Bruce Privratsky Muslim Turkestan Pdf
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Bruce Privratsky Muslim Turkestan Pdf
This study in the anthropology of religion examines the relationship between Kazak ethnicity and religion, exploring how the collective memory is mediating Muslim values in Kazak culture in the 1990s. Ethnographic field research was conducted in the Kazak language from 1992 to 1998 in the city of Turkistan (Turkestan) in southern Kazakstan (Kazakhstan). Turkistan is the site of the Timurid shrine of Ahmet Yasawi (Ahmed Yasavi), a key figure in the Turkic Sufism of Central Asia. Today it is also… Expand
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Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
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The Kazakhs, Turkmens, Tajiks, Qaraqalpaqs, Uyghurs and Uzbeks in Central Asia share some distinct sacred lineages-Sayyids and Xojas-some of which appear in two or more of these ethnic groups. In the article, I will analyse some data on the history and identity of Islamic sacred lineages of Samarqand, compiled during ethnographic research of the population and archival materials. I will analyse the stories of the representatives of sacred families about their past, as well as published narratives. The analysis of the sources shows that despite the preservation of the historical family library, a secularised society and the Soviet-era education influenced the views and the identity of sacred families.
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Anthropology of the Middle East, V ol. 15, No. 1, Summer 2020: 34–49 © e A uthor(s)
doi:10.3167/ame.2020.150104 • ISSN 1746-0719 (Print) • ISSN 1746-0727 (Online)
Sacred Lineages of Samarqand: History
Abstract: e Kazakhs, Turkmens, T ajiks, Qaraqalpaqs, Uygh urs and Uzbeks in
Central Asia share some distinct sacred lineages – Sa yyids and Xojas – some of
which appear in two or more o f these ethnic groups. In the article, I will analyse
some data on the history and identity o f Islamic sacred lineages of Samarqand,
compiled during ethnographic r esearch of the population and archival mat eria ls.
I will analyse the stories of the representa tives of sacred families about their past,
as well as published narrativ es. e analysis of the sources shows that despite the
preservation of the historical family libra r y, a secularised society and the Soviet-
era education inuenced the views and the identi ty of sacred families.
Keyw ords: belonging, Central Asia, elite, Ishan, I slam, kinship, Uzbekistan
Most studies on the id entity of Uzbekistan ’ s population are devoted to the
study of national a nd ethnic identities. I argue that the study of lower -level
social units (clans and lineages) is also important fo r understanding the iden-
tity formation pr ocesses. Frequently, the same c lan can be found in more than
T o understand the complex of identities tha t includes ethnic as well as
regional, religious and o thers, the concept of multiple identities (mul ti-
identity) has a valuable signicance (Bur ke 2003: 195). Multi-identity mani-
fests itself in the fact that an individual can belon g to several groups that exist
at dierent levels a nd with which he can identify himself in dierent social
situations. Amo ng the population of Central Asia, ethnolinguistic, tribal,
regional, religious and socior eligious identities are distinguished (Roy 2000:
18). A question arises regarding the ma ny types of identity available to individ -
uals: which type of identity is the most sustainable o ne? Although every thing
Sacred Linea ges of Samarqand: History an dIdentity → 35
is related to the social and cultural conte xt, nevert heless, an important con di-
e study of the history of M uslim sacred lineages, such as the Sayyids, 1
Xoja 2 and Ish an s 3 of Central Asia, is of considerable historical in terest.
Researchers point out tha t the study of the kinsfolk of the Prophet M uhammad
in dierent M uslim societies is stil l a relatively unexplo red area of research
(Morimoto 2004: 87–103). In the past, I slamic sacred lineages were one of the
many descent elite gr oups in Central Asia and ranked high in the social hier-
archy . Sacred families used various self-names that depended on the region al
and cultural contexts. Research ers call t hem by the generic terms ‘ descend-
ants of saints ’ or ‘white bone’ ( oq suyak in Turkic) (A bashin 2001: 65). ‘Sacred
lineages’ ar e dened variously based on diering criteria.
Nowadays, the K azakhs, Qaraqalpaqs, Tajiks, T urkmens, Uyghurs and
Uzbeks in Central Asia shar e distinct groups, some sacred lineages of which
appear in two or mor e of these ethnic groups. A lineage is usually a group of
people who trace descent unilineally from a common ancest or through a series
of links that can be enumerated (H oly 1996: 74−75). Symbolic resources of
the identity of sacred lineages ar e represented by shrines, genealogies, legends
e famous orientalist V asiliy Bartold (1869–1930), analysing the histo r y
and genealogies of Xojas, claimed tha t the genealogical records of Xojas had
traces of forgery (Bartold 1963: 276). is idea was developed in the publica-
tions of some Soviet and post-Soviet resear chers (Abashin 2003: 234). During
the Soviet period, researchers sought to study sacred lineages u sing ethnic
criteria, but had to recognise their special status (Sukhar eva 1960).
