman of the SADUM (1943-57), who gave him the document. In it, it was stated that Zhünĭs Töre was an official (alqa) of SADUM, sent to the border of the settlement of Tŭrbat (which now belongs to the neighbouring Qazïqŭrt Dis-trict) in Kazakhstan by its representative (wakil/ökĭl) in the region (Sarï-Aghash District). The second version is more likely since Akhunbabaev’s authority did not extend over the territory of Kazakhstan. According to the information pro-vided by respondents, Tayaqtï Ishan was indeed active in the region up to the village of Turbat in the Qazïqŭrt region, that is, within the boundaries of the Sarï-Aghash District.

Tayaqtï Ishan appointed Bürkĭtbay Nazïmov as imam of the mosque that they built in the village of Zhïlgha (1951–53). From that time, his congregation (zhamaghat) began to expand. He would sit and see people in Orazbay’s tearoom in Cherniaevka. People began to come to see him from Zhïlgha, Aghanay and other places. Sälĭm Bürkĭtbayev believes that Tayaqtï Ishan was the only person who could disseminate Islam in this district. In 1951–53, Tayaqtï Ishan lived in the settlement of Darbaza, not far from the settlement of Zhїlgha, in the house of his student Mütäl.35 At the beginning of their relationship, Mütäl did not under-stand the preacher. Later, when he had seen his miracles work, he acknowledged him as his teacher. In 1953, after the death of Stalin, Tayaqtï Ishan returned to his homeland, however, two of his students, Shäkĭr Ishan and ‘Abd al-Malik Ishan, came to see him in Fergana and persuaded him to come back to the Sarï-Aghash Region.

Among those who listened to Tayaqtï Ishan in Zhartï-Töbe was a large group of qozhas. At the beginning of Tayaqtï Ishan’s activities, in the first half of the 1950s, the qozhas, probably as a result of the repressive atheistic policy of the So-viet state, lost their public role and function as ‘teachers of Islam’ and ‘dissemin-ators of Islamic teaching’, particularly among Kazakhs. The traditions of the old society were weakened and partially lost, particularly in the field of Islamic reli-gious scholarship. It was at this time that Shäkĭr Ishan Smanov first met Tayaqtï Ishan (around 1952-54, several years before his death). Shäkĭr Ishan had gradu-ated from medical school and thus been educated in the Soviet system. He worked as a medical assistant and had a good knowledge of spoken and written Russian.

35 Oral account by Mütälŭlï Seĭtahmet, born 1937, resident of the settlement of Darbaza, Sarï-Aghash Region, 2010

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According to my respondents, the final conflict between Tayaqtï Ishan and the qozhas began when Tayaqtï Ishan wanted to marry the sister of Shäkĭr Ishan. Among the local qozhas, Quat Khan Ishan (resident of the settlement of Toray-ghïr in the Aq-Darya District of the Samarqand Region of the Uzbek SSR), pĭr of the Qoŋïrat tribe of Qarasiyraq, held the authority. He was a descendent of the Qarasiyraq pĭr, of sayyid ancestry. Quat Khan Ishan began to agitate the qozhas against Tayaqtï Ishan: ‘No way! Where does he come from anyway? He’s clearly no sayyid, he’s not Kazakh, he looks more like a gypsy!’ The main accusation was that he had been sent by the authorities, that he was a spy. Later Quat Khan Ishan claimed to have killed Tayaqtï Ishan. To support his statement, he told the following story (vision, ‘közĭme körĭndĭ’): all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a red dog had jumped upon Quat Khan Ishan, with the obvious intention of biting him. The Ishan had defended himself against the dog with the end of his shapan (coat) and kicked him hard, after which the dog had fallen to the ground. The red dog ran away. Soon after, the news of Tayaqtï Ishan’s death was announced.36

Tayaqtï Ishan had the habit of getting up very early and calling people loud-ly to the morning prayer (bamdad). He would walk around the block and pro-nounce phrases from the call to prayers (adhan): ‘al-salatu khayrun min al-nawm!’ A security guard in one of the shops was startled by his shouts and, in a half-asleep state, shot at him with a rifle. Respondents all agree on the year of the tragedy — 1959. Opinion differs over the place where it took place: a number of places near to Tashkent were suggested, such as Qara-Saray, Qara-Qamïsh, Kök-Terek, or Keles. One respondent heard that it took place in the Fergana Val-ley.37 It was as if the dying Tayaqtï Ishan whispered to people: ‘It’s not the secur-ity guard’s fault, don’t judge him — it is fate.’ According to Shäkĭr Ishan’s sons, a will (ösiyet) was found in Tayaqtï Ishan’s pocket in the name of Shäkĭr Ishan. After his death, Shäkĭr Ishan transported Tayaqtï Ishan’s body to the ‘Bes Sheĭt’ graveyard (in the settlement of Ïntïmaq) where it was buried.

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh and the Naqshbandiyya

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh (the alternative first names of ‘Abduvoit and ‘Abdul-vakhid can also be found in archival documents and publications) Mamatshukur-ov (Muhammad-Shukurov; the alternative surnames of Mamashukurov and ‘Ab-dushukurov also exist) was born in the Tajik town of Ura-Teppa (now called Is-trawshan, Sughd Region, in present-day Tajikistan). His ancestors were the des-

36 Oral testimony by Meyĭrbekov Rahmanberdĭ Ishan, born 1928, resident of the settle-ment of Qŭrї-Keles, seĭt-qozha by birth (‘Isa balasї), stepbrother of Quat Khan Ishan, reciter of the Qur’an, local expert in Islam, national rituals and traditions.

37 Oral testimony by Qazaqbay Khojayev, 2011

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cendants/followers of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi (d. 1166/7), who moved from the town of Sayram (according to locals; members of his family do not consider themselves to be either qozhas or sayyids). Four generations earlier (4x50=200 years, possibly around 1723, at the time of the Junghar invasion of Sayram), his ancestors had left for the territory of present-day Tajikistan ‘in search of know-ledge’ (talab al-‘ilm) and established the settlement of ‘Wali Ghunj’. His an-onymous predecessor became a student of the local shaykh Padshah ‘Asal. In or-der to cleanse his student morally and to symbolize his commitment to his task, Padshah ‘Asal gave him the name of Zar Halal (‘gold, from the realm of the per-missible’). Four generations of that family lived in Ura-Teppa. ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh was a member of the fifth generation of settlers.

There are three contradictory statements about ‘Abd al-Wahid’s date of birth: in the first archival testimony, it is stated ‘Mamashukurov Abduvoit,38 born 1885, nationality — Uzbek’.39 In the internal affairs reports, the shaykh was described either as an Uzbek (probably because in the 1920s when he moved from his homeland in Oranghay [Turkestan region], all of the territory that now comprises Tajikistan was an administrative part of Eastern Bukhara, and from 1924 of Uzbekistan), or as a Tajik. In the second archival document, A. Yulda-shev, a representative of the Council for Religious Affairs in the South Kazakh Region under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, stated in a report to his su-periors that ‘Abd al-Wahid was born in 1877.40 According to calculations of the shaykh’s eldest son, Abduvoitov Sultanqul, his father died in 1967 at the age of 86, and, thus, the year of his birth was 1881.41 If we follow the accepted mathem-atical means for calculating the date of birth of a deceased in the Turkestan Re-gion, then we get 1885 (1967 – 86 + 3 years [one year’s difference between Chris-tian and Muslim chronologies for each 33 years of life], + 1 [almost one year spent in his mother’s womb]. He was born in the Qal‘a-yi ‘Arab area in Ura-Teppa to the Zar Halal family.

According to archival sources the shaykh lived in Uzbekistan before 1925.42 He studied in Bukhara under the Ura-Teppa shaykh Muhammad-Amin. ‘My father served four holy men, he received from them akhatt-i irshad (written per-

38 In Kazakh the name ‘Abd al-Wahid has the form ‘Abduait’.39 The ‘Dzhambul’ kolkhoz register, Turkestan area, South Kazakhstan Region, 1955

KRGA, F. 97, op. 1, s. 4, k. 47, l. 16. 40 YuKOGA, F. 1353, op. 2, s. 1, k. 6, l. 60.41 Oral account by Sultanqul Abduvoitov, born 1943, resident of the settlement of Qŭsh-

Ata, 200442 YuKOGA, F. 1353, op. 2, s. 1, k. 2, l. 29. That said, his son Nasr al-Din Ishan stated

that, before his entry into the kolkhoz between 1919 and 1930, his father was a gardener in the Vodokachka area.

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mission received from a tutor while under supervision to independently recruit and teach one’s own students)’ ― stated Sultanqul ‘Abduvoitov and copied out a sisila of shaykhs in the Naqshbandiyya–Mujaddidiyya–Husayniyya: Prophet Muhammad – Abu Bakr al-Siddiq al-Akbar – Salman al-Farsi – Qasim b. Siddiq-i Akbar – Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq – Bayazid al-Bastami – Abu’l-Hasan al-Kharaqani – Abu ‘Ali al-Farmadi – Khwaja Yusuf al-Hamadani – Khwaja ‘Abd al-Khaliq al-Ghijduwani – Khwaja ‘Arif al-Riwgari – Khwaja Mahmud Anjir al-Faghnawi – Khwaja ‘Ali al-Ramitani – Khwaja Baba al-Samasi – Sayyid Amir Kulal – Khwa-ja-yi Buzurg Baha’ al-Haqq wa’l-Din Naqshband – Mawlana Ya‘qub Charkhi – Khwaja ‘Ubayd-Allah Ahrar Wali – Mawlana Zahid – Mawlana Darwish – Maw-lana Khwaja Imkanagi – Khwaja Baqi bi’Llah – Imam Rabbani Mujaddid-i Alf-i Thani – Muhammad Sa‘id – Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ahad – Mawlana ‘Abid – Khwaja Muhammad-Musa Khan – Khalifa Siddiq – Khalifa Husayn – Khalifa ‘Abd al-Sat-tar (Makhdum) b. Khalifa Husayn – Khalifa Muhammad-Salih – Khalifa Muham-mad-Amin – Ishan Khalifa ‘Abd al-Wahid – Khalifa Qari ‘Abd-Allah – Ibrahim-Jan Ishan.

During the reign of Emir ‘Abd al-Ahad (1885–1910) of the Manghit dynasty of Bukhara (1757–1920), ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh received an irshad from a Bu-kharan shaykh of the Mujaddidiyya-Husayniyya, Khalifa Muhammad-Amin, and returned to his village (qishlaq) in Ura-Teppa. There is no known record of ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa. The authors of the biographical collections at that time (for ex-ample, Majdhub Namangani) make occasional reference to his teacher Khalifa Muhammad-Amin, in connection with his exceptional loyalty to the authorities. Khalifa Muhammad-Amin always kept his distance from politics, despite the fact that his contemporaries in the same brotherhood became actively involved in in-trigue, often from the side of the oppositional Turkic tribes, for example the Keneges (in Shahr-i Sabz). With the establishment of Soviet power, persecution began. The shaykh was convicted for the first time in Uzbekistan and imprisoned once in Ura-Teppa, once in Bukhara, and twice in Tashkent. From the age of 17, ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa carried out pilgrimages (ziyarats) to Turkestan. Here, dur-ing the week, he took part in the khalwat (meeting/discussions with dervishes; and in the wintertime in the 40-day chilla). According to family tradition, at the age of 27, the shaykh together with his family left definitively for present-day Tajikistan. According to archival data, in 1925 the shaykh moved to the Tur-kestan region. However, the persecution of ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa did not stop here: he was imprisoned in Turkestan thirteen times. Although each time he was put in jail, investigations and enquires were made but the police was unable to detain him for long and had to release him. The longest period for which he was imprisoned was 21 days.

