Keller, Shoshana. To Moscow, not Mecca: The Soviet Campaign Against Islam in Central Asia, 1917-1941. Westport, CN: Praeger, 2001. 

As her title states, Keller's book provides a history of the Soviet campaign against Islam in Central Asia.  The work is based on archival research in Moscow and Tashkent and bibliographic sources in Russian and English.  The Glossary and Index are not very extensive.

Shahbazi, A. Shapur. "Nowruz: In the Islamic Period." Encyclopaedia Iranica Online (November 15, 2009), http://www.iranica.com/articles/nowruz-ii.

Shahbazi provides a concise history of Navruz from the Islamic conquest of Persia to the present day.  While he discusses the tension with observing ancient Iranian traditions in strictly Muslim societies, he also mentions that some Muslims associate Islamic traditions with the holiday.  For example, some believe that Navruz was the day when the following events occurred:

Roy, Olivier. "Islam." In The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. Washington Square, NY: New York University Press. Reprint 2005. First published in in the US in 2000. Originally published as La Nouvelle Asie centrale ou la fabrication des nations in 1997.

While Roy discusses political Islam, he also touches on Naqshbandiyya and Yasawiyya Sufism.  He also lists many of the books, including the Chahar kitab and Haftyek (see also Muhammad Ali 2006), that were used in families to preserve Islamic knowedge and that were passed from parents to children.  In his section on parallel Islam he discusses how the Soviet repression of Islam was tempered.  For example, shrines were labled as "museums" and local KGB were complicit or unaware of popular Islamic practices.

Contents: Traditional Islam in Central Asia; The Sufi Brotherhoods: A Sufism That is Omnipresent and Takes Many Forms; Sufism and Politics; Official Islam; Parallel Islam; The Islamist Radicalisation; The New Muftiyyas and Division of the Community. 

Descriptors: 2000s, chapter, political science, post-Soviet, R, Soviet, state control, Sufism; Hanafi, syncretism.

Atkin, Muriel. "Tajikistan: Status of Islam Since 1917." Encyclopaedia Iranica Online (July 20, 2005), http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tajikistan-01-status-of-islam-since-1917.

Muriel provides a short overview of Islam in Tajikistan from 1917 to 2005.  While her review of the post-Soviet period discusses mostly political aspects of Islam, her discussion of the Soviet period does review popular Islam as in the following quote:

Curtis, Glenn E. "Religion." In Tajikistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1996, http://countrystudies.us/tajikistan/25.htm.

Curtis's article is brief. While it mentions Islam before the Soviet period, its main forces is on the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Below is a quote about popular Islam during the Soviet period. His Bibliography contains over 90 entries, many of which are reports.

Curtis, Glenn E. "Religion." In Turkmenistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1996, http://countrystudies.us/turkmenistan/14.htm.

Curtis discusses Sufi shaykhs and their role in syncretic Islamic practices, the authority of övlat lineages descended from the four Caliphs who succeeded Muhammad, Soviet atheism, and independent control of Islam.  See also his Bibliography which contains over 90 entries, mostly published in the 1990s and many of them U.S. or World Bank government agency reports.  Some of them relate to Islam in Central Asia. 

Sections: History and Structure; Religion After Independence.

Curtis, Glenn E. "Bibliography." In Uzbekistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1996, http://countrystudies.us/uzbekistan/57.htm.

Curtis's bibliography contains over 70 entries, mostly published in the 1990s.  Some of them relate to Islam in Central Asia.  See also his brief summaries in the following sections: Religion; Islam in the Soviet Era; Islamic Fundamentalism; Mainstream Islam in the 1990s.  Descriptors: 1990s, bibliography, C, post-Soviet, Soviet, Uzbekistan, website

Northrop, Douglas. "Subaltern Dialogues: Subversion and Resistance in Soviet Uzbek Family Law." Slavic Review 60, no. 1 (2001): 115-139. 

Northrop reviews the Soviet attempt to change Uzbek family life through law (byt crimes) and the complications that are inherent with such law reform projects.  He first reviews how the Soviets chose which traditions to criminalize, then how they attempted to enforce those crimes, the local reaction to enforcement, and finally the negotiated outcome.  He uses local archives, Uzbek and Russian language materials, and contemporary scholarship as sources.  This article is part of his book Veiled Empire.  He also wrote, "The Limits of Liberation."

Sections: Custom Criminalized: Defining a Canon of "Byt Crimes;" Soviet Law as a Starting Point: Negotiation, Subversion, Creativity; Reworking Bolshevism from Within: The Uzbek Soviet Apparatus; Languages of Power: Uzbeks Outside the Party. 

