Tashkent, Uzbekistan - A group of pilgrims in turbans with staffs entered a kishlak [settlement] in the Ferghana Valley. The pilgrims made it to the chaikhana or tea house, got out the Koran, and began discussing theology with the locals. These wandering preachers, members of Tabliga Jamaat (Society for Proliferation of the Faith that was established in India in 1927), are in fact bitter enemies of President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. Karimov called the organization extremist in 2004. Ten members of the organization already preach to other inmates in Uzbek prisons.
In fact, Karimov missed his true enemies. Four hundred and forty Uzbek refugees from Andizhan were deported from Kyrgyzstan but not back to Uzbekistan where law enforcement agencies were eagerly waiting. They were deported to Romania. That was how the Islamic sect that headed the rebellion drowned in blood this spring was saved from extinction. Europe is not going to extradite the refugees to Uzbekistan. It takes pride in its tolerance. Europe does not care that the so called Akromians are viewed as heretics by official theologians and by radicals preaching a return to the roots of Islam. "We will return home victorious and we will invite you all to celebrate out triumph," the Uzbeks told their Kyrgyz hosts by way of farewell. The latter looked uneasy. They do not want ideas of "Islamic socialism" spread into southern Kyrgyzstan. Too late.
"Islamic radicals from Uzbekistan are coming over here. The Akromian Society already has some cell organizations in Osh," to quote Sadykzhan Makhmudov, a Kyrgyz human rights activist.
Originating in Uzbekistan, the least humanitarian and the most secular Central Asian republican, Islamic fundamentalism is spreading throughout the region. Motives of the "aggression" (this is how the authorities call the undeclared religious war) are old as the Koran itself: impoverishment and harassment of disagreeable preachers. It means that new social explosions like the one in Andizhan this May are but a matter of time.
"The Andizhan tragedy could be averted. It was possible to have theologians explain erroneous nature of the Akromians' beliefs to the Uzbek Moslems. Unfortunately, the authorities chose harassment and repressive measures against the zealots," said Muhammad Sadyk Muhammad Yusuf, ex-mufty of Uzbekistan. Living in a opulent mansion in Tashkent outskirts, Yusuf is a unique man. Discovering himself heartily disliked by Karimov once, Yusuf knew better than to await arrest and fled to Saudi Arabia in 1993. After terrorist acts in Tashkent years later (in 1999), the president decided that he could use the ex-mufty and the respect he commanded in Uzbekistan and asked him to return. Karimov personally guaranteed Yusuf's safety. These days, Yusuf is the only independent theologian in Uzbekistan who never hesitates to criticize the president's religious policy and gets away with it. Karimov turned Islamic clergy into a department of his own ideological service. Private instruction in religious matters is an offense while tutors at official medreses or religious schools make sure that their students are loyal to the president. "Yes, student's political views are a matter of interest for us," to quote Kobildzhon Sadykov, Principal of Mir-Arab in Bukhara (the largest medrese in Central Asia). "We may ask an applicant the president's birthday or the words of the state anthem. We are convinced that imam should be first and foremost a patriot."
All mosques are registered by structures of the Justice Ministry and follow orders from the Religious Directorate of Uzbek Moslem. This structure in its turn is following orders from the secular authorities. "The authorities deny mosques registration to keep their numbers down," said Felix Korlie of Forum-18 (international human rights organization from Oslo, Norway). "There are so few mosques in Andizhan that the believers are compelled to pray right on the sidewalks."
Socialism or Death
The Andizhan rebellion was not sparked by the numbers of mosques. It was sparked by arrests of several businessmen known as Akromians. "We did not even consider ourselves members of any organizations. It was rather a club of associates comprising wealthy and devout businessmen. There must be no paupers among the believers - this was the central idea," to quote Bakhrom Shakirov, the father of an arrested Akromian. Minimum wage in Uzbekistan amounts to $6 (not enough even for bread alone), average wage does not exceed $20. The Akromians calculated the "actual subsistence minimum" ($50) and pledged not to pay their employees less. "Independence like that could not help irritating the authorities. They decided to get rid of the "rivals" by jailing them," Shakirov ventured the Akromians' recollection of the events in Andizhan. Deprived of their jobs, people mutinied.
The hypothesis is questionable, to say the least. Peaceful protesters could not have released all inmates from the guarded Andizhan prison or raided and ransacked a military unit. On the other hand, nobody believes the authorities when they claim that the Akromians were out to seize all of the Ferghana Valley on the orders from foreign centers of Islamic extremism. "The Akromians stayed away from politics before the Andizhan events," Yusuf said. "That what they preach is heresy is a different matter altogether. For example, they do not consider it necessary for Moslems to pray five times a day or honor the Ramadan fast." Indeed, it does not look like the Akromians planned to establish a caliphate.