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It is claimed that the shaykh married four times. His first wife was a very pi-ous and erudite woman. During her lifetime, she wrote four books although only one of these survived (she left it with one of her relatives in Ura-Teppa). She said: ‘In my lifetime, I never showed my face to other men (na-mahram), let me not share a burial vault with them’, and requested that, following her death, she be buried in the yard of her house. She gave birth to two sons. The elder of these, Sultanqul (1905-28) was a very ascetic man, and consequently never married or had children. He gave his permission to his younger brother ‘Abd al-Jalil (1907-27) to be married. ‘Abd al-Jalil died first, followed by Sultanqul, and a short time later their mother. The wife of the shaykh’s dead son ‘Abd al-Jalil was given in marriage to their adopted son Jamal al-Din (the shaykh’s nephew). The latter is said to have been the son of ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa’s younger sister. Later, around 1955, he moved to Ura-Teppa. However, from time to time (seasonally), Jamal al-Din would return to Oranghay and help his relatives on the market (as a vendor) selling agricultural products (grapes, potatoes) that grew in the gardens and fields. At the time the interview was conducted, he was no longer alive.

Following the death of his wife and children, the shaykh lived for more than ten years alone in the caves on the grounds of the Qŭsh-Ata graveyard. There are general testimonies about his participation in the life of the kolkhoz: he cul -tivated grapes and orchards. Occasionally he would travel to Ura-Teppa for seed-lings. Only in 1941 or 1942 did he manage to establish a new family. He built a house in Oranghay and lived in it until 1964. He cultivated a vineyard of three hectares. His second house was located in the eastern part of the Oranghay set-tlement. There is a note in the Dzhambul Kolkhoz register (from 1954) pertaining to his second family: ‘Mamashukurov (first name not recorded), date of birth 1895’.43 The shaykh’s son, Abduvoitov Sultanqul, born 1943, and daughter, ‘Ab-duvoitova Mastura, born 1948, are also registered here. It is recorded that ‘Abdu-voitova Mastura died in 1956.44 According to Abduvoitov Sultanqul, his mother was of Kazakh origin from Taraqtï. She died early.

In 1946 the shaykh started a new family. According to Nasr ad-Din Ishan, his mother Sharban (born in 1918, but, according to her passport, in 1920), was the daughter of Mirza Ahmad Tabib, a resident of Oranghay, from an Uzbek group (top) called Bölekey. In the kolkhoz register a note states: name of shaykh’s wife — ‘Sharban’, year of birth 1895. The daughter of the shaykh Nazira is also re-gistered here, born 1951; as are the sons Habib-Allah, born 1952, and Nasr al-Din, born 1953. He had a total of four daughters and two sons. Nasr al-Din

43 KRGA. F. 97, op. 1, s. 4, k. 47, l. 16.44 KRGA. F. 97, op. 1a, s. 7, k. 93, l. 28.

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claims that he was born in February 1951. His brother Habib-Allah, born in 1950, suffered for many years with high blood pressure and died in December 2005 from a heart attack. It is worth noting at this point several inconsistencies be-tween the two types of sources.

In later years, shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahid lived with his wife Sharafat, who was given the name ‘Bukir’ (Hunchback) by the people of Oranghay because of her physical defect. Today the sons of the shaykh, Abduvoitov Sultanqul and Mamatshukurov Nasr al-Din, live together with their families in the village of Qŭsh-Ata in the house where the shaykh spent the last years of his life. ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh died on 1 April 1967, probably at the age of 86, and was buried in the graveyard of the Qŭsh-Ata auïl.45 The first holy man to be buried here, a Kyrgyz by nationality, was ‘Abd al-Jabbar Ata (d. 1928). During the burial an ori-ginal silsila (irshad) in the name of the shaykh was buried and placed above the head of the corpse in a special compartment (tekshe). No monument was erected on his grave. There is only a stone barrier, which protects the graves of all of the family members (until 2008, this was made of pakhsa clay).

Tayaqtï Ishan’s Activity in Sarï-Aghash

Tayaqtï Ishan had a clear opinion on developments taking place in the rural area of the Sarï-Aghash region. This was obvious from the predictions about the fu-ture of the village he made to his students and followers. On the question of the shift from animal husbandry to agriculture, Tayaqtï Ishan had miraculous pre-monitions about the building of canals, the creation of new settlements in place of pasturable land, and the mass movement of people from one place to another. Tayaqtï Ishan had his own take on the question of the ‘indigenisation’ of the state and party leadership: he considered the appointment of people of Muslim origin to official posts a positive development in the history of Islam. In Tayaqtï Ishan’s opinion, many party and state leaders from the local population were secret followers of Islam and carried out Islamic rituals (namaz oqïdï).

Tayaqtï Ishan saw a niche for Islam in Soviet society in the sphere connected with death and the rituals associated with it (zhanaza, qŭdayï, zhïl asï). In his opinion, the centre of this nexus had to be the mosques constructed in the grave-yards of particular villages. He published a fatwa himself about the possibility of constructing mosques in graveyards and was involved with the construction and opening of several mosques in these locations. Through the direct intervention of Tayaqtï Ishan, mosques were built in Zhartï-Töbe, Stakhanov, Qoŋïrat,

45 In scholarly literature there is still debate over the year of the shaykh’s death: there is even mention of the ‘Soviet period after the First World War’ (Olcott 2007: 19).

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Zhïlgha and other places. Tayaqtï Ishan stated that: ‘If you do not call people with a loud voice to prayer, if you do not feed people with food from your cauldron, then what use are you to people?!’ Thus, the tradition of providing people with food during amr-i ma‘ruf (literally: ‘moral commandment’; in Muslim Central Asia, the informal sermon of a spiritual master) is a legacy from Tayaqtï Ishan.46

His support for second marriages between materially well-off men and un-married women can be taken as support for the social policy of the Soviet au-thorities. It is well known that, after the end of the war, there were many fewer men than women, whose husbands had died on the front. For this reason Tayaqtï Ishan exploited the potential of Islamic morals in an attempt to solve the prob-lem of loneliness and the marrying (Ar. nikah, Kaz. Neke) of single women against their will. It is said that he used to hit men who would not follow his will with his stick (tayaq).

Tayaqtï Ishan encouraged people to observe Islamic norms under the condi-tions of non-Muslim political leadership. For example, he condemned a woman who removed her hijab. Apparently, as a result of this action, a conflict emerged between Tayaqtï Ishan and the female representative of the regional court, whom he hit with his stick. She, however, having understood Tayaqtï Ishan’s spiritual strength terminated the judicial proceedings against the ishan and came to him herself to ask his forgiveness. Another myth concerns the murder of a po-liceman who had raped a Muslim woman. Following the words of Tayaqtï Ishan: ‘I have already shot you’, the policeman was found dead from a bullet.47

Tayaqtï Ishan however did not approve of the position of the Communists on the participation of Muslims in the war. In this regard, he announced: ‘Who-ever prays with me in the zhamaghat (jama‘at: the congregation), standing be-hind me, will avoid the misfortune of being sent to the front to fight.’ It is said that Shäkĭr Ishan was miraculously excused from service on the front, and stayed at home. Later, when he met him for the first time, Tayaqtï Ishan asked Shäkĭr Ishan: ‘Do you know who got you excused from army service?’ He answered the question himself: ‘It was I who saved you from certain death, who removed you from the front. I did this from a state of non-being (khufiyya). I watched over you all those years from a distance and looked after your spiritual wellbeing’. He was a firm adherent of the idea of propagandising Islam at any opportunity, under any government. For example, he demanded that men begin

46 Oral account by ‘Abd al-Sattar Smanov, born 1962, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, 2010

47 Oral account by Süleymen Zhüsĭpov, born 1927, resident of the settlement of Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs, 2010

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praying when twelve years old. He would hit those who would not comply with his request with his stick or chase them away.

Another of Tayaqtï Ishan’s tendencies was to appeal strongly to people to give up using soft drugs (nasbay). His performances in Muslim circles would of-ten end with all of the participants of his majlis going out into the street and breaking the vessels for nasbay on the rocks. This is what happened, for ex-ample, at the meetings in the village of Zhïlgha.

There are contradictory accounts concerning Tayaqtï Ishan’s relationship with the leadership of the Spiritual Board of the Muslims of Middle Asia and Kazakhstan (1943-92). According to one of them, he had studied together with Ishan Baba Khan (1859-1957). Another account describes a meeting between Tayaqtï Ishan and Mufti Ziya al-Din Khan Baba Khan (1908-82).48 The ishan asked him: ‘Respected Mufti, where were you, young man, when we were edu-cating and improving the people?’ In another version, the ishan says: ‘O Qari! Give me money!’ When the man produced a handful of money and valuables, Tayaqtï Ishan hit him on the shoulder with his stick and said: 'What need do I have of your money and riches when I have no family or children!’ Ziya al-Din Khan Baba Khan gave the ishan a shapan and asked him for forgiveness. This is probably what prompted Tayaqtï Ishan’s criticism of the economic policy of the SADUM. The SADUM was in no position and had no wish to manage the eco-nomic life of the Muslim community and bring it into line with the sharia, for two reasons. Firstly, it had been granted limited rights and opportunities for real religious activity. Secondly, the mercenary ambitions of the leadership soon won out. There is a legend that on his way home from Hast-Imam to Qara-Saray after finishing the public prayers on ‘ayd / hayit, people stuffed Ishan Baba Khan’s pockets with so much money that the women of his family had to spend a long time collecting it. The insecurity around financial issues soon created a situation that was advantageous to the political authorities. Chaos, which had always been inherent to the SADUM and remains prevalent among its successors, reigned. Famously, following a financial inspection at the end of the 1950s, the account-ant of the SADUM Shaikram Shaislamov (1908-94) was put in jail for three years for financial fraud (they made an example of him, of course).

Tayaqtï Ishan proposed a completely different programme: to spend all earn-

48 In the extant literature, one can encounter false accounts of Ziya al-Din Khan Baba Khan’s devotion to Sufism, based on the fact that his grandfather ‘Abd al-Majid Khan was a follower of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi path, (cf. Olcott 1995: 34-5). In another of her publications, Olcott argues the exact opposite of her previous statement, claiming that Ziya al-Din Khan studied in Saudi Arabia, where he came under the influence of Wahhabism: Olcott 2007: 24. For more on the roots of his commitment to Islam, see our publication: Muminov 2005.

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ings on strictly religious goals. Tayaqtï Ishan demanded that his followers give one third of their earnings to him. This is the way he hoped to organise the eco-nomic life of the community, i.e. on morally sound foundations.

According to the stories we were told by the respondents, Tayaqtï Ishan’s at-titude towards the manifestation of local religious practices was not uncom-promising. For example, he visited the holy places Er-Dawud and Shah-i Mardan located in the Sarï-Aghash District, in the evenings and mornings when he was carrying out the dhikr-i jahr (according to the teachings of Ghawth al-A‘zam ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, d. 1166).49 Tayaqtï Ishan was also a healer.50 According to the legends, he was able to predict the future: he knew in advance the details of his own death (‘I shall die a martyr’); the place where he would be buried (‘I will be buried by Shäkĭr Ishan’); he could travel great distances in an instant, com-pleting part of the prayers in Zhartï-Töbe and part in Kerbela (in present-day Iraq).51 When he arrived home in the village of Kök-Terek, which is located alongside the ‘Moscow-Tashkent’ railway line, the train would always go past him and the driver would always brake when he saw him.

