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{{islam by country}}
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Islam is by far the dominant [[religion]] in [[Uzbekistan]], as [[Muslims]] constitute 79% of the population while 5% of the population follow [[Russian Orthodox|Russian Orthodox Christianity]], 16% other religious and non-religious.<ref>[https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2924.htm]</ref><ref>[http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Demographics/Muslimpopulation.pdf]</ref> An estimated 93,000 [[Jews]] were once present. Despite its predominance, the practice of [[Islam]] is far from monolithic. Many versions of the faith have been practiced in [[Uzbekistan]]. The conflict of Islamic tradition with various agendas of [[Reform movement|reform]] or [[secularization]] throughout the 20th century has left the outside world with a confused notion of Islamic practices in [[Central Asia]]. In Uzbekistan the end of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] power did not bring an upsurge of [[Islamic fundamentalism]], as many had predicted, but rather a gradual reacquaintance with the precepts of the faith. However, after 2000, there seems to be a rise of support in favour of the [[Islamism|Islamists]], which is whipped up by the repressive measures of the authoritarian regime.
Islam is the dominant [[religion]] in [[Uzbekistan]]. Despite its predominance, the practice of [[Islam]] is far from monolithic. Many versions of the faith have been practiced in [[Uzbekistan]]. The conflict of Islamic tradition with various agendas of [[Reform movement|reform]] or [[secularization]] throughout the 20th century has left the outside world with a confused notion of Islamic practices in [[Central Asia]]. In Uzbekistan the end of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] power did not bring an upsurge of [[Islamic fundamentalism]], as many had predicted, but rather a gradual reacquaintance with the precepts of the faith. However, after 2000, there seems to be a rise of support in favour of [[Islamism]], which is whipped up by the repressive measures of the authoritarian regime.

⚫
==Demographics and geography==
{{main|Religion in Uzbekistan}}
Almost 90% of the population is Muslim.{{sfn|Rohan|Yee|2016|p=404}} The CIA Factbook estimates 88%, mostly Sunni.<ref>{{cite web|title=Uzbekistan|publisher=CIA|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uz.html}}</ref> The country is regarded a cultural and religious hub in the Central Asian region.{{sfn|Rohan|Yee|2016|p=404}}


==History==
==History==
===Middle Ages===
[[File:Po-i-Kalân Mosque.jpg|thumbnail|200px|The [[Po-i-Kalyan]] Mosque in [[Bukhara]].]]
[[File:Po-i-Kalân Mosque.jpg|thumbnail|200px|The [[Po-i-Kalyan]] Mosque in [[Bukhara]].]]
[[Islam]] was brought to ancestors of modern Uzbeks during the 8th century when the [[Arab]]s entered Central Asia. Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of [[Turkestan]] and thereafter gradually spread northward.<ref>Atabaki, Touraj. ''Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora'', pg. 24</ref> Islam also took root due to the zealous missionary work of the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [[Samanid]] rulers as a significant number of [[Turkic peoples]] accepted Islam.<ref>Ibn Athir, volume 8, pg. 396</ref> In the 14th-century, [[Tamerlane]] constructed many religious structures, including the [[Bibi-Khanym Mosque]]. He also constructed one of his finest buildings at the tomb of [[Ahmed Yesevi]], an influential Turkic [[Sufi]] [[saint]] who spread [[Sufism]] among the nomads. Omar Aqta, Timur's court [[Islamic calligraphy|calligrapher]], is said to have transcribed the [[Qur'an]] using letters so small that the entire text of the book fit on a [[signet ring]]. Omar also is said to have created a Qur'an so large that a [[wheelbarrow]] was required to transport it. [[Bookbinding|Folios]] of what is probably this larger Qur'an have been found, written in gold lettering on huge pages. Islam also spread amongst the Uzbeks with the conversion of [[Uzbeg Khan]]. Converted to Islam by Ibn Abdul Hamid, a Bukharan sayyid and sheikh of the [[Khoja Akhmet Yassawi|Yasavi]] order, Uzbeg Khan promoted Islam amongst the [[Golden Horde]] and fostered Muslim missionary work to expand across [[Central Asia]]. In the long run, Islam enabled the khan to eliminate interfactional struggles in the Horde and to stabilize state institutions.
[[Islam]] was brought to ancestors of modern Uzbeks during the 8th century when the [[Arab]]s entered Central Asia. Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of [[Turkestan]] and thereafter gradually spread northward.<ref>Atabaki, Touraj. ''Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora'', pg. 24</ref> Islam also took root due to the zealous missionary work of the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [[Samanid]] rulers as a significant number of [[Turkic peoples]] accepted Islam.<ref>Ibn Athir, volume 8, pg. 396</ref> In the 14th-century, [[Tamerlane]] constructed many religious structures, including the [[Bibi-Khanym Mosque]]. He also constructed one of his finest buildings at the tomb of [[Ahmed Yesevi]], an influential Turkic [[Sufi]] [[saint]] who spread [[Sufism]] among the nomads. Omar Aqta, Timur's court [[Islamic calligraphy|calligrapher]], is said to have transcribed the [[Qur'an]] using letters so small that the entire text of the book fit on a [[signet ring]]. Omar also is said to have created a Qur'an so large that a [[wheelbarrow]] was required to transport it. [[Bookbinding|Folios]] of what is probably this larger Qur'an have been found, written in gold lettering on huge pages. Islam also spread amongst the Uzbeks with the conversion of [[Uzbeg Khan]]. Converted to Islam by Ibn Abdul Hamid, a Bukharan sayyid and sheikh of the [[Khoja Akhmet Yassawi|Yasavi]] order, Uzbeg Khan promoted Islam amongst the [[Golden Horde]] and fostered Muslim missionary work to expand across [[Central Asia]]. In the long run, Islam enabled the khan to eliminate interfactional struggles in the Horde and to stabilize state institutions.