Descriptors: 2000s, archival, bibliographic, bride price, divorce, history, Islamic law, journal, marriage, N, reform, Soviet, Uzbekistan, Uzbeks, women; Zhenotdel, qalin.

Fathi, Habiba. "Gender, Islam, and Social Change in Uzbekistan." Central Asian Survey 25, no. 3 (2006): 303-317.

This is a continuation of Fathi's (1997) prior work on otins.  In her own words: "This chapter explores the way in which the role of the otin-oyi or bibi-khalife has responded to recent socio-economic and political developments and will place the Central Asian experience within the context of the role of women in Islam more generally."  Many of her sources are in French and Russian.

Sections: The Central Asian Case in a Global Muslim Context; Otin-oyi and Bibi-Khalife Past and Present: Reproduction or Reinterpretation?; Russian Turkestan; Soviet Central Asia; Challenging Religious Tradition in the Independent States; Conclusion.  Cross References: Fathi 1997.  Descriptors: 2000s, ACTORS, archival, bibliographic, F, history, interview, journal, otins, post-Soviet, reform, Soviet, Tsarist, Uzbeks, women.

Sagdeev, Roald. "Historical Background." In "Central Asia and Islam: An Overview." In Islam and Central Asia: An Enduring Legacy or an Evolving Threat?, edited by R. Z. Sagdeev and Susan Eisenhower, 7-10. A Center for Political and Strategic Studies book. Washington, DC: Center for Political and Strategic Studies, 2000.

This four page section is a brief standard historical overview of Islam in Central Asia.  It has a larger emphasis on the Soviet period and only one sentence on the contemporary period.  In addition to the basic history, it briefly discusses Jadids, but not Sufism.  The other sections in the chapter, which are more political, include: The Transformation of Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia; The Great Split; Interconnections with Russia; External Factors in the Islamic World; Islam and Regional Problems.

Descriptors: 2000s, chapter, general knowledge, overview, pre-Tsarist, R, science, section, Soviet, Tsarist.

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, The. "Vladimir I. Toumanoff Virtual Library." The National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, http://www.nceeer.org/toumanoff.php.

The Library contains several hundred of the working papers submitted to NCEEER by scholars under their grants over the last two decades. Accordingly, this collection captures the efforts of some of our country's best researchers and analysts on the politics, history, sociology, economics and/or foreign policy of the states of the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe.

Many works on Islam in Central Asia are included in this online database which contains papers from 1998.  Earlier papers are available through the University of Washington Libraries.  For those papers, search  Catalog. Seat Working paper and abstracts since 2001 are arranged by date.  There is also an annotated bibliography of working papers from 1980 to 2000.  Descriptors: bibliography, N, post-Soviet, Soviet, website

"Seventeen Moments in Soviet History." http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php.

Seventeen Moments in Soviet History contains a rich archive of texts, images, maps and audio and video materials from the Soviet era (1917-1991). The materials are arranged by year and by subject, are fully searchable, and are translated into English. Students, educators, and scholars will find fascinating materials about Soviet propaganda, politics, economics, society, crime, literature, art, dissidents and hundreds of other topics.

The following sections relate to Islam in Central Asia and contain photos, images, videos, and text (including translated documents): The Muslim East: Central Asia and the Muslim East (e.g. veil images, proclamations, constitutions, and Stalin speeches); and Antireligious Propaganda (e.g. anti-Islamic propaganda and the Soviet Policy on Islam).  Registration is required to obtain access to all material.


Descriptors: archival, audio, e-content, maps, photos, Soviet, translation, video, website.

Krämer, Gudrun, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson, eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online, 2010.

The third edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam is similar to the second edition, but it has much fewer entries.  Some of the few entries relating to Central Asia include Astana (nothing about Islam) and Babur.  Descriptors: 2010s, bibliographic, encyclopedia, K, M, N, post-Soviet, pre-Tsarist, R, Soviet, Tsarist.

Bearman, P., Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs, eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online, 2010.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam is an excellent source of information on Islamic regions in general, especially if you have online access.  As for Central Asia, it includes entries for its countries, cities, people, historical figures, literary works, movements, and even kumis (fermented mares milk).  From these entries, and others, basic information about the history, repression, and pracitce of Islam in historical and present day Central Asia can be found.  Descriptors: 2010s, B, bibliographic, D, encyclopedia, H, post-Soviet, pre-Tsarist, Soviet, Tsarist.

Jones, Schuyler. "Religion." In Afghanistan, 143-145. World bibliographical Series, v. 135. Oxford, England: Clio Press, 1992.

Jones only includes 15 works (all in the English language) on religion (mostly Islam) in his bibliography of Afghanistan.  In addition to the chapter on Religion, works on Islam might be included in other chapters.  Descriptors: 1990s, Afghanistan, bibliography, chapter, J, Soviet

Bregel, Yuri. "Religion." In Bibliography of Islamic Central Asia, Part I: History; Religion; Culture, 671-712. Bloomington, IN: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, 1995.