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh and the Dzhambul Kolkhoz

According to the memoranda by the plenipotentiary (Rus. upolnomochennyi) for religious affairs from 1947, ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh settled in Oranghay in 1925. However, the oral testimonies of the shaykh’s son Nasr al-Din Ishan contradict archival information. Following the family tradition, he lived in Oranghay and worked cultivating a fruit orchard from 1919 to 1930. The shaykh was the first in the area to grow vineyards (zhüzĭm), figs and other types of high-yielding trees. Seedlings were brought from Ura-Teppa. The garden is located in the Vodokach-ka area (around the railway station). The shaykh’s first house was in the western part of the Oranghay settlement. It is likely that in 1930 ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh entered the ‘Dzhambul’ Kolkhoz in the Turkestan area together with his gar-den.52 However, he was obliged to hand over his property to the kolkhoz. The shaykh was subjected to persecution and was put under surveillance, but was soon released. On several occasions, respondents recounted a legend about this period, according to which the lock on the door of the prison that held the

49 Oral account by Seĭtahmet Mütälŭlï, born 1937, resident of the settlement of Darbaza, 2010

50 People referred to Tayaqtï Ishan as the ‘mullah who once cast a spell’; oral account by Qazaqbay Khojayev, 2011).

51 Oral account by Manap-Sopï Ibragimov, born 1927, resident of the settlement of Zor-Töbe, 2011; oral account by Sharĭp Tursunov, born 1927, resident of the same settle-ment, 2010.

52 KRGA, F. 92, op. 1, s. 7, k. 93, l. 28.

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shaykh mysteriously stopped working and opened on its own. When this kept on happening the head of the prison, fearing the sacred strength of the shaykh, set him free.

Having lost both his family and his property, the shaykh was forced to live for ten years in a cave (üngĭr) in the Qusshï-Ata graveyard. Only his spiritual strength allowed him to overcome loneliness.

It was only with the start of the Soviet-German war in 1941 that ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh could return to the settlement and build himself a semi-under-ground residence (zhertöle). According to respondents, he was very tall and fit. Everyone remembers that he had huge hands. The leaders of the kolkhoz, village council, and even regional leaders considered him to be an expert gardener. The bunches of grapes grown by the shaykh were too big to fit into a large bucket. This was considered a great achievement across the Soviet Union and his feats of labour were written about at the time in the newspapers Pravda, Izvestiia (Mos-cow), Iuzhnyi Kazakhstan (Shïmkent) and Sovet Uzbekistani (Tashkent, in Uzbek). In the published materials, however, his son Sultanqul Abduvoitov is credited with these achievements and instead of portraits of the ishan it is photographs of his son that appeared in newspapers.

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh believed that man should live by his work alone. He did not permit or acknowledge the appropriation of the work and property of others, considering this to be ‘impermissible’ (Ar. haram). He was profoundly uneasy about using unfairly acquired property (Ar. taqwa, nask). He considered the property of the kolkhoz to be the property of the people. Respondents told many stories about this aspect of his personality. One of his murids by the name of Qozhan Qari (alternatively Yusuf-‘Ali) brought him a melon (qauïn) that he had taken from a field in the kolkhoz as a gift (hiba). In another story, one of the middle-level officials from the kolkhoz gave him a sheep (qoy) that they had taken from the kolkhoz flock (otar). In both cases, the shaykh refused to take the gift and forced the givers to return the kolkhoz property to its rightful place. 53 Even today, this principle is strictly observed by members of his family and com-munity. For example, when Nasr al-Din Ishan was preparing for the hajj, he stocked up on dried bread and fried meat for the whole period of the pilgrimage because he was wary of using food made from products that were prohibited by the sharia. With the dramatic rise in the theft of kolkhoz property, scheming, forgery, and fraud against ordinary people, the religious man’s behaviour and at-titude commanded people’s respect. Kolkhoz workers, officials from the district

53 Oral account by Zayd Mamenov, born 1946, third son of Mamen-Makhsïm, village of Qarashїq, Turkestan region, May 2011

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council, and even regional leaders respected those qualities in the shaykh that they themselves lacked.

Following the death of Stalin (5 March 1953), there was a liberalisation of the public sphere. At the same time the shaykh increased his religious activity. Now, after evening prayers (namaz) ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh was able to receive pil-grims individually and give them instructions (Ar. wazifa) and read academic sermons to his disciples. He received them and released his instructions on a one by one basis. The shaykh was also able to communicate with his closest associ-ates more often and at greater length. For example, when he and his associate Shamïrza Qari carried out the dhikr, the ceiling shook. These two elders holding silent dialogues came to be considered by other scholars as qutbs (supreme spir-itual authorities).

A new era of persecution began in 1958, when the shaykh’s house was put under surveillance. Policemen were stationed outside his house. Following this increase in surveillance, in 1964 (as a result of the reports of an official for reli-gious affairs called Ospanov), the shaykh was obliged to sell his house and gar-den to the kolkhoz and to receive compensation from the kolkhoz account. A le-gend exists according to which people in the village began to fall ill with differ-ent diseases following the destruction of the ishan’s house on the Oranghay sta-tion.54

The shaykh moved to the Kotlovan [Ditch] area (Uzbek SSR, Syr-Darya, Bay-awut District, Dimitrovka Settlement) for seven months. ‘During this time, there were many persecutions, interrogations, and inspections in the kolkhoz, but in the sovkhoz, things were good and fair, everything was calm. In order to transfer to the sovkhoz, you had to cross the border into another state, then it was easier to get back’, said the shaykh’s son Sultanqul Abduvoitov (b. 1943). On 1 May 1965, he returned, not to Oranghay, but to the neighbouring settlement — the ‘Qŭsh-Ata’ section of the ‘Atabay’ Sovkhoz near Kentau in the South Kazakhstan Region. People in the village helped him to build his house in 17 days.

Soviet and party officials did not only respect the shaykh, they also consul-ted him with questions regarding community life. When the new road between Turkestan and Kentau was being built, ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh suggested that it would be wiser to build it around the graveyard, and he indicated the direction that the road should take. The extent to which traditional spirituality was trans-formed in the Soviet period is also evident from the life story of Ikram Ishan.

54 Oral account by Farhad Baymetov, advisor to the äkĭm of the rural district of Oranghay, 2011

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The Example of Ikram Ishan Ayqozhayev (1892–1980)

Ikram Ishan was a descendant of the famous shaykh Ay Qozha Ishan (died around 1857).55 He studied in Bukhara’s madrasas, became an expert of religious sciences, and acquired proficiency in Arabic and Persian. During the repression period, he was obliged to move to Maqta-Aral and to work in a rubber factory. In 1946 he returned to the Kentau–Bŭrkem suburbs and worked in another caout-chouc factory in Kentau.

In 1954, at the insistence of the elders (aqsaqals) of the Qŭsh-Ata village (Kazakhs of the Qoŋïrat clans Zhetĭmder and Bozhban), he moved to this vil-lage.56 Here he worked as a brigadier (head of an agricultural production team or brigade). However, ordinary people in the settlement (particularly old people) came to the ishan to be healed and to get advice about various, mostly religious questions. For example, Ikram Ishan was practicing healing (dem salu) and an-swering people’s questions about religion from the ‘ancient Islamic books’. Ru-mours about his knowledge reached the capital of Soviet Kazakhstan, Almaty. As a consequence, a researcher of the scholarly work of mediaeval philosopher Abu’l-Nasr al-Farabi (d. 950-1), Professor Aqzhan Mashanov (1906–97) was visit-ing him each year for two–three weeks and corresponding with him about the translation of al-Farabi’s works into Russian and Kazakh. Out of fear of persecu-tion, Ikram Ishan did not practice Islam with his family, and advised his numer-ous children to follow a secular way of life in order to progress professionally. All of his children followed a secular way of life.57

55 Ay Qozha Ishan b. Timur b. Nawrïz (1773–1857) was a member of the Baq-Muham-med Qozha branch of the Duana Qozha descendent group. He was educated at ma-drasas in Tashkent, Bukhara, and Afghanistan (under a tutor by the name of Islam Shaykh, according to the family tradition). When he returned to his country, he founded a madrasa and mosque. After his death at the age of 84, he was buried in the Aqtas area (Qarasopï) in the Zhaŋa-Qorghan District of the Qïzïl-Orda Region of Kazakhstan. He had 11 sons, each of whom became a pĭr of separate branches of the Qoŋïrat tribe (Mŭstafaev, Äbdĭghappar: 2-3). Ikram Ishan b. Balta Maghzïm was the grandson of the eldest son of Ay Qozha Ishan ― ‘Ibad-Allah, who built the mosque in Aqtas in honour of his father in 1884 (oral account by Seĭtomar Sattarov, Sarï-Aghash, January 2011).

56 A Kazakh tradition holds that, in order to protect the souls of the dead buried in a graveyard, the cemetery must accommodate the burial place of a saint from among their pĭrs, who is generally a qozha. (‘Bĭr töbede bĭr qozha bolsïn’.)

57 Some among his numerous descendants chose careers as party workers: his son Pal Ikramov became the manager of an organisational department of the Turkestan Town Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan; Dalpen Ikramov became the Head of Department in the Kentau Town Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, and the rest of his children became engineers, university lecturers, and school teachers; for example, Qadïr Ikramov, a graduate from a university in Mos-cow, became the director of a technical secondary school, and so on. In the 1990s,

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Following the establishment of the Spiritual Board of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan (in Russian acronyms SADUM) in 1943, ‘lists of officially registered and unregistered members of cults (mullahs, presbyters and the like)’ began to be compiled. They were presented to the regional financial department for the deduction of income tax in accordance with the letter of the Ministry of Finance of the USSR No. 870 of 13 December 1946. From this point onwards, the Council for Religious Affairs began to call unregistered mullahs ‘roaming mul-lahs’ in its paperwork. These mullahs were taxed and ordered to cease their activities. Such questions were the subject of constant discussion in the quarterly report of the regional Council for Religious Affairs. During these years, Sufism, Ishanism, and Muridism began to be referred to by the state organs as ‘manifest-ations of Muslim sectarianism’.

Tayaqtï Ishan and ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa’s Congregations

The congregation established by Tayaqtï Ishan during his years of activity in the Sarï-Aghash Region was made up of two groups. The first group comprised his closest students. There were twelve of these. The second group comprised a community of sympathizers living in different settlements in the Sarï-Aghash re-gion. A large number of people (around 50-60), in particular the elderly, attended his majlis in Zhartï-Töbe, Zhïlgha.

His closest student–associates followed their teacher during his visits to oth-er villages. Among Tayaqtï Ishan’s closest students (shakïrts) were Bürkĭtbay Nazïmov, ‘Abd al-Malik Ishan, Isra’il Mahmudov, Mahmud ‘Azimov, Shäkĭr Ishan Smanov, Manap Sofï Ibragimov, Qazaqbay Khojayev,58 Shökentay, Molda Ishan and others. They were living in different villages in the region like Zhartï-Töbe, Voroshilov, Zhĭbek-Zholï, Zhïlgha, Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs.

The outer circle of his community included the ishan’s sympathisers (mukh-lises) from various villages. The new mosques built on graveyards functioned as public meeting places. During the ishan’s visits to certain settlements, his majlis would be organised in the house of one of the village residents.

The majlis had the following structure: 1) firstly, stories on different reli-gious themes were read (Alpamïs, Dümbĭl, Sal-Sal, Ämĭr Hamza, Payghambardïŋ Khiragha Kĭrgenĭ, Hazrat ‘Alidïŋ Darighamen Küresĭ);59 2) following this, they

it is in recognition of their services that one of the roads in the Qŭsh-Ata settlement was named after their ancestor ― ‘Ikram Ishan’.

58 Shabakbaev Bolat, “Kazakhstan treshchit po shvam,” www.paruskg.info/2011/09/10/49372.

59 The first three heroic epics are included in the works of the so-called ‘folk literature’ of Kazakhstan. The remaining three dastans are considered to be religious litera-

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moved on to the main part of the seminar ― the reading of different parts of the Qur’an with translations into Kazakh and interpretations; 3) the concluding part of the seminar was dedicated to the discussion of religious questions, which took the form of a ‘question/answer’ session. The structure of the meetings and sem-inars in the form of majlis became a tradition within this group. They continued to be organised even after the death of Tayaqtï Ishan.

