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Islam in Kazakhstan is the most commonly practiced religion. Most Kazakh Muslims are Sunni Hanafis.[1] According to the Daik-Press in 2003, the highest 53% of the people identified themselves as Muslims[2]. But according to the mostly surveys of CIA and the US Department of State; obtained the same results, showing that about 47% of the population identified themselves as Muslims, and 46% of the population, mostly ethnic Russians, Ukranians and other minority European ethnic groups considered themselves to be Christians with many new movements.[3][4][5][6]
[edit] Islam in the past
Soviet authorities attempted to encourage a controlled form of Islam under the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan as a unifying force in the Central Asian societies, while at the same time prohibiting true religious freedom. Since independence, religious activity has increased significantly. Construction of mosques and religious schools accelerated in the 1990s, with financial help from Turkey, Egypt, and, primarily, Saudi Arabia. In 1991 170 mosques were operating, more than half of them newly built. At that time an estimated 230 Muslim communities were active in Kazakhstan.
[edit] Islam and the state
In 1990 Nursultan Nazarbayev, then the First Secretary of the Kazakhstan Communist Party, created a state basis for Islam by removing Kazakhstan from the authority of the Muslim Board of Central Asia, the Soviet-approved and politically oriented religious administration for all of Central Asia. Instead, Nazarbayev created a separate muftiate, or religious authority, for Kazakh Muslims.[7]
With an eye toward the Islamic governments of nearby Iran and Afghanistan, the writers of the 1993 constitution specifically forbade religious political parties. The 1995 constitution forbids organizations that seek to stimulate racial, political, or religious discord, and imposes strict governmental control on foreign religious organizations. As did its predecessor, the 1995 constitution stipulates that Kazakhstan is a secular state; thus, Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian state whose constitution does not assign a special status to Islam. This position was based on the Nazarbayev government's foreign policy as much as on domestic considerations. Aware of the potential for investment from the Muslim countries of the Middle East, Nazarbayev visited Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia; at the same time, however, he preferred to cast Kazakhstan as a bridge between the Muslim East and the Christian West. For example, he initially accepted only observer status in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), all of whose member nations are predominantly Muslim. The president's first trip to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, which occurred in 1994, was part of an itinerary that also included a visit to Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Karagiannis, Emmanuel (April 2007). "The Rise of Political Islam in Kazakhstan: Hizb Ut-Tahrir Al Islami". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 13 (2): 297-322. doi:10.1080/13537110701293567.
- Rorlich, Azade-Ayse (June 2003). "Islam, Identity and Politics: Kazakhstan, 1990-2000". Nationalities Papers 31 (2): 157-176. doi:10.1080/00905990307127.
[edit] References
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This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
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