Notable scholars from the area today known as Uzbekistan include [[Imam Bukhari]] whose book, [[Sahih Bukhari]] is regarded by [[Sunni]] Muslims as the most [[Hadith terminology#Sahih|authentic]] of all [[hadith]] compilations and the most authoritative book after the [[Qur'an]]. Other Muslim scholars from the region include [[Imam Tirmidhi]] and [[Abu Mansur Maturidi]] who was one of the pioneers<ref>[[Katip Çelebi]]. (1943). ''Keşfü'z-Zünûn an Esâmi'l-Kütüb vel-Fünûn'', (Vol. I), (pp. 110‑11). Istanbul:Maarif Matbaası.</ref> of Islamic Jurisprudence scholars and his two works are considered to be authoritative on the subject.<ref>Ali, A. (1963). Maturidism. In Sharif, M. M. (Ed.), ''A history of muslim philosophy: With short accounts of other disciplines and the modern renaissance in the muslim lands'' (Vol. 1), (p. 261). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.</ref> In [[Samarqand]], the development of sciences in the Muslim world greatly prospered. The work of [[Ali Qushji]] (d. 1474), who worked at [[Samarqand]] and then [[Istanbul]], is seen as a late example of innovation in Islamic theoretical astronomy and it is believed he may have possibly had some influence on [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] due to similar arguments concerning the [[Earth's rotation]]. The astronomical tradition established by the [[Maragha]] school continued at the [[Ulugh Beg Observatory]] at [[Samarqand]]. Founded by [[Ulugh Beg]] in the early 15th century, the observatory made considerable progress in observational astronomy.
Notable scholars from the area today known as Uzbekistan include [[Imam Bukhari]] whose book, [[Sahih Bukhari]] is regarded by [[Sunni]] Muslims as the most [[Hadith terminology#Sahih|authentic]] of all [[hadith]] compilations and the most authoritative book after the [[Qur'an]]. Other Muslim scholars from the region include [[Imam Tirmidhi]] and [[Abu Mansur Maturidi]] who was one of the pioneers<ref>[[Katip Çelebi]]. (1943). ''Keşfü'z-Zünûn an Esâmi'l-Kütüb vel-Fünûn'', (Vol. I), (pp. 110‑11). Istanbul:Maarif Matbaası.</ref> of Islamic Jurisprudence scholars and his two works are considered to be authoritative on the subject.<ref>Ali, A. (1963). Maturidism. In Sharif, M. M. (Ed.), ''A history of muslim philosophy: With short accounts of other disciplines and the modern renaissance in the muslim lands'' (Vol. 1), (p. 261). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.</ref> In [[Samarqand]], the development of sciences in the Muslim world greatly prospered. The work of [[Ali Qushji]] (d. 1474), who worked at [[Samarqand]] and then [[Istanbul]], is seen as a late example of innovation in Islamic theoretical astronomy and it is believed he may have possibly had some influence on [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] due to similar arguments concerning the [[Earth's rotation]]. The astronomical tradition established by the [[Maragha]] school continued at the [[Ulugh Beg Observatory]] at [[Samarqand]]. Founded by [[Ulugh Beg]] in the early 15th century, the observatory made considerable progress in observational astronomy.