An important piece of information from the Council for Religious Affairs has survived, which helps to reconstruct the early history of the congregation of ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa:

According to the elders, among the descendants of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi can be found Nu‘manov, the son of Naqib Ishan, Qara Khwaja son of Shaykh Islam Ishan, Tokhta Khalpe [Khalifa], Haydar Khalpe (in the Babay Village), Abdïshukurov Abdilvahid Khalpe (in Oranghay). The night watchman of the Turkestan Mosque, Aytbay Khalpe, leads those who secretly participate in the pilgrimage to the monument of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi, and to the houses of Tokhta Khalpe, Haydar Khalpe, and ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalpe, where these ishans, in the name of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi and of God, practice obedience and receive sacred vows from those present, transforming them into their murids.60

From this information, it is clear that a relatively large number of Sufi leaders (khalifas) and hereditary shaykhs (ishans) were active in the rural area of the Turkestan Region during the 1940s, and were independently involved in the re-cruitment of murids. We were able to record a number of stories about one of these murids, Tokhta Khalifa (d. 1960), the student of Muhammad-Amin Khalifa. No information has been found yet relating to the others.

It is likely that only ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa managed to maintain his com-munity. From this moment onwards, people began to call him Ishan Buwa. An important reason for this was his observance of the traditions of the local school of the Mujaddidiyya–Husayniyya, one of the offshoots of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi path (Babadzhanov, 1999). The second component in the name of this school (Husayniyya) derived from the name of the famous Bukhara shaykh from the first half of the nineteenth century Khalifa Husayn (d. 1249/1833-4). Following the example of his predecessors, in particular of Muhammad-Amin Khalifa, ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa avoided any involvement in politics even during the difficult era of the bolshevisation of the region and tried to keep his students and numer-

ture, describing the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the heroes of early Islam. 60 YuKOGA. F. 1353, op. 2, s. 4, k. 28, l. 93.

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ous relatives away from the political sphere. ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa managed to avoid repression and quickly adapted to the new atheistic political conditions. The survival of the Husayniyya despite the atheistic policy of the Soviet regime can be explained through a number of its novel features:• Firstly, according to stories told by his descendants, ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan ac-

cepted a very limited number of students and limited his teaching to short-term courses on the rules of the dhikr. ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan received murids in his home (in the guest room ― mihman-khana, which comprised two rooms) on an individual basis. Discussions took place in secret, most of the time during the night.

• Secondly, the shaykh had many close students, who lived in nearby villages and towns: Qarashїq, Khan-Taghï, Atabay, Kentau, etc. He also held secret meetings with them. A representative of the Council for Religious Affairs in the South Kazakhstan Region, A. Yuldashev, recorded the following informa-tion in his report from the 29 December 1947: ‘Abdushukurov Abulvakhydk-hodzha (Khodzha), around 65-70 years old, nationality ― Tajik, lives in the Oranghay sel’sovet in the Turkestan Region, in 1925 he moved from the Ura-Teppa District of the (then) Uzbek SSR to a permanent residence. He is one of the most important ishans and practices Ishanism, he has many murids, one of his murids is Babakai (surname not provided) who lives in the settle-ment of Qŭsh-Ata, and another is Nurmatkhodzha (surname not provided), who lives in the village of Oranghay, in the Turkestan region’.61 Other names recorded in this report included ‘Abdurahmanov ‘Abdukhalïq, Shaq-asïmov Shamïrza Qarï, Duvanakhojaev Burhankhoja, Bakishev Baldashaq-saqal, Shasaitov Mïrsadïq; specific information was given about these indi-viduals.

• Thirdly, the shaykh owned a khalwat (a special semi-underground building), where he could hide during his spiritual lessons. A particular trait of the Naqshbandiyya-Husayniyya group was the quiet dhikr: dhikr-i khafi. The dhikr comprises shifting concentration (Ar. tawajjuh) between particularly subtle ‘points’ and ‘centres’ (Ar. latayif) that are located in different areas of the ribcage. After the completion of the initiation (Ar. bay‘at, Kaz. qol berü), the murshid begins assigning the murids individual tasks (Ar. wazifas). These comprise supplementary prayers (nawafil) and rules for carrying out the dhikr.62

61 YuKOGA. F. 1353, op. 2, s. 1, k. 6, l. 60. 62 Thus, for example, the members of one school —the followers of Ibrahim Hazrat —

get up in the early morning and carry out namaz ‘shukr-i wudu’ (2 rak‘ats of namaz after each ablution), then do tasbih istighfar (the pronouncement of formulas asking

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• Fourthly, it was only when pressure from the state had begun to ease that they began to carry out yearly mass ceremonies.63 The first public events for khatm-i Qur’an (the public recitation of the Qur’an from beginning to end) began to take place during Ramadan 1948.

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh’s congregation was multinational in character. Its mem-bers comprised Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs. The closest of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh’s associates and students were: 1. Shamïrza Shaqasïmov (1883-1967), born in Turkestan. He claimed to be a des-

cendant of Imam Hasan (d. 669, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, eldest son of Caliph ‘Ali) and as such a sharif. His family was known in Sayram as ‘the descendants of Shah Qalandar’. Shamïrza Qari had studied in Bukhara. In 1928, he moved to live in the village of Khan-Taghï, where he worked in a thermal power station (TETs). In 1947, he built a mosque where he served as

God for forgiveness for real and potential sins committed), with the words ‘astaghfir Allah al-‘azim’, at the end they say a benevolent orison (du‘a’) in the form: ‘al-ladhi la ilaha illahu, al-Hayy al-Qayyum, wa atubu ilayh’. Early in the morning, before namaz-i bamdad, they say the tahajjud prayer (two lots of two rak‘ats, four in total). In the fourth rak‘at after the sura al-Fatiha, they read three times the sura Ikhlas. After this, they carry out the quiet dhikr. This dhikr follows the following structure: 1) firstly, they carry out the dhikr directed at the qalb (located a little below the left breastbone), during which they pronounce 101 words in the form ‘Allah, Allah’; 2) then they carry out dhikr, directed at the ruh (located a little below the right breast-bone), during which they pronounce 101 words; 3) dhikr, directed at the sirr (located a little higher than than the left breastbone), during which the dhikr is produced in a particular form; 4) then the dhikr directed at the khafi (located a little higher than the right breastbone); 5) finally ― the dhikr, directed at the akhfa (in the centre), during which 101 words are pronounced in the form ‘Allah, Allah’. Following this form of dhikr there follows: 6) Nafi-yi ithbat, when, following the Persian words ‘Nishastagi jayam qabram; Pushidagi libasam kafanam; giriftagi nafas-i man akhir nafas-i man ast’, they take a deep breath, and say the dhikr to themselves three times in the form: ‘Khudawanda, maqsud-i man tu-i wa riza-yi man tu-i’, ‘La nist ilaha hich maqsud illa-l-Lah juz’ dhat-i pak’, ‘La maqsud-i illa-l-Lah’, it is important that the words are pronounced in an odd order. At the end of the prayer, by pronouncing the words ‘Muhammadun rasul Allah’, they exhale. Following this, they continue to carry out the dhikr in different formulas: first qalb, then akhfa to themselves.

63 The collective yearly rituals of the Husayniyya can be divided into the following: 1) Mawlid: On this day, all of the followers congregate in the house of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh in Qŭsh-Ata. Then, led by the ishan, they carry out the Mawlid al-Nabi (the ceremony on the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, when they read the Mawlid al-Nabi text); 2) the Khatm-i Qur’an takes place on the first three days of the month of Ramadan (this started in 1948 and continues to this day). On this day, students and sympathisers (mukhlises) of the ishan gather together. Once the recitation of the en-tire text of the Qur’an is finished, refreshments are handed out by the readers (qaris) present; 3) Majlis, the meetings where the murids have the opportunity to meet the ishan and get answers to all of their questions. Almost all Sufi ceremonies end with a collective meal.

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the imam until his death. He became a follower of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh, whom he called Ishan Buwa, very early. He went to meet ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh by foot from the village of Khan-Taghï. He received his education (Ar. tarbiyya) from him. Their discussions (suhbats) would last a long time. He received his khatt-i irshad from him. As a result of his great height, he got the nickname Uzïn Qari (‘the tall Qur’an Reciter’) in the congregation. Shamïrza Qari called his journey jahriyya-khufiyya [lit. ‘loud–silent’], and was claiming al-Ghawth al-A‘zam as his master in the sharia.64

2. Mamen Makhsïm65 became a follower of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh in the 1940s. He studied at the Qarnaq madrasa and was educated by scholars of Islamic jurisprudence (faqihs) in Bukhara: Zayd Damulla, Ir-Muhammad Qari, Nur al-Din Damulla, etc. He worked as a cattle-breeder in a kolkhoz (until 1953) and then bred silkworms. He owned a large library of Islamic literature. Dur-ing the Terror, he buried all of his books in the ground. In 1954, he dug them out. However in 1962 he gave all of the books in four sacks to Tajik experts who had travelled to the region to earn some extra money building houses. Some of his books survive today in the homes of his descendants (in particu-lar, in the house of his son, Arabic scholar Ja‘far Mamenov). According to Mamen Makhsïm, he spent his whole life in fear of the authorities because of his knowledge of Islam. Only the mediation of the local leader Ibaqul-Bastїq saved him from repression. Right up until the end of the Soviet period, the ideology secretary of the regional party committee would request to see him and ‘brainwash him’.

Before he became acquainted with ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh, Mamen Makh-sïm had been involved in the occult sciences (Ar. ‘ilm al-sihr, Pers. ‘ilm-i jadu) and practices. It is said that once Sarsenbay Molda, a famous figure in these parts, brought a human skull to life. On seeing this, the secretary of the regional Communist Party committee at that time lost his mind. Mamen Makhsïm was able to bring him back to his senses by reading an orison (Ar. du‘a’). Another story deals with the subject of war: Mamen Makhsïm saw a portrait of Stalin in the moon, moving downwards. At the insistence of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh, however, Mamen Makhsïm ceased to be involved with the occult sciences.

64 Oral account by Shamashrap Shamïrzaŭlї Shaqasïmov, born 1944, son of Shamïrza Shaqasïmov, resident of the village of Khan-Taghï, Kentau, May 2011.

65 Makhsïm is a name of honour (Ar. laqab) that he received for the fact that he derived from the ‘white bone’, ‘Arab’ group. His lineage (аwlad) was bearing the name of Qara Tirkash, a descendant of Imam Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya (d. 700, the third son of Caliph ‘Ali b. Abi Talib).

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Mamen Makhsïm travelled by donkey a distance of eight kilometres to meet with his master at the ‘Pobeda’ Kolkhoz in Oranghay. His meetings with ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh took place in silence and lasted 3-7 days. It is said that Imam ‘Ali (d. 661), Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi (d. 1166-7), Khwaja Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389) turned up to these meetings. There is evidence that ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh produced a khatt-i irshad for him. Before he died, ‘Abd al-Wahid left a testament in which he requested Mamen Makhsïm to carry out the ritual washing of his body (Pers. murdashuyi). After he had car-ried this out, Mamen Makhsïm claimed that during the process (Kaz. zhuu, kependeu), he had drunk the water that had collected in the navel of the dead shaykh.

