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Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia Paperback – January 18, 2007

by Adeeb Khalid (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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Adeeb Khalid combines insights from the study of both Islam and Soviet history in this sophisticated analysis of the ways that Muslim societies in Central Asia have been transformed by the Soviet presence in the region. Arguing that the utopian Bolshevik project of remaking the world featured a sustained assault on Islam that destroyed patterns of Islamic learning and thoroughly de-Islamized public life, Khalid demonstrates that Islam became synonymous with tradition and was subordinated to powerful ethnonational identities that crystallized during the Soviet period. He shows how this legacy endures today and how, for the vast majority of the population, a return to Islam means the recovery of traditions destroyed under Communism.

Islam after Communism reasons that the fear of a rampant radical Islam that dominates both Western thought and many of Central Asia’s governments should be tempered by an understanding of the politics of antiterrorism, which allows governments to justify their own authoritarian policies by casting all opposition as extremist. Comparing the secularization of Islam in Central Asia to experiences in Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, and other secular Muslim states, the author lays the groundwork for a nuanced and well-informed discussion of the forces at work in this crucial region.
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  1. Print length
    253 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of California Press
  4. Publication date
    January 18, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0520249275
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0520249271
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Khalid’s work is an important contribution to an understanding of the increasingly plural character of Islamic societies and how political Islam should be understood in particular regional and societal contexts.” (Johan Saravanamuttu Journal Of Contemporary Asia 2009-01-12)

“Clear and well-researched. . . . Khalid’s book is a very helpful aid in understanding the complexities of today’s Central Asia.” (Intl Journal Of Middle East Stds (Ijmes) 2010-07-15)

From the Inside Flap

"I know of no competing work that comes close to covering this material. Khalid's nuanced and sophisticated analysis offers superior treatment of the diversity of Muslim societies and the history of Islamic thought in Central Asia. America is heavily involved in this region, and this book is a powerful reminder of the possible costs of unthinking U.S. support of current regimes—it should be required reading for American politicians and concerned citizens."—Carl Ernst, author of Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; Edition Unstated (January 18, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 253 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520249275
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520249271
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

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Adeeb Khalid

Adeeb Khalid

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4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joseph Thomason
5.0 out of 5 stars I consider this book to be an important step in ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2016
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I consider this book to be an important step in advancing the field of Central Asian Studies because it makes a large amount of otherwise inaccessible archival and practical information available to the reader. There are areas where the writing could be more clear, however considering the context of primary and secondary sources the book achieves a number of important goals that work in post-soviet literature and Islamic Studies cannot achieve operating separately.
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m
4.0 out of 5 stars A bit dated, but comprehensive
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2022
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This is a good book, but it's slowly becoming outdated. Khalid does a good job analyzing Islam in Central Asia and avoids delving into local nationalist narratives or Western Orientalist/fear-mongering narratives. He describes, by and large, the history of Islam in Central Asia country by country. The book's concluding chapters focused on contemporary Central Asia are just a bit outdated.

Khalid talks about how the greatest threat to the region is succession crises after any of the local dictators die. It's been close to twenty years since the book was published, and many of those dictators have died or stepped down.

Still a good book; it just needs a second edition or for the reader to keep in mind recent developments.
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johnnie b. baker
5.0 out of 5 stars A much needed corrective
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2007
One cannot consider themselves knowledgeable in the slightest about Central Asia if they have not read this book. Basically, the states of Central Asia are more a threat against Muslims then Muslims are a threat to the states. Written for a general audience, though still scholarship at the highest level. A must read.
4 people found this helpful
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Roar Ljoekjell
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a thorough book. The content is processed ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2014
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This is a thorough book. The content is processed and presented in a scholarly way, accessible also for non-scholars. The emphasis is on historical, political and social aspects of Islam in the area. I would have wished more on individual spirituality and belief system.
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L. Curtis
2.0 out of 5 stars Not an Introductory Book
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2009
Written as a response to 9/11 the author sets out to separate the disinformation from the actual conduct of Muslims in contemporary Central Asia. The author, as a respected professor of history, has created a book that requires some previous knowledge of Islam, it is not an introduction. Mr. Khalid is opinionated, biased and writes in a manner difficult to understand. His main point is that Islam has many faces and is much weaker in Central Asia than in the Middle East, not all Muslims are terrorists.
2 people found this helpful
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Suchos
3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Description of Central Asian Islam
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2009
This short book is a brief history of Islam in Central Asia, and a longer argument about the nature of Islam in Central Asia (by which he primarily means Uzbekistan). Specifically, Prof. Khalid argues that Uzbek Islam is different from Islam in other regions (such as Pakistan or Saudi Arabia) because of its very different history. Decades of Soviet control, he argues, has had a profound effect on the way Uzbeks view their religion. The writing is sometimes choppy, and the historical sections assume a certain amount of background knowledge. I recommend this book to specialists or to college students with at least a minimal knowledge of Central Asian history and geography. It is too dense and obscure for more casual readers.