==Islam in the Soviet Era==
===Soviet Era===
[[Image:Storks samarkand.jpg|thumb|right|Madrassa in [[Samarkand]] (photo taken in 1911).]]
{{see also|Islam in the Soviet Union|Population transfer in the Soviet Union}} [[Image:Storks samarkand.jpg|thumb|right|Madrassa in [[Samarkand]] (photo taken in 1911).]]
{{see also|Persecution of Muslims|Population transfer in the Soviet Union}}
Moscow greatly distorted the understanding of Islam among Uzbekistan's population and created competing Islamic ideologies among the Central Asians themselves.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} After its introduction in the 7th century, Islam in many ways formed the basis of life in Uzbekistan. During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan had sixty-five registered [[mosque]]s and as many as 3,000 active [[mullah]]s and other Muslim clerics. For almost forty years, the [[Muslim Board of Central Asia]], the official, Soviet-approved governing agency of the Muslim faith in the region, was based in [[Tashkent]].{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} The grand [[mufti]] who headed the board met with hundreds of foreign delegations each year in his official capacity, and the board published a journal on Islamic issues, ''Muslims of the Soviet East''.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} However, the Muslims working or participating in any of these organizations were carefully screened for political reliability. Furthermore, as the government ostensibly was promoting Islam with the one hand, it was working hard to eradicate it with the other. The government sponsored official anti-religious campaigns and severe crackdowns on any hint of an Islamic movement or network outside of the control of the state. Moreover, many Muslims were subjected to intense [[Russification]].{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} Many mosques were closed <ref>[http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/ussrmuslims.htm Muslims in the Former U.S.S.R]</ref> and during [[Joseph Stalin]]'s reign, many Muslims were victims of mass deportation.
Moscow greatly distorted the understanding of Islam among Uzbekistan's population and created competing Islamic ideologies among the Central Asians themselves.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} After its introduction in the 7th century, Islam in many ways formed the basis of life in Uzbekistan. During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan had sixty-five registered [[mosque]]s and as many as 3,000 active [[mullah]]s and other Muslim clerics. For almost forty years, the [[Muslim Board of Central Asia]], the official, Soviet-approved governing agency of the Muslim faith in the region, was based in [[Tashkent]].{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} The grand [[mufti]] who headed the board met with hundreds of foreign delegations each year in his official capacity, and the board published a journal on Islamic issues, ''Muslims of the Soviet East''.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} However, the Muslims working or participating in any of these organizations were carefully screened for political reliability. Furthermore, as the government ostensibly was promoting Islam with the one hand, it was working hard to eradicate it with the other. The government sponsored official anti-religious campaigns and severe crackdowns on any hint of an Islamic movement or network outside of the control of the state. Moreover, many Muslims were subjected to intense [[Russification]].{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} Many mosques were closed <ref>[http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/ussrmuslims.htm Muslims in the Former U.S.S.R]</ref> and during [[Joseph Stalin]]'s reign, many Muslims were victims of mass deportation.