3. Ne‘mat Qari, a hereditary resident of Turkestan, worked as a cashier in the kolkhoz, despite the fact that he was a carpenter by profession;

4. Burhan Qari, or Burhan Qozha Duwana-Qozhayev (d. 1966), of qozha origin, resident of the village of Khan-Taghï;

5. Beknazar Qotchiqulov (d. 1967) was a Kazakh from the Arghïn tribe; 6. Dadash Babakayev; 7. Ahmet Fayziyev (1891–1970); 8. Babazhan Qari, resident of the village of Qosh-Dĭyĭrmen; 9. Momïn Molda, resident of the village of Shobanaq; 10. Narshabay; 11. ‘Alimzhan Ishaqov, one of the late murids of the ishan; 12. Mukhtar Ishan from the Kazakh qozhas, he was a pĭr from the Kazakh Qaŋlï

tribe and lived in the auïl of Bayïldïr; 13. the son of the latter, ‘Abd al-Qadir; 14. Abu’l-‘As Makhsïm (Abu’l-Harith Qari, d. 2003), initially studied under an-

other shaykh, worked as an accountant in the kolkhoz; 15. ‘Azizan Qozha ‘Abduwasitov (1914–2004) ― his student in Oranghay, a heal-

er (Kaz. täüĭptĭk), was a well educated person and worked tutoring children in the religious sciences in their homes;

16. Baban ‘Omarov (d. 1991) lived in the ‘Pobeda’ kolkhoz and was a nephew of Mamen Makhsïm.

According to the information collected during our interviews, ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh’s congregation was named Jahriyya-Khufiyya after the form of dhikr practiced there. In the opinion of Nasr al-Din Ishan, ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh him-self, while never directly participating in the séances of the loud dhikr, was nev-ertheless present in the places where it was performed. The dhikr-i jahr was

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called dhikr-i sultan and was carried out in his group two or three times a year’.66 Moreover, he involved his children in these séances. The loud dhikr séances were held in his community between 1924 and 1970. According to Nasr al-Din Ishan, this dhikr was different from the dhikr practiced by contemporary Fergana groups of the Jahriyya.67

A number of the books read by ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa have been preserved by his family: the Qur’an, the Hikmat attributed to Yasawi, the Mathnawi of Mawlana Jalal al-Din, the Mathnawi of Kharabati. When calculating taxes, offi-cials were exploiting the fact that they possessed no precise information about the mullahs’ income and tried to increase the latter’s tax grade significiantly for their own benefit. One of the victims of such practices was ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh. A number of witnesses maintain that officials seized all of the shaykh’s limited property and did not even leave the doormat for his children. In the So-viet period, people forgot the difference between zakat (compulsory income tax, collected by official authorities for the benefit of the poor), sadaqa (compulsory tax, usually collected on the basis of the total number of cattle owned), nadhr (voluntary contribution) and others. They handed all of these over to the shaykh. At that time, the shaykh would correct them: ‘Do not call what you give me sadaqa. It is called a gift (hadiya)’.68

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh spoke out against the ‘ulama’s use of black magic (oqimaq), alchemy and the like. Party and Soviet leaders approached him on a number of occasions with requests that he give his blessing (fatiha, pate) to new initiatives (the building of roads, the collection of new harvests, festivals, long-distance trips). These ceremonies were either public or closed, depending on the circumstances. His charisma was recognised by everybody. Today, his descend-ants and successors continue this practice.

66 According to Nasr al-Din Ishan, this dhikr was unique because it was carried out in groups of ‘Ismat-Allah Makhsïm, the zĭkĭrshĭs. Its distinguishing features were its rules (tartib) concerning the conduct of séances and the behaviour (adab) of those who participated in them.

67 The older brother of Nasr al-Din, Habib-Allah (d. 2005) and Nasr al-Din’s father-in-law, Khwaja ‘Abd-Allah, from the town of Kentau, took part in a dhikr séance in the village of Toda in the Namangan region in 1985. In their opinion, the dhikr of this group was different from that performed in Turkestan. See the article about Ghulam Normatov, a member of this movement: Babadzhanov & Muminov 2006. This sort of dhikr continues to be practiced today in the towns of Namangan and Andijan, in the Chust area of the Namangan region, in Kyrgyzstan (in the Jalalabad Region, in partic-ular in the village of Safed-Bulan). We know of several sorts of dhikr practiced among these groups: dhikr-i arra, dhikr-i Zangi Ata, dhikr-i nadamat and others (cf. Ashirov & Pasilov 2010).

68 Oral account by Shamashrap Shaqasïmov, born 1943, resident of the village of Khan-Taghï, 2011

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4. Re-Islamisation and Post-Soviet Mutation

Shäk r IshanĭShäkĭr Ishan was born in 1916, however, according to the records the year of his birth was 1924. He was coming from a line of ancient qozhas ― the seyĭt-qozhas. His father Isma‘il ‘Appas-ŭlï Smanov (1870–1931) was one of the first to be per-secuted by the Soviet power on religious grounds: he was imprisoned in 1927. In 1931, he was released for health reasons and could return to Zhartï-Töbe, where soon afterwards he died and was buried. Shäkĭr Ishan’s father was a scholar of Islam (Ar. ‘alim, pl. ‘ulama’) and in 1915 he travelled to Mecca to perform the hajj. Shäkĭr Ishan was educated in the Soviet system. He graduated from medical school and worked on the kolkhoz as a medical assistant (fel’dsher). He could read and write Russian well.

Shäkĭr Ishan and Tayaqtï Ishan first met at the funeral of Ayna Qozha, which took place at the Zhartï-Töbe graveyard. This was in 1951.69 It is said that Tayaqtï Ishan immediately informed Shäkĭr Ishan that he had been and still was secretly (khufiyya) involved in Shäkĭr’s spiritual education. Shäkĭr did not be-lieve him. At this point Tayaqtï Ishan told him that several years earlier he had saved Shäkĭr Ishan from being sent to the front during the Second World War (i.e. from certain death) and had made sure he was excused from service in order to work in a factory. Following this, Shäkĭr Ishan became a fervent admirer (mukhlis) of Tayaqtï Ishan. The teacher invited the student to Eski Juwa (the central market in Tashkent) to beg together and to adopt the itinerant lifestyle. At this time, Shäkĭr Ishan was experiencing some family problems. He had di-vorced his first wife, who had borne him one daughter (by the name of Huri Ayïm or Uri Ayïm), in 1947. For reasons unknown, she had left Shäkĭr Ishan. Later, he married again to a girl by the name of Narqïz, who turned out to be a sorceress (du‘ashï). She allegedly deprived Shäkĭr Ishan of his masculine strength.

Shäkĭr Ishan married for a third time in 1953, however, for a long time the family had no children. Only in 1956 did their first daughter arrive. Shäkĭr Ishan’s descendants believe their family’s prosperity to be connected with the grace of Tayaqtï Ishan. He predicted the future birth of Shäkĭr Ishan’s four sons, and gave them Islamic names in advance (‘Abd al-Shukur, ‘Abd al-Jabbar, ‘Abd al-Sattar, ‘Abd al-Ghaffar).

In 1953, after the death of Stalin, Tayaqtï Ishan returned to his home in the

69 Oral account by Süleymen Zhüsĭpov, born 1927, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, from the Gur Qozha lineage, 2010

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Olti-Ariq District of the Fergana region. However, soon after this, Shäkĭr Ishan had a dream in which his teacher called him to come to him, thus, two of his faithful students, Shäkĭr Ishan and ‘Abd al-Malik Ishan, set off for the Fergana Valley. They convinced their teacher to return to the Sarï-Aghash District. Be-tween 1959 and 1995, Shäkĭr Ishan presided over Tayaqtï Ishan’s small group of followers. In the majlis, his followers read different stories, and, following the re-laxation of state control, they moved on to study the Islamic texts themselves.

Two events with far reaching consequences for the development of the con-gregation took place in the 1950s. The first was connected with the construction of a mosque in Zhartï-Töbe. In 1955, Tayaqtï Ishan together with Shäkĭr Ishan built a mosque on the grounds of the Bes Sheĭt graveyard. The work took two months to complete. Its measurements were drawn up by Tayaqtï Ishan himself – 16x6 metres. Once the mosque had been built, Tayaqtï Ishan addressed God from the mosque’s roof with the appeal: ‘Let this mosque never be destroyed!’ The locals consider this act to be one of the ishan’s miracles (Ar. karamat, Kaz. keremet) and believe that noone will ever be able to destroy the mosque.

The second act of sanctification of the ‘Bes Sheĭt’ graveyard was connected with the burial of Tayaqtï Ishan. According to legend, when Tayaqtï Ishan was dying he managed to say ‘I die a martyr (Ar. shahid)! This is an omen (ayat) from Allah, do not judge the guard (qaraul) who bears no guilt for what happened!’ As a result, according to the local population, his body did not decompose, which was taken to be a miracle. A number of years after these events only, his body was covered over with earth.

The 1980s marked the beginning of a new era. There was an increase in all aspects of the group’s activity. Shäkĭr Ishan continued to develop the complex in the Bes Sheĭt graveyard himself. Around 1984, the remains of his distant relative, the saint (äuliye) Qïzïr Qozha b. Muhammad-Amin (1670–1733) were transported here and were ceremoniously reburied in a new place in the presence of the masses. A mausoleum was built to mark the event. Shäkĭr Ishan spent a signific-ant amount of money on the construction of this building (50,000 Soviet roubles). As a result, the ‘Bes Sheĭt’ graveyard was renamed Qïzïr-Qozha äuletĭ mazaratï [cemetery of Qïzïr Qozha’s lineage]. In the final stage of his burial following his death in 1995, Shäkĭr Ishan was buried next to the Qïzïr Qozha Mausoleum in the Qïzïr-Qozha äuletĭ mazaratï graveyard.

Slightly earlier, in 1990, a madrasa was built and opened next to Tayaqtï Ishan’s mosque. However, the registration of the madrasa took many years.

Much of Shäkĭr Ishan’s work involved appealing to people to observe Islamic principles as closely as possible. During religious, family, and other public cere-monies, he would demand that popular traditions not contradict sharia norms.

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He took an uncompromising position on this issue, provoking the disapproval of certain people. He also spoke out against the practice of giving any sort of offer-ing, gift, or reward to ‘ulama’ for carrying out Islamic rituals (for example, the recitation of the Qur’an, the pronouncement of the du‘a’).

‘Abd-Allah Qari

‘Abd-Allah Qari was a resident of the Qumloq quarter of Tashkent, which is loc -ated in the Asiatic or ‘old’ part of the town (Eski Shahar), not far from the ad-ministrative centre of the SADUM on the Hast-Imam Square. In 1942, he became a follower of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh. He travelled to Oranghay from Tashkent. Following the establishment of the SADUM library, he began to work there as a binder. Before his death (in 1967), ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh appointed ‘Abd-Allah Qari as his successor (khalifa). This decision was most probably a result of the fact that the shaykh’s closest students (Shamïrza Qari and others) had passed away in 1966 to 1967.

‘Abd-Allah Qari managed to instruct several students (Ibrahim Hazrat, ‘Adil Khan Qari Salomov and others), who went on to educate a number of murids of their own in the urban and provincial centres of the Fergana Valley, Tashkent and other towns in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, even Russia. Among his followers, the most dutiful and reliable disciple was Ibrahim Hazrat Mamatqulov (Buwayda area of the Fergana region, 1976 to 2009: cf. Babadzhanov 2006a).

Out of fear from the authorities, ‘Abd-Allah Qari did not write his students’ irshad-namas in the traditional form during his lifetime, but limited himself to granting them oral permission to choose their own students. At the same time, he constantly warned his followers about the threat of arrest and recommended that they only have two or three murids. The fact that one of the leaders of the Jahriyya in the Fergana Valley. ‘Adil Khan Qari (Dada) Salomov (1928–2009) of Andijan, considered him to be his principal instructor provides an indication of his authority.70

During the Brezhnev administration (1964–82) it became possible to publicly

70 The Sufi leader from the town of Andijan, ‘Adil Khan Qari Salomov (1928-2009), gained the right to leadership (irshad): a) through the Khufiyya line under ‘Abd-Allah Qari, a student of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh; b) the right to perform the dhikr-i jahr from Damulla Muhammad-Sharif Hisari of Tajikistan. After his death, ‘Abd al-Baqi ‘Abd al-Rahman (Abdurahmonov) became ishan in Namangan; in Andijan, there were three – ‘Abd al-Quddus, ‘Izzat-Allah Qari and Sahib-Jan Qari. There are around 500 people in the group. They are prolific practioners of the dhikr-i jahr ritual (cf. Iuldo-shkhujaev 2010). The link between this and the ritual of the Qadiriyya has not yet been studied. A khanaqah for carrying out dhikr was built in the yard of ‘Adil Khan Qari Salomov’s house in Andijan. 25-30 people took part in his séances (Ashirov & Pasilov 2010: 39-40).