In the rest of this review, I address some more specific points.

1. Prof. Khalid does not shy away from attacking other authors. Salman Rushdie's views are "particularly pompous" (p. 208, n. 14). Ahmed Rashid mixes "arrogance and ignorance in equal measure" in describing Central Asia (p. 3). See also p. 209, n.20; p. 210, n. 4. Even where I agree with Prof. Khalid's conclusions, his arrogant tone does not help him persuade.

2. Specifically, Prof. Khalid spends a great deal of time attacking "essentialism" and its proponents, like Samuel Huntington and Bernard Lewis. "Essentialism" is the view, in this context, that a "pure" or "true" Islam exists, and that to the extent that cultures or sects deviate from the pure form, they are not really Muslim. Essentialism, in Prof. Khalid's view, is historically baseless, and also irresponsible because it creates and "us versus them" attitude that, in turn, leads to conflict. "Islam, for Lewis, is immutable and impervious to change brought about by history or society. ...Such essentialist arguments are much loved by today's Islamic extremists, who proceed from the assertion of total incompatibility of Islam and the West. Osama bin Laden and Bernard Lewis completely agree on this point" (p. 7).

Objectively speaking, I think Prof. Khalid is correct. Speaking as a non-Muslim, it seems clear to me that Islam can and has changed, at least in its outward forms, and today varies from region to region, from sect to sect, and from believer to believer. But in another, very important sense, Prof. Khalid is wrong. Sometimes perception is reality. To a radical Muslim, the notion of situational Islam is ridiculous. To the extent that Khalid's Uzbeks differ in belief or practice from Muslims in other places, they are not simply different - they are apostate. And the distiction is important enough in the eyes of many to warrant assassination and terrorism. Some Muslims may believe Islam is compatible with modernity, but others disagree. The terms "dar al-Islam" and "dar al-Harb," after all, were not invented by Westerners.

3. The upshot of the "essentialist" argument is Prof. Khalid's conclusion that Uzbeks should not be lumped in with other Islamic groups, or automatically assumed to be radical. Stated so simply, I completely agree. The reality, obviously, is not so simple, and the book provides its own evidence. Prof. Khalid minimizes the role and legitimacy of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and yet the group exists, and actively fought coalition forces in Afghanistan. Its members may be small, but they came from somewhere - both physically and culturally. Prof. Khalid's tone suggests his dislike for President Bush, yet Bush's willingness to work with Uzbek President Islam Karimov until 2005 indicates that Bush was not guilty of tarring all Uzbeks as dangerous fanatics.

Although I disagree with some of what Prof. Khalid writes, I nevertheless enjoyed the book for the engaging discussion. Far better to encounter an idea, examine it, accept the good and reject the bad, than to remain unaware.
7 people found this helpful
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Daniel Garcia
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Account of Soviet Impact on Central Asian Muslims
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2009
[*Note: The following review is of select portions of the book, Islam after Communism, by Adeeb Khalid. It takes into account the Introduction, Chapters 1-3 and 5, and the Conclusion]

Islam after Communism is an attempt to convince the reader that the notion of "Islam" as a fixed set of (1) rules, (2) practices, (3) ideas--indeed, a fixed anything--that exists independent of political, economical, and other historical changes, is a fallacious assumption. The author, Adeeb Khalid, attempts to accomplish this feat primarily through the examples of the profound transformations the seventy-three-year period (1918-1991) of Soviet authority rendered in the religious, political, educational, and cultural understandings of Islam by the Muslim populations of Central Asia. His basic concern seems to be the deconstruction of the "Western essentialist" view of Islam: That it is (1) political by nature, (2) intolerant of other ideologies (religious, economic, and political), (3) oppressive to women, (4) militant in achieving its aims, and (5) that the most important thing to EVERY Muslim is that the tenets of Islam be upheld at ALL costs.

Although the author is rather opinionated (and repetitive), he is a good story teller. The book is an interesting, smooth read. I recommend it for anybody interested in the history of the Soviet Union, the Communist influence in Central Asia and on Central Asian Muslims, and/or the history of the Muslim peoples. This is a history book, not a book about Islamic religion per se.
4 people found this helpful
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courtney b.
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2014
IT IS A GOOD BOOK BUT IT IS CHALLENGING TO READ!!
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M. Wakefield
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2015
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