==Post-independence==
==Mainstream Islam==


===1990s===
===1990s===
[[File:Po-i-Kalân Mosque 2.jpg|thumb|right|Mosque in [[Bukhara]].]]
[[File:Po-i-Kalân Mosque 2.jpg|thumb|right|Mosque in [[Bukhara]].]]
For the most part, however, in the first years of independence Uzbekistan is seeing a resurgence of a more liberal form of Islam. According to a public opinion survey conducted in 1994, interest in Islam is growing very rapidly. Very few people in Uzbekistan were interested in a form of Islam that would participate actively in political issues. Thus, the first years of post-Soviet religious freedom seem to have fostered a form of Islam related to the Uzbek population more in traditional and cultural terms than in political ones, weakening Karimov's claims that a growing widespread fundamentalism poses a threat to Uzbekistan's survival.
In the early 1990s with the end of Soviet power large groups of Islamic missionaries, mostly from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, came to Uzbekistan to propagate Sufi and Wahhabi interpretations of Islam. In 1992, in the town of Namangan, a group of radical Islamists educated at Islamic universities in Saudi Arabia took control of a government building and demanded that president Karimov declare an Islamic state in Uzbekistan and introduce shari‛a as the only legal system. The regime, however, prevailed, and eventually struck down hard on the Islamic militant groups, leaders of which later fled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and were later killed in fights against coalition forces. In 1992 and 1993 around 50 missionaries from Saudi Arabia were expelled from the country. The Sufi missionaries too were forced to end their activities in the country.<ref>[https://asiecentrale.revues.org/1527 Islam and Secular State in Uzbekistan: State Control of Religion and its Implications for the Understanding of Secularity. ]</ref> For the most part, however, in the first years of independence Uzbekistan saw a resurgence of a more liberal form of Islam. According to a public opinion survey conducted in 1994, interest in Islam is growing very rapidly. Very few people in Uzbekistan were interested in a form of Islam that would participate actively in political issues. Thus, the first years of post-Soviet religious freedom seem to have fostered a form of Islam related to the Uzbek population more in traditional and cultural terms than in political ones, weakening Karimov's claims that a growing widespread fundamentalism poses a threat to Uzbekistan's survival.


===2000s===
===2000s===
{{further|Andijan massacre}}
Experts assume that Islam itself was probably not the root cause of growing unrest as much as a vehicle for expressing other grievances that are more immediate causes of dissension and despair. The people view political Islam as a solution to these problems. The Uzbek rulers strongly deny that. The government is against the ([[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] (Party of Islamic Liberation) and the followers of [[Said Nursî]] of [[Turkey]].<ref name="state.gov">https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2924.htm</ref>
Experts assume that Islam itself was probably not the root cause of growing unrest as much as a vehicle for expressing other grievances that are more immediate causes of dissension and despair. The people view political Islam as a solution to these problems. The Uzbek rulers strongly deny that. The government is against the ([[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] (Party of Islamic Liberation) and the followers of [[Said Nursî]] of [[Turkey]].<ref name="state.gov">https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2924.htm</ref>


The government blames the [[May 2005 unrest in Uzbekistan]] on an aim to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan in order to make it a Central Asian [[theocracy|theocratic]] republic. Uzbek President [[Islam Karimov]] "placed blame for the unrest on [[Islamic extremist]] groups, a label that he has used to describe political opponents in recent years and that his critics say is used as a pretext for maintaining a repressive state."<ref name=RECKLESS>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/international/asia/17uzbek.html? Uzbeks say troops shot recklessly at civilians] The New York Times</ref> Hizb ut-Tahrir have denied involvement in the unrest, but expressed sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the unrest, firmly laying blame on the repressive practices and corruption of the government.
The government blames the [[May 2005 unrest in Uzbekistan]] on an aim to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan in order to make it a Central Asian [[theocracy|theocratic]] republic. Uzbek President [[Islam Karimov]] "placed blame for the unrest on [[Islamic extremist]] groups, a label that he has used to describe political opponents in recent years and that his critics say is used as a pretext for maintaining a repressive state."<ref name=RECKLESS>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/international/asia/17uzbek.html? Uzbeks say troops shot recklessly at civilians] The New York Times</ref> Hizb ut-Tahrir have denied involvement in the unrest, but expressed sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the unrest, firmly laying blame on the repressive practices and corruption of the government.

==Islamic architecture==
⚫
{{see also|List of mosques in Uzbekistan}}

==Islamism and Islamist terrorism==
{{see also|Terrorism in Uzbekistan}}
===Organizations===
*[[Hizb-an-Nusra]] (1999–)
*[[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]] (1998–2015), claimed 4–5,000 active members and 9,000 supporters in 2005.<ref name="Abazov2005">{{cite book|author=Rafis Abazov|title=Historical Dictionary of Turkmenistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3KTqLaFkO8C&pg=PA82|year=2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5362-1|pages=82–}}</ref>

===Terrorist attacks===

The [[2004 Tashkent suicide bombings]] targeting the American and Israeli embassies left two dead and nine injured.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Glasser|first1=Susan B.|title=U.S., Israeli Embassies Hit In Uzbek Bomb Attacks|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26869-2004Jul30.html|website=washingtonpost.com|publisher=Washington Post|accessdate=16 October 2016}}</ref>

