Conclusion (In English)

The last twenty-two years since the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan has seen a dramatic change in the way that the Muslims living in the Soviet successor states view their world, both in terms of the place that religion occupies in their own lives and what kind of treatment they expect from the state. Previously the two were really quite separate, but now in many parts of the newly independent states people expect the government to be the champion of their faith, or at least to provide the preconditions necessary for it to flourish.

For all that the Communist party leadership may have tried to eliminate religion, Islam remained a potent force in the traditionally Muslim regions of the Soviet Union. The practice of the religion remained a very private thing, as were any efforts at religious instruction, despite the frequent concealment of its practice, there was an enormous amount of religious continuity in the history of these ethnic communities.

Continuity, though, does not mean that there was a consensus on what the role of religion should be. This consensus did not exist before the advent of Soviet rule, and it doesn’t really exist today. In fact, as the papers in this volume make clear, there is a struggle over what role to accord Islam in the community, whether it should be the foundation of law and morality or not. The struggle exists in states that are multi-confessional as well as those that are mono-confessional. At the core is the question of whether a Muslim society can in fact ever become a truly secular one, or is secular a phenomenon of the Christian world.

The struggle to define the relationship between Islam and government in the Soviet successor states is the underlying theme in this book, and one that the authors in this volume return to over and over again, detailing the different dynamics in different regions. Each of the authors also brings extensive field research, or in depth practical knowledge to the problem, so that the reader gets a sense of the multi-faceted nature of the problem.

Leonid Siukiyaynen in his article "Will Sharia’ Find a Place in the Russian Legal System?" details many of the historical roots of the tension between Islamic (Sharia’) law and the European legal culture, and then goes on to look closely at where the two are in conflict, in various parts of the Northern Caucasus. Many readers may be familiar with the tensions that occurred when the Chechen government imposed Sharia’ law, and its provisions for capital punishment, which are detailed here. They are less likely to be aware of the challenges posed by advocates of the Sharia’ law in Ingushetia and other parts of the Northern Caucasus, which are also treated in this article.

Sergei Mel’kov, brings a military perspective to the problem, in his article on "The Transformation of Russia’s Military Policy Under the Influence of the Islamic Factor" Mel’kov looks at the formal religious institutions that exist, the Muslim ecclesiastical administrations and the role that they have played in setting the stage for the official Russian understanding of Russian military policy, as well as the influence of prominent political leaders from the Muslim regions themselves. Finally, he examines the juridical challenges of engaging in combat in Muslim areas, and with Muslim soldiers, for most of the rules of military engagement accepted by the Russian army were developed in secular settings.

Vladimir Bobrovnikov also discusses the evolution of Islam in the Russian context. His article, "Islam in the Post-Soviet Northern Caucasus (Daghestan): Myths and Reality," tries to put the Daghestani religious revival in perspective. He argues that many of the Russians writing on the problem exaggerate the number and role of the adherents of radical Islam, and implies that these people do not fundamentally threaten the evolving nature of the Russian government.

Like Russia, Kazakhstan is also a multi-confessional society, although its diverse population is one in which there is a Muslim majority. Sabit Jusupov looks at "Islam in Kazakhstan: The Past, Present, and Future in Interstate Relations and Religion" in terms of the interaction between religion and the state. He begins by detailing the development of Islam in Kazakhstan, how it was spread among the Kazakhs in stages, and why customary law traditionally played a greater role than Sharia’ law. Jusupov then looks at the evolving role of Islam in Kazakhstan, and the increasing religiosity of the population, especially in the southern regions of the country, concluding with public opinion data which details the loss of public confidence in certain parts of the government.

Uran Botobekov looks at the situation in neighboring Kyrgyzstan in his article "Spreading the Ideas of the Hizb at-Takhrir Islami in South Kyrgyzstan," where by contrast to Kazakhstan, radical Islamic groups like Hizb at-tahrir, who advocate a society ruled in accordance with Sharia’ norms, are making considerable inroads in the country. This is especially true of southern Kyrgyzstan, where local developments are still closely tied to those just across the border in Uzbekistan. Botobekov details why this is true. Botobekov also discusses the risks associated with government efforts to turn the officially sponsored Muslim religious administration against these grassroots supported movements.