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perform collective prayers and rituals. ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh’s disciples from all over Central Asia and Kazakhstan traditionally met twice a year, in the first days of the month of Ramadan and during the Mawlid festival (the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad), in the shaykh’s house to perform the rituals of khatm-i Qur’an and mawlid al-Nabi. These meetings were very important for uniting the members of the Sufi path, increasing the authority of its teachers, and furthering the dissemination of the teachings of Sufism.

In a number of publications, it is stated that ‘Abd-Allah Qari lived with his master for around 33 years. It is also stated that he was killed in 1976 in a car ac-cident and that he was buried close to his master in Qŭsh-Ata.71 However, ac-cording to Nasr al-Din Ishan, ‘Abd-Allah Qari spent the last years of his life in his daughter’s house in the western quarter of the remote Tashkent suburb of Qoylïq (near to the ‘Post Office’ bus stop). He died there on 8 May 1976 and was buried in the local graveyard of ‘Qoylaqi-Ata’.

Tayaqtï Ishan’s Congregation since 1991

The commune experienced a phase of intense activity at the beginning of the perestroika period (1987-91). This was mostly in the form of intercommunal activity. As state pressure and totalitarian control decreased, people began to study purely Islamic disciplines in majlises rather than reading traditional dast-ans and stories. Diverse forms of literature began to appear at this time; today, such literature is published at an uncontrollable rate by state and cooperative presses. The community began to move towards a system of self-financing, for-cing its memebers to function in an open market. With the appearance of revi-sionist and later critical attitudes to communist teaching and practice and the re-interpretation of the historical past, the Islamic theme rose in public prominence. What had been judged negatively in the past was now judged positively. Many members of the community travelled to Hast-Imam, where the latest debates were developing. Under ideological pressure, Islam started to be used as a polit-ical weapon.

Our interviewees provided almost no detail about what life had been like in the congregation in the preceding years. ‘Abd al-Jabbar Smanov (b. 1960) entered the Higher Islamic Institute in Tashkent at the age of 17. He became a student leader (amir). It is also known that, during his time serving in the Afghan war (in 1980-1982), ‘Abd al-Jabbar Smanov prayed openly, resulting in his persecution by the Soviet command. According to his stories, he secured the right not only to

71 In a number of publications an inaccurate year of his death (1978) is given (Olcott 2007: 19).

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perform his religious duties, but also to defend (he was a military parachutist) ordinary Muslim soldiers, who were subjected to mockery and humiliation in the Soviet Army. His elder brother ‘Abd al-Shukur Smanov (1958-2012) said that he began to observe the norms of Islam at the age of 28 only. From this, it is pos-sible to conclude that the group began to be active around 1986.

It was at this time that the demand for serious knowledge of Islamic sciences increased. Certain members of the congregation went to other places in search for new knowledge: the brothers ‘Abd al-Jabbar and ‘Abd al-Ghaffar Smanov went to the towns of the Fergana Valley. They received their education from various leaders of hujras (teaching ‘cells’) in Namangan, Andijan, Osh,72 and Tashkent. According to one of the three theologians of Kyrgyzstan who are pub-licly recognised by shaykhs, Shah-Muhammad Shah-Yunusov (b. 1938, Osh, graduate of the Mir-i ‘Arab Madrasa of Bukhara and of the Higher Islamic Insti-tute of Tashkent), they achieved great success in their studies. In 1979-80, he himself provided ‘Abd al-Jabbar Smanov with instruction in Arab language. His other brother ‘Abd al-Gaffar studied under ‘Ala’ al-Din Mansur (b. 1952, a shaykh from the Kyrgyz town of Karasuu). At the beginning of the 1990s, the brothers studied in Tashkent under ‘Abd-Allah Qari.73 After this, the Smanov brothers translated the Translation of the Qur’an by ‘Ala’ al-Din Mansur from Uzbek into Kazakh and published it.

The Islamic activism of the congregation’s leaders took different forms. In pro-vocative online publications, there are hints and allegations concerning their in-volvement in the ‘Islamic Revival Party’ movement. It should be noted that the au-thors of these publications prefer to remain anonymous and cite data from undis-closed sources. These texts bring to mind the denunciations and underhand activit-ies of the Soviet era. The other focus in the work of the community leaders is the effort to organise and carry out independent confessional education. The madrasa they established in the 1990-2010 period changed name three times ― Ubayy b. Ka‘b, Tayaqtï Ishan, and Sarï-Aghash.Today 120 shagirds study in the madrasa.74

Tayaqtï Ishan is honoured in the commune as a teacher (Pers. ustadh), ishan, disseminator of Islam and builder of mosques. Tayaqtï Ishan’s group is remark-able for its loyalty to the structures of the SADUM. In his group, people are edu-

72 During the Soviet era, there were seven madrasas in Osh alone (oral account by Odiljon Obidov, born 1933, resident of Osh, journalist, November 2007).

73 Oral account by Shah-Muhammad Shah-Yunusov, born 1938, resident of Osh, Kyrgyz Republic, 1-3 November 2007.

74 On the plans for the development and expansion of the ‘Sarï-Aghash’ madrasa com-plex cf.: http://www.tasmim.kz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 88&Itemid=88&lang=en

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cated in the ascetic spirit, with religious zeal. However, the religious knowledge of the teachers and members of the group was not that profound. The tradition-alism that marks Tayaqtï Ishan’s group could be used by its adversaries in ac-tions against Sufi groups or the emergence of folk Islam (cults of sacred places, and so on).

The puritanical nature of the community led to the Qur’an being considered the only authentic source of Islam. For this reason, community members have made several attempts to translate the Qur’an into Kazakh. Between 1998 and 2000, ‘Abd al-Sattar worked on a Kazakh translation of the Qur’an. A limited number of copies of this translation were printed.75 Between 2008 and 2010 the same author reviewed his old translation and published it in Malaysia (Sman 2010).

Ibrahim Hazrat

Following the death of ‘Abd-Allah Qari on 8 May 1976, Ibrahim Hazrat (ishan from 1976 to 23 September 2009) became ishan of the local Naqshbandiyya Husayniyya group. Ibrahim-Jan Ishan Muhammad-Qul-ughli Mamatqulov was born on 10 March 1937 in the qishlaq (wintering village) of Aq-Qurghan in the Buwayda area of the Fergana region.76 His father Muhammad-Qul Jura-Bay-ughli was an expert carpenter and worked making bullock carts and telegas. His family moved from the Aq-Qurghan qishlaq to the Bahrin qishlaq in the Uch-Ko-prik district of this region in 1939, where they lived until April 1962.77

From 1945, Ibrahim-Jan attended and finished primary school in Bahrin. After he finished school, he went to the Mir-i ‘Arab Madrasa in Bukhara, how-ever for diverse reasons he was obliged to interrupt his studies. From Bukhara he moved to Samarqand. For 4-5 months he worked as a security guard in the com-plex of sacred places known under the name of Shah-i Zinda. Here he recited verses from the Qur’an for pilgrims, and studied Persian. Later he moved to Tashkent and began to study at the Hast-Imam.78 Here he received his Sufi edu-

75 “Süyĭnshĭ! Erekshe Qŭran Kärim shïqtï [Congratulations! A unique Qur’an-i Karim is published],” http://www.elbirligi.kz/ekonomy (2011/06/06).

76 An incorrect date of birth (1928) is given in several publications, and Buwayda is named as the qishlaq (rather than the region – tuman) where Ibrahim Hazrat was ac-tually born, instead of the qishlaq of Aq-Qurghan: Olcott 2007: 30.

77 http://sheiknazim.ru/forum/18-60-178 During our interviews, Ibrahim Hazrat strongly objected to the assertion, which has

been repeated in several publications, that he subsequently worked as a kolkhoz tractor driver (from the author’s field materials collected during an expedition to-gether with Japanese researchers around the sacred places of the Fergana Valley between 2002 and 2005).

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cation from ‘Abd-Allah Qari while working as a binder at the SADUM library, where the two men met in 1956.79

It was at this time that ‘Abd-Allah Qari brought Ibrahim-Jan to the service of his tutor ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan. A legend exists according to which ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan knew in advance that Ibrahim-Jan was coming to see him and met him in the road. Between the end of the 1950s and the mid-1970s he studied un-der ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa and ‘Abd-Allah Qari. Eventually, Ibrahim Hazrat rose to such a status that he became the Thirty-Second pĭr in the spiritual genealogy of the Naqshbandiyya–Mujaddidiyya–Husayniyya.

During the years of intense religious repression under the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan Inomjon B. Us-mankho’jaev (1983-88), Ibrahim Hazrat was arrested and imprisoned in 1985. He spent three years in jail in Kuibyshev (now Samara, Russia).80 On leaving jail, he moved from his house in Sergeli in Tashkent to his native settlement of Aq-Qurghan (Buwayda area of the Fergana region). The perestroika years were a chaotic time in the life of the kolkhoz, but an auspicious moment for Ibrahim Hazrat to disseminate the teachings of the Naqshbandiyya within the com-munity and beyond the borders of his village and region.

During the first years of Uzbekistan’s independence, a number of public fig-ures promoted Sufism as the spiritual heritage of the nation and the foundation or base on which the national revival could be carried out in an attempt to devel-op a national ideology. Other practioners were inclined to perceive the teachings of Sufism as a counterweight to Islamic fundamentalism. There were also serious expectations that Sufism might comprise a form of teaching capable of counter-acting the political Islam embodied by the political party Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islam-iyya. Publications about Sufism and various popular academic events dedicated to Sufism in Uzbekistan illustrate this situation. The leaders of the SADUM, later the Board of the Muslims of Uzbekistan (in Russian acronyms UMU), became in-volved in such activities. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Mansur (the former Advisor to the Presid-ent on Religious Affairs and International Relations), Shams al-Din Khan Baba Khan (the Mufti of the SADUM between 1982 and 1989) were the authors of a catalogue of books about Sufism (see Bobokhonov & Mansur 1993). The mufti of the UMU Mukhtar Hajji ‘Abdullaev (1993-95) claimed to be an expert of Sufism and a Sufi tutor.81 All of this resulted in a dramatic growth in the number of fol-

79 Oral account by Nasr al-Din Ishan, born 1951, resident of the village of Qŭsh-Ata, 2010

80 Ibid. 81 The mistakes made by M. B. Olcott (1995: 35) concerning the devotion of the former

supreme mufti of the UMU to Sufism were corrected by Bakhtyar M. Babadzhanov

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lowers of Sufism in Uzbekistan. Ibrahim Hazrat became known as a practioner of Sufism and the owner of an ‘authentic’ silsila. According to Ibrahim Hazrat, the number of his followers (murids, mukhlises) during these years surpassed 20,000.

This resulted, in the first instance, in an increase in the economic strength of the congregation. As a result of the direct intervention of Ibrahim Hazrat, a number of buildings were restored, including a newly built khanaqah (hostelry), ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan’s chilla-khana (retreat room) in the village of Qŭsh-Ata, and the mosque in the Shornaq qishlaq. Ibrahim Hazrat was involved in the con-struction of mosques on sacred grounds: for example the four-storey mosque in Shah-i Mardan and others. Every year without fail, Ibrahim-Jan Ishan would carry out the khatm-i Qur’an (full public Qur’an recitation) during the months of Rabi‘ al-Awwal (mawlid) and Ramadan in Turkestan. According to witnesses, one thousand pilgrims and sympathisers were fed with pilaf in just one hour.