Recently, Uzbekistani nationals have surfaced as perpetrators of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe. Perpetrators of the [[2016 Atatürk Airport attack]],<ref name="BBC -attackers ID - 30 June">{{cite news|title=Istanbul airport attackers 'Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz' – BBC News|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36670576|accessdate=30 June 2016|work=BBC News|date=30 June 2016}}</ref> [[2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?PageID=238&NID=108266&NewsCatID=509|title=Turkish police identify Reina attacker as Abdulkadir Masharipov - CRIME|publisher=}}</ref> [[2017 Stockholm attack]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thelocal.se/20170410/prosecutor-asks-court-to-remand-stockholm-terror-suspect-in-custody |title=Prosecutor asks court to remand Stockholm terror suspect in custody |date=10 April 2017 |accessdate=11 April 2017 |work=The Local |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523114215/https://www.thelocal.se/20170410/prosecutor-asks-court-to-remand-stockholm-terror-suspect-in-custody |archivedate=23 May 2017 |df= }}</ref> [[2017 New York City truck attack]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/01/us/new-york-attack/index.html|title=New York attack: Terror suspect planned killings for weeks, police say|first1=Nicole|last1=Chavez|first2=Holly|last2=Yan|first3=Eric|last3=Levenson|publisher=CNN|accessdate=November 1, 2017}}</ref> included Uzbekistani nationals.


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Islam by country]]
* [[Islam by country]]
⚫
* [[List of mosques in Uzbekistan]]
⚫
* [[Demographics of Uzbekistan]]
* [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]]
* [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]]
* [[Andijan massacre]]


==External links==
==References==
⚫
{{reflist}}
⚫
* [http://www.hizb.org.uk/ Hizb ut-Tahrir]

⚫
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051124203445/http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19466.shtml From Baghdad to Bishkek, the Caliphate's time has come, By Simon Jones in Tashkent]
==Sources==
*{{cite book|author=Johan Rasanayagam|title=Islam in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan: The Morality of Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=br2Zx8VFelIC|date=8 November 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49526-4}}
*{{cite book|author=Vitaliĭ Vi͡acheslavovich Naumkin|title=Radical Islam in Central Asia: Between Pen and Rifle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vwxP3gPUkMC&pg=PA37|year=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-2930-4|pages=37–}}
*{{cite book|author=Rob Johnson|title=Oil, Islam, and Conflict: Central Asia Since 1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzXHTIYuVVIC&pg=PA114|date=15 October 2007|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-86189-339-0|pages=114–}}
*{{cite book|author=Shahram Akbarzadeh|title=Uzbekistan and the United States: Authoritarianism, Islamism and Washington's Security Agenda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRRjDgAAQBAJ|date=4 July 2013|publisher=Zed Books Ltd.|isbn=978-1-84813-799-8}}
*{{cite book|author1=Gunaratna Rohan|author2=Kam Stefanie Li Yee|title=Handbook Of Terrorism In The Asia-pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3XQDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA404|date=22 June 2016|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-1-78326-997-6|pages=404–}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Louw, Maria Elisabeth. 2007. ''Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia''. London: Routledge.
* Louw, Maria Elisabeth. 2007. ''Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia''. London: Routledge.
* Rasanayagam, Johan. 2010. ''Islam in post-Soviet Uzbekistan: The Morality of Experience''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Tucker, Noah. “Domestic Shapers of Eurasia’s Islamic Futures: Sheikh, Scholar, Society, and the State,” in ''Islam in Eurasia: A Policy Volume'', 77-92. Cambridge, MA: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
* Tucker, Noah. “Domestic Shapers of Eurasia’s Islamic Futures: Sheikh, Scholar, Society, and the State,” in ''Islam in Eurasia: A Policy Volume'', 77-92. Cambridge, MA: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
*Cornell, S.E., 2005. Narcotics, radicalism, and armed conflict in Central Asia: the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan. Terrorism and Political Violence, 17(4), pp.619-639.
*Weitz, R., 2004. Storm Clouds over Central Asia: Revival of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)?. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 27(6), pp.505-530.
*Moore, C., 2007. Combating terrorism in Russia and Uzbekistan. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 20(2), pp.303-323.
*Abduvakhitov, A., 1993. Islamic revivalism in Uzbekistan. Eickelman, D.(Hg.): Russian Muslim Frontiers. New Directions in Cross-Cultural Analysis, pp.79-97.
*Sinai, J., 2000. Islamic Terrorism and Narcotrafficking in Uzbekistan. Defense & Foreign Affairs’ Strategic Policy, 5, pp.7-8.
*Naumkin, V.V., 2003. Militant Islam in Central Asia: The Case of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
*Mann, P., 2002. Islamic movement of Uzbekistan: Will it strike back?. Strategic Analysis, 26(2), pp.294-304.
*Hanks, R.R., 2007. Dynamics of Islam, identity, and institutional rule in Uzbekistan: Constructing a paradigm for conflict resolution. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 40(2), pp.209-221.
*Schatz, E., 2002. Islamism and Anti-Americanism in Central Asia. Current History, 101(657), pp. 337–.
*Ilkhamov, A., 2001. Uzbek Islamism: imported ideology or grassroots movement?. Middle East Report, 31(4; ISSU 221), pp.40-47.
*Karagiannis, E., 2010. Political Islam in the former Soviet Union: Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan compared. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, 3(1), pp.46-61.
*Walker, E.W., 2003. Islam, Islamism and political order in Central Asia. Journal of International Affairs, pp.21-41.
*Todua, Z., 2005. Radical Islam in Uzbekistan: past and future. Central Asia and the Caucasus, 1, pp.37-42.


