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.
Actors & Rituals: The following quote from page 11 discusses some of the actors that may have transmitted popular Islam during the Tsarist period:
Most clergy were called mulla or imam and displayed widely varying levels of education. Their primary tasks were to lead Friday prayers and preside over circumcisions and funerals. They often acted as counselors, mediators, and leaders in their villages. Clerics' wives, called mullikhi, performed the same functions for women. There was also a class of learned women called otins, who taught basic literacy and religious knowledge to girls. . . . Some Sufi leaders, called ishan, sheikh, khoja, or pir, assumed important roles in Central Asian history by becoming trusted advisors to rulers, especially under the Timurids. Followers of Sufi ishans, called murids, participated in the same Muslim holidays and rituals that non-Sufi Muslims did.Contents: Preface; 1-Imperial Russia and Islam; 2-Old Empire on a New Basis; 3-Soviet Central Asia: Laying a Foundation; 4-Discussing the Problem; 5-Breaking Islam; 6-Retrenchment; 7-Second Wave; Conclusion: Damaged but Not Destroyed; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.
Descriptors: 2000s, archival, bibliographic, book, history, K, Soviet, state control.