Ibrahim Hazrat broadened the congregation’s sphere of international con-tacts: he established ties with Muhammad-Nazim ‘Adil Haqqani in Cyprus (born in Larnaca, Cyprus, in 1922: cf. Kabbani 1995: 375-408). As a result, Ibrahim-Jan Ishan was appointed pir-i murshid (spiritual leader, advisor) of the Naqshban-diyya path for Central Asia and the Russian Federation. Many Sufis, even follow-ers of the Jahriyya (like Dawud Khan Qari Ortiqov of Namangan, b. 1931, and others) brought him bay‘at.82

However, during the preparations for the celebration of the 600 th anniver-sary of Khwaja Ahrar in 2004, official attitudes to Sufism began to change. An important role in this development was played by publications about the politic-al activities of past Sufi leaders, such as Khwaja Ahrar himself (d. 1490), Makh-dum-i A‘zam (d. 1542), Khwaja Islam Juybari (d. 1563), Mawlana Lutf-Allah Chusti (d. 1570) and others, and the potential politicisation of Sufi organisations (cf. Babadzhanov 2001; Olcott 2007: 6-15). In the press, there were also multiple references to the political activity of many Naqshbandi leaders and descendants of Makhdum-i A‘zam in Eastern Turkestan against the Qing, their participation in the uprisings of Ya‘qub Beg in 1864-77, of Dukchi Ishan in 1898, and others. The government of Uzbekistan twice postponed the beginning of the Anni-

(1999): ‘The overwhelming motives of Mr. Mukhtar Khan ‘Abdullaev in advertising his status as a “Naqshbandi master” most likely derived from his wish to align him-self with official state propaganda. His profound understanding of contemporary trends, unshakable conformism, his deft exploitation of the Naqshbandi propaganda and other factors helped him to get promoted to the post of Chairman of the Board of Muslims of Uzbekistan.’ We also agree with Prof Bakhtyar M. Babadzhanov about the need for those carrying out fieldwork with Islamic activists to possess knowledge of local languages and a good grounding in Islamic studies. Cf. Abu Khalil 1996.

82 Oral account by Nasr al-Din Ishan, 2010

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versary and festivities in honour of Khwaja Ahrar, although an academic work-shop took place as planned in Samarqand at the beginning of December 2004, al-beit without much fuss and in the absence of any foreigners (Olcott 2007: 7).

Opponents of the successful shaykh appeared among the Sufi practioners in Uzbekistan: the main opponent of Ibrahim Hazrat was the Naqshbandi master Dust-Muhammad Tursunov (b. 1935 in the Shurchi District of the Surkhan-Darya Region). He was granted the right to leadership by local shaykhs, in par-ticular by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Salam Ghilani (Iuldoshkhujaev, 2010: 46). He was well versed in fiqh. Dust-Muhammad Ishan strongly criticised Ibrahim Hazrat for his actions against the sharia. Another shaykh, Zuhr al-Din Qari Eshonov Shahrikh-ani (b. 1927), a student of Khwaja Nazar Dehqonboyev and of the Tajik Sufi mas-ters Mawlawi Kuhistani and Damulla Muhammad-Sharif Hisari, was also critical of Ibrahim Hazrat.

Following his death in September 2009, Ibrahim-Jan Ishan was buried in the graveyard of Tepalik in Aq-Qurghan. Immediately after this event, there was a split between the groups led by Ibrahim Hazrat in Uzbekistan. As yet, there is no ishan-i murshid in Uzbekistan, though khalifas have been appointed in different towns, and it is expected that in the future the son of the deceased Ibrahim Haz-rat will be declared his successor. In Uzbekistan the groups of Mu’nis in Samar-qand and of the followers of ‘Abd-Allah-Jan Makhsum in Andijan can also be mentioned. The congregation in Kazakhstan is also divided into two groups: the group of Qurban-‘Ali Shaykh Ahmedov and the group of Nasr al-Din Ishan in Qŭsh-Ata.

Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr

The family of Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr Ahmedov belonged to the Kazakh qozha sabïlt, from the village of Shayan (formerly Chayan-Masjid) in the South Kazakhstan Region. Qurban-‘Ali himself was born and grew up in the Qoylïq area near Tashkent. He received his religious education in the Mir-i ‘Arab Madrasa of Bukhara and at the Higher Islamic Institute in Tashkent. His Sufi education he received from Ibrahim Hazrat. According to Nasr al-Din Ishan, Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr first came to Qŭsh-Ata in 1988. Before August 1998 he was well known for his activity in the Qïzïl-Orda Region (cf. Li 1998; Khliupin 2001). In fact, Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr Ahmedov worked disseminating the teachings of the Naqsh-bandiyya in different regions of Kazakhstan and played an important role in the spiritual life of the country. According to Nasr al-Din Ishan, 95 per cent of Ka-zakh Sufis adopted Sufism under Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr Ahmedov. After 2000, the influence of his group spread to the Taraz, Southern Kazakhstan, Qïzïl-Orda, Aqtöbe, Maŋghïstau, and Atïrau Regions.

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Scholars have noted two character traits of Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr: 1) Early on he demonstrated his desire to lead a separate group of followers. This was obvi-ous from the fact that he started to visit his teacher Ibrahim Hazrat less fre-quently. 2) He demonstrated his political adaptability, criticising managers and speaking out against corruption and talking about the possibility of creating a Naqshbandi political party (Olcott 2007: 33-4). Under his leadership, a religious association, the Enlightening Society of the Islamic Refuge, was officially re-gistered in the town of Taraz. This organisation founded the Haq Zholï newspa-per (licence № 5366–G from 31.08.2004). The newspaper is published twice a month in Kazakh and Russian and has a ciculation of 4,000 copies.83 A website http://forum.hak-joly.kz/ was also established. As a consequence, the Sufi group entered into a period of difficult relations with the state authorities.

Following the death of Ibrahim Hazrat in 2009, and as a result of the split between the followers of this Sufi path, the village of Qŭsh-Ata stopped func-tioning as a centre for disciples of Qurban-‘Ali Ahmedov and the Uzbek group. There are now three emerging centres in this area in Kazakhstan, the groups of Qurban-‘Ali Ahmedov and Nasr al-Din Ishan Mamadshukurov’s group in the vil-lage of Qŭsh-Ata. The followers of Qurban-‘Ali Ahmedov substituted the tradi-tional Sufi dress (mahsi legless rubber boots, white chapan, white turban) for baseball caps, jeans and trainers. Qurban-‘Ali has many followers from various towns in Kazakhstan (Qïzïl-Orda, Taraz, Astana) and four wives. In 2010, he vis-ited Muhammad-Nazim Haqqani of the Naqshbandiyya in Syria and in Cyprus. There are rumours that Qurban-‘Ali Ahmedov is now in hiding abroad.

Nasr al-Din Ishan

Of ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan’s sons, Sultanqul Makhsïm Abduvoitov worked as a healer (täüĭptĭk). He travelled to Saudi Arabia on two occasions (1997 and 2009) to perform the hajj. His son ‘Ubayd-Allah Makhsïm Sultanqulov also went to Saudi Arabia in 2005–06.

Of ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan’s younger sons, Habib-Allah Makhsïm Mamatshu-kurov proved to be particularly talented. However, he died early in 2005. ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan’s youngest son Ishan Nasr al-Din Mamatshukurov followed the path of his father. After the death of Ibrahim Hazrat in September 2009 he was declared ishan. However, a conflict emerged in Kazakhstan between the follow-ers of Nasr al-Din Ishan and Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr Ahmedov. In December 2009, the latter’s followers stopped visiting Qŭsh-Ata. At the time of our meeting, Nasr al-Din Ishan admitted that there was a profound gulf between them. This

83 http://www.zhambyl.kz/index.php?action=contents&page=244&lan=rus

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manifested itself outwardly in the substitution of the traditional dress for mod-ern clothing – baseball caps and trainers, and in the shaving off of their beards. Nasr al-Din Ishan still has followers in the Turkestan Region, in the towns of Kentau and Almatï, comprising 5% of all Naqshbandis in Kazakhstan. The ishan himself lives modestly in his home village of Qŭsh-Ata.

Conclusion The policies and practices of the Soviet regime were, in essence, a continuation of the policies of the Russian Empire, specifically the total subordination of the traditional and the imposition of the alien. The only difference between the So-viet and the preceding period was in the regime’s desire to resolve definitively the problems facing the state: the absolute annihilation of religion and the up-rooting of everything that contradicted the dominant ideology. An ultimately de-structive blow was dealt to the most vulnerable points in the Islamic infrastruc-ture of Central Asia in the period before the Second World War (1917–39). It had the greatest impact on theologians and religious ministers. These were subjected to the suspension of their civic rights, to exile to distant lands and to physical ex-termination. The main religious centres Turkestan, Bukhara, Samarqand and Kokand were transformed into shabby provincial towns. Madrasas, mosques, and the other religious establishments included within them were closed down, and all of the latters’ property, including books in Arabic script, were confiscated or destroyed.

Under these conditions of total cultural destruction and blanket persecution of urban centres, there was a real chance for traditional culture to be preserved in the rural areas of Central Asia. However, the village was also undergoing rad-ical transformation. As a consequence of land reforms implemented in 1927-28, large plots of land were confiscated from the people. The remaining property was seized in the course of collectivisation. In Kazakhstan there were additional problems: the violent transition from nomadic forms of farming to a sedentary way of life, the transition from animal husbandry to agriculture, the cohabitation of members of different tribes or peoples in one settlement.

There was nevertheless a good chance for different forms of spiritual life to survive in rural areas. Religious life, as one might expect, was suffused with rituals, ceremonies, and simple religious festivals. Several forms of spiritual life that had been marginalised during the period when the Islamic network had been fully functional thus witnessed a renaissance (for example, the visiting of sacred places, traditional and other forms of healing).

Following this, two events of relevance to our study occurred, which can be seen to have forced a departure from the general line in terms of the realisation

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of the repressive policies of the Soviet state. The first was the Second World War, which for the first time tested the strength of Soviet society.

The establishment of the Spiritual Board of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in 1943 revealed the weakness of the communist state in the face of natural societal developments. Despite its obvious passivity, the foundation of the Spiritual Authority was a seminal event in the revival of religious life in the region. The SADUM was the screen behind which Islamic activists began their activities. Indeed, it was at this time that information began to appear about the activities of Tayaqtï Ishan and ‘Abd al-Wahid Khalifa in the villages of the South Kazakhstan Region. Making use of their strengths (holy foolishness, conspiracy), they were able to adapt to the reality of that time. The state’s limited recognition of the status of religion helped these leaders to begin their work as Islamic activ-ists.

Tayaqtï Ishan gave himself out to be a madman: he rode on a wooden horse. He had no place of work, he collected rubbish and carried a bag filled with rub-bish on his shoulder. In the central mosque, during the Friday namaz he distrib-uted his belongings to believers for them to carry out their ablutions. He con-stantly walked around graveyards, calling upon believers to build mosques on the grounds of cemeteries, in places that would not attract the attention of the authorities. Tayaqtï Ishan, behind the mask of the ‘eccentric’, attended Friday prayers in the central SADUM Mosque ― Hast-Imam in Tashkent, providing the service of a hermit-ascetic to the Muslim attendees. In this way, he evaded con-trol. The same tactic helped him in his travels around the villages of Kazakhstan, during which he spent the night in graveyards. His majlises were also little con-trolled as a result of their movement between different auïls and private house-holds.

‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh was a reputed gardener, his feats of labour were writ-ten about in Soviet newspapers. He hid behind the clothing of a ‘kolkhoz labour-er’. The leaders of the kolkhoz, sovkhoz, and even the secretary of the regional party committee would come to him for advice about agricultural problems. He concealed himself from and remained unnoticed by the authorities.