These themes are also addressed in the two articles by Bakhtiyar Babajanov. The first of these deals explicitly with "The Activities of Hizb at-Takhrir Islami" in Uzbekistan the activities of Hizb at-tahrir movement in Uzbekistan, describing its evolution, and its relative place in Uzbek Islam. His second article "On the SADUM Fetwahs Against "Non-Islamic Customs," examines at considerable length some of the actions taken by the official Islamic religious establishment in Uzbekistan during Soviet times to try and deal with the challenges to its authority that were posed by unsanctioned Islamic groups as well as by the popular practice of what were termed "survivalist" traditions. There is little in Babajanov’s account to suggest that such a strategy of top-down efforts to redefine religious practice are likely to be successful.

Muzaffar and Saodat Olimov in their article look at the problem of "Political Islam in Contemporary Tajikistan." In distinction to the rest of the Central Asian states, the rulers in Tajikistan have chosen to reach a direct accommodation with the leaders of the country’s radical Islamic movement. Of course, this accommodation was not arrived at completely voluntarily, as the country had to go through a bloody civil war in the early 1990s until it could be achieved. The Olimovs detail how the accommodation with Islam came about, as well as how the religious revivalists made contact with the population, and their analysis makes clear that the Tajik case need not remain extraordinary. The development of democratic institutions in Central Asia can go hand in hand with allowing religious organizations a role in political life.

Sanobar Shermatova in the article "The Islamic Factor in the Hands of a Political Elite" looks at the geopolitical aspects of the problem, how radical Islamic movements spread across the Soviet Union in that country’s final years, and how some of these groups modified their agendas after independence. She also looks at how the newly independent government’s also began to rethink their position toward the Islamic groups, as they looked for ways to strengthen their independence and to gain international protection, from Moscow as well as from Washington. The article also looks at the efforts to accommodate confessional groups that have been made both in Tajikistan and Chechnya, highlighting the limitations of such strategies.

Saidanvar Shokhumorov in "The Afghan Talibs and Pakistan: From Union to Disharmony?" looks in detail at some of the regional connections of the Taliban and explores the difficulties that the international community will have extracting itself from the current situation.

Aleksandr Umnov places developments in the former Soviet Union in a more regional context, in his article on "The Taliban in an Islamic Context." This article once again returns the volume to the nature of Islam as practiced by the population. Umnov looks at the ways in which the current Talib movement is a form of religious continuity, but also how geopolitics and the desire to advance one’s national interests have fed into the process of religious revival in Afghanistan. While the breakdown of the state is much more complete in Afghanistan than anywhere in Central Asia or the Caucasus, the kinds of processes that Umnov describes can also be observed in the later regions.

The final paper of the volume, Konstantin Poliakov’s "The External Factor’s Influence on the Radicalization of Islam in Russia in the 1990s (Based on the Example of the Arab Countries)" brings the developments in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union into the context of developments in the Islamic world more generally. In this article he details the interrelationships that have developed between movements in the Arab world and those in the Soviet successor states.

All this serves to remind the reader of the fact that developments in Russia and its newly independent neighbors are not really unique. Since the first centuries of Islam’s existence, the question of the role of religion in the governance of society has been a contentious one. For nearly fifteen hundred years there has been a struggle within the Islamic community to determine who it is – what authority and oftentimes what group – has the right to establish the code of behavior by which all others must live. There has never been an easy answer to this question. The authority of the Muslim community’s leading "clerics" has oftentimes been called into question by community members who doubt these men’s fitness to rule.

The problem becomes even more challenging in a state like Russia, where the Muslim community is in the minority overall, but is a majority population in a number of ethnic enclaves. Here the challenge of how to protect the rights of "minority" populations who are not part of the Islamic community is added to the struggle to protect non-observant Muslims from the tyranny of the "believers."

As the essays in this volume show, there are no easy answers to these questions. New states have conflicting goals, and the spiritual regeneration of one part of the country may call into question the civil rights of another group. Leaders try to maximize their longevity in office, and Islamic radicals have little positive to say about rule by the communist-atheists turned traditional nationalists that still predominate. Similarly, regimes that are endangered by extremist, not to mention allegedly terrorist groups, can count on greater international support of repressive measures at home. All of this simply complicates the tasks of state-building in the newly independent countries, as it is sometimes easier to vilify one’s enemy than to try and deal seriously with the challenges that he poses.

Martha Brill Olcott,
professor of political science at Colgate University,
senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace