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In a new Carnegie Paper, Sufism in Central Asia: A Force for Moderation or a Cause of Politicization?, Martha Brill Olcott explores Sufism’s potential to become a political movement in Central Asia by analyzing the movement’s history and current leaders in Central Asia, particularly Uzbekistan.
Sufism is a mystical form of Islam that has flourished in the Muslim world for centuries. Sufism has placed a distinctive stamp on the way the religion has been practiced in many Arab countries, in parts of Africa, in Turkey, and especially in Central Asia.
Proponents and defenders of Sufism concentrate on the spiritual purification that the followers of the Sufi way receive, which is how believers bring themselves to the fulfillment of their faith.
Secular and religious critics alike often point to what they claim is the inherently political character of Sufism. Religious critics point out that the origin of each of the Sufi movements is rooted in an attack on the way Islam is practiced in the community and on the clerics responsible for these practices. The religious establishment often tries to turn the attack of the Sufis on its head. The contest between the Sufis and the religious establishment is also explicitly political because the Islam that most Sufis were rejecting or distancing themselves from was the Islam of their rulers.
It is for this reason that a review of the history of Sufism in Central Asia in general and Uzbekistan in particular is timely. Today, as in other points in history in both Central Asia and elsewhere, local rulers are trying to figure out how best to manage challenges posed by the community of believers and whether cooperating with traditional religious elements or other critics will best serve to advance the interests of the state.
Sufism is very much a part of the history of Central Asia. But is this a revival that should be encouraged? This paper looks at the question through the lens of history and concludes that, for all its seeming harmlessness, Sufism is a very unpredictable force in Central Asia and one that is very difficult for the state to harness for its own purposes.
Note: Sufism in Central Asia: Force for Moderation or a Cause of Policiticization? is the third research paper in an ongoing project for a forthcoming book “In the Whirlwind of Jihad” which will focus on the policy implications of the history of Islam in Central Asia.