Bregel's bibliography is three two-inch thick volumes covering everything to do with Central Asia.  The section on religion is only one section of the bibliography and works touching on Islam in Central Asia might be found in other sections.  Most of the works are in Russian or other Central Asian languages.  Because this bibliography is so comprehensive, it appears to be a great tool for researching foreign sources on Central Asia.  It's main limitation is that it was published in 1995 and does not include the many subsequent publications, including those in English, on the region.

Relevent Sections: Islam (General; Islamization; Islam under Russian Rule; Islam under Chinse Rule; Theology and Law; Sects (Ismailiyya; Other); Sufism (General, Early Sufism; Under Russian Rule; Under Chinese Rule; Sufi Orders: Naqshabandiyya; Sufi Orders: Yasaviyya; Sufi Orders: Kubraviyya; Sufi Orders:Other); Saints and Holy Places; Popular Beliefs and Practices.  Descriptors: 1990s, B, bibliography, chapter, post-Soviet, pre-Tsarist, Soviet, Tsarist

Khalid, Adeeb. The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998.

Khalid's book covers Jadid reformers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who sought to reform Islam in order to reconcile it with modernity and who used the media as a tool and promoted modern education.  In describing the debates prompted by the Jadids of what is "Islamic," Kahlid argues as follows on page xiii: "Islam, and Muslim culture, and the sense of being Muslim are far from immutable characteristics; rather, they change and evolve and do so through debate and the struggles of different groups in Muslim society."

Sections: List of Tables; Preface; Technical Note; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1-Knowledge and Society in the Nineteenth Century; 2-The Making of a Colonial Society; 3-The Origins of Jadidism; 4-The Politics of Admonition; 5-Knowledge as Salvation; 6-Imagining the Nation; 7-Navigating the Nation; 8-1917: The Moment of Truth; Epilogue; Select Bibliography; Index. Descriptors: 1990s, archival, bibliographic, book, diversity, history, jadids, K, reform, Soviet, Tsarist.

Levi, Scott C. and Ron Sela. Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.

Levi and Sela's anthology is a great compilation of a diverse type of Central Asian historical and literary works from the Seventh to the Nineteenth Centuries, many of which are not widely accessible in English.  Each work contains a brief introduction and then a sample (the complete text in some cases) of the subject text translated into English.  Even though its title states "Islamic Central Asia," many of the works are not Islamic, but important historical works. The Acknowledgments are very important as they give the bibliographic citations for the sources of the works included in this book.

Sections: Acknowledgments; Introduction; Central Asia in the Early Islamic Period, Seventh to Tenth Centuries; Encounter with the Turks; The Mongol Empire; Timur and the Timurids; Central Asia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Central Asia in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; Glossary; Index.  Descriptors: 2010s, anthology, historical, history, L, literature, pre-Tsarist, S, Soviet, Tsarist

Poliakov, Sergei P. and Martha Brill Olcott. Everyday Islam: Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1992.

This book is the work of Poliakov based on his more than thirty years of field research in Soviet Central Asia.  Oclott merely provides editing and an introduction.  According to Olcott, Poliakov believes that Central Asian traditionalism ("Everyday Islam") needs to be reformed.  In the chapter on religion, Poliakov discusses madrasas, mosques, otins, mazar/shrine visits, mazar/Sufi sheikhs, official and unofficial mullahs, SADUM, the mahalla, and other topics.

Sections: Map of Central Asia; Glossary; By Way of Introduction: Martha Brill Olcott; Background; Economic Bases of Traditionalism; Traditionalism and the Family; The Role of Religion in the Community (Religious Institutions; The Clergy); Social Dynamics of Traditionalism; Notes; Index of Subjects; Index of Place Names.  Descriptors: 1990s, anthropology, book, ethnography, mahalla, O, P, reform, Soviet

Khalid, Adeeb. Islam After Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007.

In response to 9/11, and perhaps works written on political Islam in Central Asia after 9/11, this book provides an introduction to contemporary (and historical) Islam in Central Asia with a focus more on politics than popular religious practices.  Khalid argues that Islam in the region is secular not political and that it forms part of the region's national identity.  His contemporary research is focused mostly on Uzbekistan.

Sections: List of Maps and Tables; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Islam in Central Asia; Empire and the Challenge of Modernity; The Soviet Assault on Islam; Islam in Opposition; The Politics of Antiterrorism; Conclusion: Andijan and Beyond; Glossary; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index.  Descriptors: 2000s, book, history, K, post-Soviet, secular Islam, Soviet