==References==
==External links==
⚫
* [http://www.hizb.org.uk/ Hizb ut-Tahrir]
⚫
{{reflist}}
⚫
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051124203445/http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19466.shtml From Baghdad to Bishkek, the Caliphate's time has come, By Simon Jones in Tashkent]


{{Asia in topic|Islam in}}
{{Asia in topic|Islam in}}

Revision as of 08:10, 12 February 2018

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Islam is the dominant religion in Uzbekistan. Despite its predominance, the practice of Islam is far from monolithic. Many versions of the faith have been practiced in Uzbekistan. The conflict of Islamic tradition with various agendas of reform or secularization throughout the 20th century has left the outside world with a confused notion of Islamic practices in Central Asia. In Uzbekistan the end of Soviet power did not bring an upsurge of Islamic fundamentalism, as many had predicted, but rather a gradual reacquaintance with the precepts of the faith. However, after 2000, there seems to be a rise of support in favour of Islamism, which is whipped up by the repressive measures of the authoritarian regime.

Demographics and geography

Main article: Religion in Uzbekistan

Almost 90% of the population is Muslim.[1] The CIA Factbook estimates 88%, mostly Sunni.[2] The country is regarded a cultural and religious hub in the Central Asian region.[1]

History

Middle Ages

The Po-i-Kalyan Mosque in Bukhara.

Islam was brought to ancestors of modern Uzbeks during the 8th century when the Arabs entered Central Asia. Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of Turkestan and thereafter gradually spread northward.[3] Islam also took root due to the zealous missionary work of the Iranian Samanid rulers as a significant number of Turkic peoples accepted Islam.[4] In the 14th-century, Tamerlane constructed many religious structures, including the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. He also constructed one of his finest buildings at the tomb of Ahmed Yesevi, an influential Turkic Sufi saint who spread Sufism among the nomads. Omar Aqta, Timur's court calligrapher, is said to have transcribed the Qur'an using letters so small that the entire text of the book fit on a signet ring. Omar also is said to have created a Qur'an so large that a wheelbarrow was required to transport it. Folios of what is probably this larger Qur'an have been found, written in gold lettering on huge pages. Islam also spread amongst the Uzbeks with the conversion of Uzbeg Khan. Converted to Islam by Ibn Abdul Hamid, a Bukharan sayyid and sheikh of the Yasavi order, Uzbeg Khan promoted Islam amongst the Golden Horde and fostered Muslim missionary work to expand across Central Asia. In the long run, Islam enabled the khan to eliminate interfactional struggles in the Horde and to stabilize state institutions.

