Narratives of Islam in Uzbekistan: authoritarian myths and the Janus-state syndrome

ABSTRACT

Under the late Islom Karimov, the authoritarian regimes in Uzbekistan created dual myths of Islam. On the one hand, Islam was encompassed in the larger context of manaviyat (spirituality), and on the other, a myth of an Islamic ‘extremism’ that challenges security and stability on a regional scale was cultivated. This ‘threat’ is so pervasive and pernicious that it commands the authoritarian nature of governance that characterizes the Karimov era, leading to a Janus-state syndrome in which Islam is simultaneously cast as a sine qua non of national myth and an existential threat to state security. This article examines the mythology of political Islam in Uzbekistan and the Janus-state syndrome resulting from the duality of Islamic myth. It argues that a civil society cannot flourish in Central Asia unless moderate Islamic groups are allowed to build the very social structures that provide the foundation for interaction, peaceful coexistence, toleration and pluralism.

KEYWORDS:

• Islam
• authoritarianism
• Uzbekistan
• myth
• Janus state

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Karimov’s successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to this early date has offered no indication of a departure from his predecessor’s policies. A general consensus among observers of Uzbek politics is that Mirziyoyev is likely to maintain the status quo and continue Karimov’s approach to the role of Islam in Uzbek identity and society.

2. Wahhabism is an ultra-conservative variation of Sunni Islam founded on the Arabian Peninsula in the eighteenth century which in recent years has become associated with extreme anti-Western attitudes and rejection of modernism, since Osama bin Laden and the terrorists who attacked the US on 11 September 2001 were all Wahhabis. Salafism is a fundamentalist movement related to Wahhabism which seeks to return the nature and practice of Islam to those observed by the salafi (ancestors). Salafis generally believe that over the centuries, Islam has become corrupted by the imposition of dogma and ritual that are counter to the original intent of Muhammad and his immediate followers. Deobandism arose in British India in the late nineteenth century as a response to British colonial policy, Christian proselytizing, and reformist movements within Hinduism. The Taliban movement in Afghanistan and Pakistan has its roots in Deobandi philosophy. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a modern radical movement found throughout the Muslim world that seeks a return of the caliphate. It is banned in the Central Asian states, as well as in a number of other countries.

3. Meat that satisfies Islamic dietary and preparatory requirements.

4. At least two amateur videos of Karimov’s visit to Namangan, shot at different times and locations, have survived and may be viewed on YouTube; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwVS8CQg2s4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwKyf8PMlK4.

5. I surveyed students while lecturing at Tashkent State Economics University in the fall of 1995. While the sample size was small (approximately 100 students), the results conform to those revealed in similar studies.

6. ‘Uzbek Head Tells Press in Kazakh Capital about Tashkent Blasts’, BBC Monitoring Service, 22 February 1999.

7. It remains unclear who was responsible for the Tashkent bombings. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, accused by the Karimov regime of orchestrating the explosions, has never claimed responsibility.

8. ‘Bullets Were Falling Like Rain: The Andijan Massacre, May 13, 2005’, Human Rights Watch, Vol. 17, No. 5(D) (June 2005), http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/uzbekistan0605/uzbekistan0605.pdf.

9. In early 2016 independent sources learned that the leader of the Akromiya movement, Akram Yuldashev, had died in prison in 2011, although the Uzbek government has not acknowledged his death (‘Akram Yuldashev is Dead’, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 16 January 2016).

10. The complete poll results may be found at http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/.