Montgomery, David W. "Namaz, Wishing Trees, and Vodka: The Diversity of Everyday Religious Life in Central Asia." In Everyday Life in Central Asia: Past and Present, edited by Jeff Sahadeo and Russell Zanca, 355-370. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2007.

In this chapter Montgomery follows three people in Kyrgyzstan and describes how they each practice and view Islam differently. He argues that religion in Central Asia is diverse and important to the people, but not all consuming.

Contents: Ideas of Islamic Orthopraxy and the Problem of Purity; Traditional Religious Practice, Syncretism, and Everyday Religious Meaning; Multiple Meanings of Sacred Space: The Case of Solomon's Mountain; Russian Orthodoxy, the New Christians, and the Challenge of Plurality; Religion on the Streets

Comments: 2/23/10
On page 356 he states: "While the Muslims of Central Asia are mostly Sunnis of the Hanafi school, such a label sheds little light on what Islam means to most people."  Later on the same page he states: "The reality of everyday religious life is, in fact, significantly more diverse the 'predominately Sunni Islam' moniker leads most people to believe."  To add to that statement, I would argue that everyday religious life is also significantly more diverse than the "predominately Hanafi school" moniker leads most people to believe.  One example of that would be the diverse treatment of alcohol by some Central Asians discussed by Montgomery.

Descriptors: 2000s, alcohol, anthropology, chapter, diversity, ethnography, Kyrgyzstan, M, nature site, Osh, post-Soviet, prayer, Solomon's Mountain, wishing trees; religious life, syncretism, Hanafi, pluralism-textual/popular.