Notable scholars from the area today known as Uzbekistan include Imam Bukhari whose book, Sahih Bukhari is regarded by Sunni Muslims as the most authentic of all hadith compilations and the most authoritative book after the Qur'an. Other Muslim scholars from the region include Imam Tirmidhi and Abu Mansur Maturidi who was one of the pioneers[5] of Islamic Jurisprudence scholars and his two works are considered to be authoritative on the subject.[6] In Samarqand, the development of sciences in the Muslim world greatly prospered. The work of Ali Qushji (d. 1474), who worked at Samarqand and then Istanbul, is seen as a late example of innovation in Islamic theoretical astronomy and it is believed he may have possibly had some influence on Nicolaus Copernicus due to similar arguments concerning the Earth's rotation. The astronomical tradition established by the Maragha school continued at the Ulugh Beg Observatory at Samarqand. Founded by Ulugh Beg in the early 15th century, the observatory made considerable progress in observational astronomy.

Soviet Era

See also: Islam in the Soviet Union and Population transfer in the Soviet Union
Madrassa in Samarkand (photo taken in 1911).

Moscow greatly distorted the understanding of Islam among Uzbekistan's population and created competing Islamic ideologies among the Central Asians themselves.[citation needed] After its introduction in the 7th century, Islam in many ways formed the basis of life in Uzbekistan. During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan had sixty-five registered mosques and as many as 3,000 active mullahs and other Muslim clerics. For almost forty years, the Muslim Board of Central Asia, the official, Soviet-approved governing agency of the Muslim faith in the region, was based in Tashkent.[citation needed] The grand mufti who headed the board met with hundreds of foreign delegations each year in his official capacity, and the board published a journal on Islamic issues, Muslims of the Soviet East.[citation needed] However, the Muslims working or participating in any of these organizations were carefully screened for political reliability. Furthermore, as the government ostensibly was promoting Islam with the one hand, it was working hard to eradicate it with the other. The government sponsored official anti-religious campaigns and severe crackdowns on any hint of an Islamic movement or network outside of the control of the state. Moreover, many Muslims were subjected to intense Russification.[citation needed] Many mosques were closed [7] and during Joseph Stalin's reign, many Muslims were victims of mass deportation.

Post-independence

1990s

Mosque in Bukhara.

In the early 1990s with the end of Soviet power large groups of Islamic missionaries, mostly from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, came to Uzbekistan to propagate Sufi and Wahhabi interpretations of Islam. In 1992, in the town of Namangan, a group of radical Islamists educated at Islamic universities in Saudi Arabia took control of a government building and demanded that president Karimov declare an Islamic state in Uzbekistan and introduce shari‛a as the only legal system. The regime, however, prevailed, and eventually struck down hard on the Islamic militant groups, leaders of which later fled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and were later killed in fights against coalition forces. In 1992 and 1993 around 50 missionaries from Saudi Arabia were expelled from the country. The Sufi missionaries too were forced to end their activities in the country.[8] For the most part, however, in the first years of independence Uzbekistan saw a resurgence of a more liberal form of Islam. According to a public opinion survey conducted in 1994, interest in Islam is growing very rapidly. Very few people in Uzbekistan were interested in a form of Islam that would participate actively in political issues. Thus, the first years of post-Soviet religious freedom seem to have fostered a form of Islam related to the Uzbek population more in traditional and cultural terms than in political ones, weakening Karimov's claims that a growing widespread fundamentalism poses a threat to Uzbekistan's survival.

2000s

Experts assume that Islam itself was probably not the root cause of growing unrest as much as a vehicle for expressing other grievances that are more immediate causes of dissension and despair. The people view political Islam as a solution to these problems. The Uzbek rulers strongly deny that. The government is against the (Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Islamic Liberation) and the followers of Said Nursî of Turkey.[9]

The government blames the May 2005 unrest in Uzbekistan on an aim to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan in order to make it a Central Asian theocratic republic. Uzbek President Islam Karimov "placed blame for the unrest on Islamic extremist groups, a label that he has used to describe political opponents in recent years and that his critics say is used as a pretext for maintaining a repressive state."[10] Hizb ut-Tahrir have denied involvement in the unrest, but expressed sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the unrest, firmly laying blame on the repressive practices and corruption of the government.

Islamic architecture

See also: List of mosques in Uzbekistan

Islamism and Islamist terrorism

See also: Terrorism in Uzbekistan

Organizations

Terrorist attacks

The 2004 Tashkent suicide bombings targeting the American and Israeli embassies left two dead and nine injured.[12]

Recently, Uzbekistani nationals have surfaced as perpetrators of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe. Perpetrators of the 2016 Atatürk Airport attack,[13] 2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting,[14] 2017 Stockholm attack,[15] 2017 New York City truck attack,[16] included Uzbekistani nationals.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Rohan & Yee 2016, p. 404.
  2. ^ "Uzbekistan". CIA.
  3. ^ Atabaki, Touraj. Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora, pg. 24
  4. ^ Ibn Athir, volume 8, pg. 396
  5. ^ Katip Çelebi. (1943). Keşfü'z-Zünûn an Esâmi'l-Kütüb vel-Fünûn, (Vol. I), (pp. 110‑11). Istanbul:Maarif Matbaası.
  6. ^ Ali, A. (1963). Maturidism. In Sharif, M. M. (Ed.), A history of muslim philosophy: With short accounts of other disciplines and the modern renaissance in the muslim lands (Vol. 1), (p. 261). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
  7. ^ Muslims in the Former U.S.S.R
  8. ^ Islam and Secular State in Uzbekistan: State Control of Religion and its Implications for the Understanding of Secularity.
  9. ^ https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2924.htm
  10. ^ Uzbeks say troops shot recklessly at civilians The New York Times
  11. ^ Rafis Abazov (2005). Historical Dictionary of Turkmenistan. Scarecrow Press. pp. 82–. ISBN 978-0-8108-5362-1.
  12. ^ Glasser, Susan B. "U.S., Israeli Embassies Hit In Uzbek Bomb Attacks". washingtonpost.com. Washington Post. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  13. ^ "Istanbul airport attackers 'Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz' – BBC News". BBC News. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Turkish police identify Reina attacker as Abdulkadir Masharipov - CRIME".
  15. ^ "Prosecutor asks court to remand Stockholm terror suspect in custody". The Local. 10 April 2017. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Chavez, Nicole; Yan, Holly; Levenson, Eric. "New York attack: Terror suspect planned killings for weeks, police say". CNN. Retrieved November 1, 2017.

Sources

Further reading

  • Louw, Maria Elisabeth. 2007. Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia. London: Routledge.
  • Tucker, Noah. “Domestic Shapers of Eurasia’s Islamic Futures: Sheikh, Scholar, Society, and the State,” in Islam in Eurasia: A Policy Volume, 77-92. Cambridge, MA: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
  • Cornell, S.E., 2005. Narcotics, radicalism, and armed conflict in Central Asia: the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan. Terrorism and Political Violence, 17(4), pp.619-639.
  • Weitz, R., 2004. Storm Clouds over Central Asia: Revival of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)?. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 27(6), pp.505-530.
  • Moore, C., 2007. Combating terrorism in Russia and Uzbekistan. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 20(2), pp.303-323.
  • Abduvakhitov, A., 1993. Islamic revivalism in Uzbekistan. Eickelman, D.(Hg.): Russian Muslim Frontiers. New Directions in Cross-Cultural Analysis, pp.79-97.
  • Sinai, J., 2000. Islamic Terrorism and Narcotrafficking in Uzbekistan. Defense & Foreign Affairs’ Strategic Policy, 5, pp.7-8.
  • Naumkin, V.V., 2003. Militant Islam in Central Asia: The Case of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
  • Mann, P., 2002. Islamic movement of Uzbekistan: Will it strike back?. Strategic Analysis, 26(2), pp.294-304.
  • Hanks, R.R., 2007. Dynamics of Islam, identity, and institutional rule in Uzbekistan: Constructing a paradigm for conflict resolution. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 40(2), pp.209-221.
  • Schatz, E., 2002. Islamism and Anti-Americanism in Central Asia. Current History, 101(657), pp. 337–.
  • Ilkhamov, A., 2001. Uzbek Islamism: imported ideology or grassroots movement?. Middle East Report, 31(4; ISSU 221), pp.40-47.
  • Karagiannis, E., 2010. Political Islam in the former Soviet Union: Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan compared. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, 3(1), pp.46-61.
  • Walker, E.W., 2003. Islam, Islamism and political order in Central Asia. Journal of International Affairs, pp.21-41.
  • Todua, Z., 2005. Radical Islam in Uzbekistan: past and future. Central Asia and the Caucasus, 1, pp.37-42.

External links

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