The second event was the end of the Stalinist dictatorship, which constituted the end of an entire period of total and direct repression. From this point on, un-precedented developments and activities in the management of the established repressive machine began to take place. This, in turn, created the liberal condi-tions necessary for Islamic activists to expand their work. Tayaqtï Ishan visited his students, who lived in distant regions: Kök-Terek, the Lenin Sovkhoz, Zhïlgha, Darbaza, Qaraqalpaq and other settlements in the South Kazakhstan Re-gion. People congregated at meetings organised in his honour and carried out

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Fig. 1: ‘Abd al-Wahid Ishan Mamatshkurov (image from the documentary film “The Way out of the Dark” (Doroga iz mraka), scenario V. Rapoport and L. Klimov,

filmmakers O. Zeki, B. Shabalov, Alma-Ata: Alma-Atinskaia studiia dokumental’nykh fil’mov, 1960 (Tsentral’nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv kinodokumentov i

zvukozapisei Respubliki Kazakhstan, Nr. 1232)

majlises there. In them different topics were discussed. In particular, there was propaganda of Islam under new conditions.

The main question was how to adapt to the conditions of Soviet rule without forgetting neglecting the principles of Islam. Tayaqtï Ishan called for the con-struction of mosques in graveyards and remote areas, in order to minimize the control of the authorities over religious life, and led majlises in which various re-ligious questions were discussed independently. ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh could openly recruit murids, expanding their ranks. Public ceremonies (mawlid, khatm-i Qur’an) began to be conducted in his congregation.

During each stage in the post-war evolution of ‘Soviet Islam’, which was re-vived in the post-repression period, several groups of factors influenced its de-velopment:1. The narrow, restricted Islamic propaganda issued from SADUM, urged

people to observe the principles of ‘pure, uncorrupted Islam’. Its unique

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source was the Qur’an and the Hadith. The SADUM determined the main trends in the development of Islam in the Soviet period, ultimately engen-dering what is today referred to as fundamentalism. Indeed, the enlightening policy of the SADUM played a decisive role in the formation and evolution of many groups of believers, such as the congregation of Tayaqtï Ishan. In our opinion, the main features of these groups were their distance from their roots, the dilution of their theoretical knowledge and the replacement of ser-ious scholarly study with superficial posturing.

2. The abstract ideal of ‘pure Islam’ was at odds with the actual traditions of local Islamic society. The developments in religious life discussed by the SADUM (traditional forms of religious life, the personality of Abu Hanifa, of Baha’ al-Din Naqshband, Sufism) could become the source of concern for the repressive organs of Soviet government. As part of their repressive activity, Soviet state institutions made use of fatwas published by the SADUM. The main consequence of this was that Sufi groups became illegal. This policy created a situation whereby newly established communties of believers (par-ticularly Sufi communities and networks) could, on the one hand, exist in practice, but, on the other, were legally prohibited from developing into hujras (cells). The lack of interest on the part of the authorities in the devel-opment of registration laws for religious communities, their legal status and the role of the SADUM in managing ideological developments in these com-munities, led to the emergence and proliferation of groups that were disin-clined to cooperate with society and the authorities. Under the right condi-tions, this sphere could be easily politicised.

In the rural areas of Southern Kazakhstan another feature of the evolution of ‘Soviet Islam’ was the emergence of people from other regions acting as spiritual advisors for a considerable number of believers in Soviet society. Both founders of the two commuities were originally from other regions: Tayaqtï Ishan and ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh were inhabitants of the Fergana Valley and its neighbour-hood (Olti-Ariq and Ura-Teppa Districts) and moved to the Southern Kazakhstan Region as a result of forced migration (to be precise, they were resettled here). Despite individual statements from respondents (‘Tayaqtï Ishan loved Kazakhs and Kazakh qozhas’), there is no evidence from their actions that they attempted to harmonise the norms of Islam and Kazakh national culture. The disconnection between the religious congregations and national culture can also be identified as an important factor in the subsequent growth in alienation.

Tayaqtï Ishan had his own programme for the economic life of the congrega-tion. He demanded that contributions from believers (the zakat, sadaqa, nadhr,

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and others) were spent on strictly religious ends. Tayaqtï Ishan’s congregation demonstrated its resolute commitment to becoming involved in confessional education and spent a considerable sum on achieving this goal. However, the lack of real knowledge and skills, and the lack of opportunities to deepen this knowledge has meant that they have been forced to look for help elsewhere. In the work of Tayaqtï Ishan, ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh and their congregations, there has been a tendency to establish religious centres in rural areas. Both put their faith in rural inhabitants. In the post-Soviet period, a shift in the centre of grav-ity to work in towns can be observed.

In the post-Soviet evolution of the Naqshbandiyya–Husayniyya Sufi path, there have been two periods of ishanism: Ibrahim Hazrat (1976–2009) and Qurb-an-‘Ali Taqsïr (since 2009). Ibrahim Hazrat played an important role in expand-ing the congregation through the inclusion of followers who lived in the Fergana Valley. His success was greatly facilitated by the policy of the Republic of Uzbek-istan, which for a certain time made Sufism part of national heritage. The rejec-tion of this policy also led to the depletion of the ranks of the congregation. Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr shifted the congregation’s work from rural areas to the towns of Kazakhstan. This, in turn, led him to become seriously involved in the socio-political processes in the country. Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr began to use means of mass communication (newspapers, internet sites, etc.) as part of his propa-ganda work. These two leaders are united in their efforts to establish connec-tions with the international Naqshbandiyya network. Qurban-‘Ali Taqsïr, for ex-ample, managed to establish direct contact with Muhammad-Nazim Haqqani of Cyprus. By contrast, the splinter group led by Nasr al-Din Ishan has demon-strated its belief in the self-sustaining nature of the teachings of its congregation, which is restricted to villages of the Turkestan region.

Translated from Russian by Victoria Donovan

Respondents Zhartï-Töbe case study

AQBERDIYEV Bökeykhan, b. 1959, Sarï-Aghash, seyĭt-qozha (sayaq)AYDARALIYEV Qayumjon, b. 1924, Uzbek, Zhartï-Töbe, a follower of Tayaqtï Ishan for

ten years, now lives in TashkentBÜRKĬTBAYEV Sälĭm, b. 1937, resident of the village of Zhĭbek-Zholï, seyĭt-qozha, son of

Bürkĭtbay NazïmovIBRAGIMOV Manap-Sopï (aka – Qara-Saqal), b. 1927 (according to his passport – 1932

y.o.b.), resident of the village of Zor-Töbe, qarakhandïq-qozha (zerger), associ-ate of Tayaqtï Ishan

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ÏSMAYÏLOV Zŭpar, b. 1945, resident of the village of Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs, seyĭt-qozha (gur), former director of a middle school, veteran of the education system

KHOJAYEV Qazaqbay Ghaffar-‘Ali ughli, b. 1938, lives in the village of Zhĭbek Zholï, born in the qishlaq of Ghova in the Chust area, Namangan Region, seyĭt, his father Ghaffar-‘Ali Khan Khoja ughli Khojayev (1896-1990) was a follower of Tayaqtï Ishan

KUSHENOV Iman, former senior kolkhoz accountant, resident of the village of QŭramaKUSHENOVA Ghaynĭzhamal, resident of the city of AlmatïMEYĬRBEKOV Rahmanberdĭ Ishan, b. 1928, resident of the village of Aqniyet (centre of

the ‘Karl-Marx’ Sovkhoz), seyĭt-qozha (‘Isa balasï), stepbrother of Quwwat Ishan from Torayghïr, Aq-Darya District, Samarqand Region, Uzbekistan

MÜTÄLŬLÏ Seĭtahmet, b. 1937, resident of the village of Darbaza, seyĭt-qozha (gur)NŬRMANOV Temĭr Khan Qazhï, b. 1948, resident of the eldĭ meken of Zhartï-Töbe, pen-

sioner, former village äkĭm, representative of the sel’sovet, seyĭt-qozha (Qïdïr qozha balasï)

OBIDOV Odiljon, b. 1933, resident of the town of Osh, journalist, Kyrgyzstan SATTAROV Seĭtomar, b. 1943, resident of the town of Sarï-Aghash, seyĭt-qozha (Qïdïr

qozha balasï), former kolkhoz worker, pensionerSHAH-ZHÜNĬSOV Shah-Muhammad, b. 1938, shaykh, resident of the town Osh, Kyrgyz-

stan SMANOV ‘Abd al-Jabbar, b. 1960, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, seyĭt-qozha

(Qïdïr qozha balasï), son of Shäkĭr Ishan (1924-95), director of the ‘Tayaqtï Ishan’ Madrasa

SMANOV ‘Abd as-Sattar, b. 1962, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, seyĭt-qozha (Qïdïr qozha balasï), son of Shäkĭr Ishan (1924-95), member of the Academic Council of the Spiritual Authorities of the Muslims of Kazakhstan (DUMK), ex-ecutive director of the ‘Sarï-Aghash’ Madrasa

SMANOV ‘Abd al-Shukur, b. 1958, d. 2012, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, seyĭt-qozha (Qïdïr qozha balasï), eldest son of Shäkĭr Ishan (1924-95)

TAGHAYEV Bayqozha, b. 1964, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, seyĭt-qozhaTASTANBEKOV Ïbïrayïm, b. 1940, resident of the village of Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs, seyĭt-qozha

(Zhaqïp balasï), pensioner TURSUNOV Sharĭp, b. 1927, resident of the village of Zor-Töbe, sabïlt-qozhaZHAQÏPOV Zhŭmakhan, b. 1958, resident of the village of Zhartï-Töbe, seyĭt-qozha

(gur), teacher at the ‘Sarï-Aghash’ MadrasaZHÜSĬPOV Süleymen, born 1927, resident of the village of Zhaŋa-Tŭrmïs, seyĭt-qozha

(gur)

Oranghay case studyÄBDĬRASĬLQÏZÏ Aynŭr, candidate of philological sciences, resident of the village of

Qŭsh-Ata, researcher on Sufism ABDUVOITOV Sultanqul, b. 1943, eldest son of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh, resident of the

village of Qŭsh-Ata, former star labourer at the Oranghay KolkhozAKHMETOVA Dĭl’dakül, äkĭm of Oranghay since 2008BAYMETOV Farhad, advisor to the äkĭm of the village of Oranghay

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BÖKEBAYEV Anuar, b. 1937, resident of Kentau, translator of the hikmats (of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi) into Kazakh and Russian languages

IKRAMOV Köregen, b. 1955, resident of Qŭsh-Ata, works as an electrician in a junior school

IKRAMOVA Gülbahar Shansharkhanqïzï, lecturer at the Turkestan Pedagogical CollegeMAMATSHUKUROV Nasr al-Din Ishan, b. 1951, youngest son of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh,

resident of the village of Qŭsh-Ata, current local head (ishan) of the Naqsh-bandiyya-Husayniyya

MAMATSHUKUROV Sunnatulla Nasr al-Din Ishanŭlï, b. 1978, son of Ishan, resident of the village of Qŭsh-Ata

MAMENOV Zayd, b. 1946, resident of the village of Karashїq (former ‘Pobeda’ Sovkhoz), descendant of the saint Qara Tirkash, former äkĭm, son of Mamen Makhsïm, associate of ‘Abd al-Wahid Shaykh

MAMENOV Ja‘far, b. 1957, resident of the village of Qarashïq in the Turkestan regionMŬZAFFAROV Rayïmzhan, b. 1959, resident of the village of Qarnaq, Turkestan regionORAZQŬLOV Sŭltanbek, b. 1968, resident of the town of TurkestanSŬLTANAMETOV Shadïqozha, b. 1953, resident of the village of Oranghay, worker in the

village äkimat apparatus TÜLKĬBAYEV Äbdĭräsĭl, resident of the village of Qŭsh-Ata SHAQASÏMOV Shamashrap, b. 1944, eldest son of Shamïrza Shaqasïmov (1883-1967),

resident of the village of Khan-TaghïSHAQASÏMOV Shahusayn, b. 1949, second son of Shamïrza Shaqasïmov (1883-1967),

imam of the Qŭsh-Ata Mosque ZHANDARBEK Zĭkĭrĭya, b. 1953, candidate of historical sciences, resident of Turkestan,

researcher on Sufism

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Allah's Kolkhozes

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