Salvation in caliphate
"Sad as it is, Hitler failed in extermination of Jews. This cursed people is still making life hard for Moslems. You probably think that Karimov is an Uzbek when he actually is a Jew," Yusup, 50, of Namangan told this correspondent. Yusup's three sons were jailed as members of the outlawed Hizb-ut-Takhrir. Yusup is a Hizb-ut-Takhrir activist too. Unlike the Akromians, Hizb-ut-Takhrir is in politics. It is building a global caliphate. Official authorities view this organization as terrorist and ascribe to it all explosions and skirmishes that occur in Tashkent every now and then. Ideology of the organization is extremist indeed. According to it, democracy is not for the Moslems, and the United States, Great Britain, and Israel are devil's spawns. It should be noted that the Uzbek authorities have never proved involvement of the organization in terrorist acts. Hizb-ut-Takhrir activists publicly denounce violence and say that the caliphate will be built only when the majority of Moslems in Uzbekistan are ready for it.
Most Hizb-ut-Takhrir activists are young men (about 30) from poor families. They are vendors and peasants. "Their enthusiasm and faithfulness to the cause reminds me of Komsomol members of the 1930's," a senior state official complained. "Fighting zealots is never easy." As a matter of fact, Hizb-ut-Takhrir is not the only extremist organization and not the most warlike at that. Still, the Uzbek authorities do not care. They call everyone a Hizb-ut-Takhrir activist and every suspiciously devout person a Wahhabi. And jail all of them for extremism.
Pure Islam
"As soon as two imams kick up a row, each calls the other a Wahhabi," Yusuf said. In Uzbekistan (and in Russia too for that matter) the term "Wahhabi" is usually applied to devout Moslems who do not pray at officially registered mosques and who view official imams as state officials.
In the meantime, there are bona fide Wahhabi in Uzbekistan too. There was a period when ornate tombstones were vandalized at cemeteries in the Ferghana Valley. Law enforcement agencies eventually identified the vandals. They were young men who had studied in Saudi Arabia and embraced its official religion Hanabalist Mazbah colloquially known as Wahhabism.
"It will be more correct to call them Salafites or followers of the intrinsic Islam. They stand against exuberant wedding ceremonies and funerals," Yusuf explained. It seems logical. Uzbeks are supposed to invite guests by the hundred to wedding ceremonies. Some Uzbeks find themselves broke afterwards. On the other hand, the majority of poor Uzbeks dislike Salafites. Whoever dreams of wealth cannot find to his liking their idea that everyone should live a modest and unassuming life.
Magic traditions
As far as one fourth of the population of Uzbekistan is concerned, Islam is magic. They are followers of the Sufi Order (Tarikat) of Nakshbandi which strongly resembles Hinduism. "Meditating practices of Nakshbandi Sufis and Yogi are similar," to quote Gulchekhra Navruzova of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences. Tinsmith Bahauddin Nakshbandi founded the order in Bukhara in the 14th century. Its adepts eventually spread throughout the world. It was followers of this order exactly that were the driving force of resistance to the Russian army in the Caucasus in the 19th century. The famous Imam Shamil, for example, was the religious leader of the local organization of the order.
Uzbek Sufis are no longer belligerent. Still, they do believe in miracles and honor ancient traditions - the ones fundamentalists shrug off as absurdity. For example, one is supposed to enter Nakshbandi's mausoleum making the first step with the left leg. Near the burial-vault there are remnants of an ancient tree mystics associate in some dim manner with Nakshbandi himself. Walk around it three times and all your wishes will come true, they say.
Sheikh Ibragim, leader of the Uzbek Order of Nakshbandi, turned his house in Kokand outskirts into a monastery. "There was this Muscovite once who saw in a dream that he must go to Kokand and find Sheikh Ibragim there. And he had never known anything about the sheikh before that. So, he travelled to Kokand and met the sheikh. He spent half a year by the teacher's side and became a true Moslem," cabby told me this story on the way to the sheikh's house.
Unsmiling barded men in turbans met me outside. They said that before meeting the sheikh I had to make ablution and learn by heart at least one Sura from the Koran. That was what the teacher had told them.
I was granted an audience late at night. The sheikh received me sitting on the floor among his disciples. "I have 3,000 myurids [disciples] ready to do their bidding," he boasted. (So far, their bidding has never differed from Karimov's wishes.) "We are poets and mystics. We are not interested in political matters. Whoever is interested in politics is not a Sufi anymore. Knowing that we do not pose a danger to it, the state leaves us alone."
The authorities view Sufism as an alternative to fundamentalism. Even so, sheikhs are not trusted. The National Security Service (the former KGB) has already warned Sufis that religious conferences in private apartments are not to be tolerated. Many sheikhs and their disciples were questioned in the wake of the Andizhan events. State security was afraid that disciples would found a terrorist organization.
As a matter of fact, Karimov may fall victim of his own merciless tactic. Harassment transforms religious groups into covert organizations. There are lots of potential recruits among the impoverished: Uzbek peasants are permitted to lease land plots but it is the state that tells them what to cultivate there. Peasants are left to their own devices. They manage to hide rows of vegetables in cotton fields. Corruption is really something. A plane ticket is not to be bought without a bribe even when the plane is nearly empty. "The situation being what it is, even Islamists look deserving of support. At the very least, they will not embezzle on such a scope!" a secular Uzbek said by way describing the state of affairs in Uzbekistan.