To Moscow, Not Mecca: The Soviet Campaign Against Islam in Central Asia, 1917-1941

299 Pages·2001·6.21 MB·English

by  Shoshana Keller

To Moscow, Not Mecca

To Moscow, Not Mecca
The Soviet Campaign Against
Islam in Central Asia, 1917-1941
Shoshana Keller
Westport, Connecticut
London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Keller, Shoshana.
To Moscow, not Mecca : the Soviet campaign against Islam in Central Asia, 1917-1941
/ Shoshana Keller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-275-97238-0 (alk. paper)
1. Islam and politics—Uzbekistan. 2. Muslims—Uzbekistan. 3. Uzbekistan—Politics and
government—20th century. 4. Islam and politics—Asia, Central. 5. Muslims—Asia,
Central. 6. Asia, Central—Politics and government—20th century. 7. Minorities—Soviet
Union. I. Title.
DK948.85.K45 2001
95 8'. 041 '0882971—dc21 2001021665
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2001 by Shoshana Keller
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001021665
ISBN: 0-275-97238-0
First published in 2001
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my parents

Comrade Komarov came out with the excellent booklet Not Mecca, but Moscow.
When you read it, you physically feel the inspiration of its spirit and creative power.
This booklet plays a tremendous positive role for the Turkmen. But there is a
certain tendency, where sometimes even Com. Komarov gets derailed.
—Sakhatov, K. “Antiproletarskie fronte ideologii i zadachi partii.” Zapartiiu
No. 5 (May 1928): p. 43.
For the hero [of Ghazi Iunus’s play Spark of the Revolution], and certainly for the
author himself, Mecca is not just a place where pilgrims go; Mecca is a place of
unity and rallying together the oppressed strength of the revolutionary East. Not
Moscow, but Mecca—that’s Ghazi Iunus’s formula.
—Nugmatov, Kasim. “Uchastok, trebuiushchii k sebe vnimaniia.
Khudozhestvennaia literatura narodov Srednei Azii i zadachi partiinogo
rukovodstva.” Za partiiu No. 7 (July 1928): p. 68.

Contents
A Note on Transliteration xi
Preface xiii
Chapter 1 Imperial Russia and Islam 1
Chapter 2 Old Empire on a New Basis 31
Chapter 3 Soviet Central Asia: Laying a Foundation 69
Chapter 4 Discussing the Problem 107
Chapter 5 Breaking Islam 141
Chapter 6 Retrenchment 175
Chapter 7 Second Wave 213
Conclusion: Damaged but Not Destroyed 247
Glossary 257
cr'
Bibliography 261
Index 271