Over the past two decades, researchers have p ublished much about macro-
ethnic identities: T ajik, Uzbek, U zbekistani, etc. (Adams 2010; Khalid 2015).
However , there is quite little anthr opological research concerning the identi-
ties of small social groups of such sacred lineages. is issu e was rst raised
by John Schoeberlein-Engel (1994), follo wed by the publications of Bruce
Privratsky (2004), Sergey Abashin (2001), Zilikha Ibadullaeva (2001), etc.
Asignicant part of these studies dealt with the local societies. Among Bruce
Privratsky’ s main informants wer e the descendants of famous Su leader and
theologian Makhdumi A ’zam (Sayyid Jalal ad-din Ahmad al-Kasani) (1461–
1542) in T urkistan (southern Kazakhstan). However , their external connec-
tions, communicatio ns with Samarqand sacred families, remained beyond his
research. A large num ber of publications on the history of Xojas, the descend-
ants of Makhdumi A ’zam, have been pub lished by researchers, especially their
activities in eastern T urkistan (Papas 2018).
I studied the sacred lineages in the Samarqan d province of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, which until no w have not been specically studied. Samarqand
had great signicance in symbolising the local population o f Islamic sacred-
ness. Samarqand was on e of the biggest religious centres in Central Asia, with
a concentration of a la rge number of Xojas and Sayyids of various lineag es.
Sacred lineages of the Samarqa nd province linguistically consist of two grou ps:
Uzbek-speaking and T ajik-speaking. Some sacred families are bilingual and
Samarqand’ s b est-known sacred families are the descendan ts of Su leaders
such as Xoja Ahrar (1404–1490) and M ak hdumi A ’zam (1461–1542), the
descendants of Sayyid A ta (rst half of 14th century) and Mirakoni Xojas
(Sayyids from Mirakon village in Iran). I give s pe cial attention to the local
classication of the sacred families of Sa marqand, the use of history to con-
struct the history of sacred families in the modern period. is article focuses
on how Sayyids and Xo jas express their identity as the descendants of sacred
families through publication s and stories about their past and their ancestors.
In this article, I will analyse data on the histo r y and identity of Islami c
sacred lineages of Samarqan d. Attention is paid to such issue s as: the percep-
tion of their group and their past b y sacred families, and the perception of
sacred lineages by other population gr oups of the Samarqand region. e
material is based on the study of the families of the descendan ts of Islamic
and Su intellectuals from the lineage o f a major Su gure of the sixteenth
century , Ahmad Kasani or Makhdumi A ’zam (‘ the greatest master’).
e data presented in this article was collected during m ultiple short-term
eld research trips between 2004 and 2009, mainly to Sam arqand province in
Uzbekistan. In 2018–2019 semistructured in terv iews were held with the Xojas
of Samarqand city a nd province. At the same time, the method of included
participant observation was practiced.
One of my key informa nts was Komilhon Kattaev , a local historian of
Samarqand, a descendant o f Makhdumi A ’zam. He wo rked as a researcher
in the Samarqand Department of the A cademy of Sciences of the Republic
of Uzbekistan an d the State Museum of the History of Cultur e of Uzbekistan.
He is the founder and head o f the Makhdumi A ’zam Dahbidi Founda tion.
He has published dozen s of books and hundreds of articles on the history of
Samarqand, shrines, Su sa ints and outstanding gures of the city . A unique
catalogue of manuscripts o f his hereditary library, consisting of thirteen th- to
nineteenth-century manuscripts, was p ublished in 2015. Some of them were
personally owned by Makhdumi A ’zam (Kattaev 2015).
I argue that the Soviet policy of modernising and homog enising the society
in Central Asia and creating na tional identities did not eliminate some spe-
cic descent identities in the region. Desp ite the Soviet nationality policy, the
struggle against r eligion, the repressions against sacred lineages, the cr eation
of new national stories and secular politics, some fam ilies belonging to sacred
lineages preserved their identity . My data shows that lan guage is not an impor-
tant criterion in drawing bounda ries between various sacred lineages.
Sacred Linea ges of Samarqand: History an dIdentity → 37
According to F redrik Bart h ’s (1994) concept, ma ny types of identities are avail -
able to people that can be app licable in dierent situations. During the period
under review , we choose one or a limited number of identities as guidelines.
In some situatio ns, we want to note a distinction, and in others we ar e looking
for something general or a general alia tion. Richard Jenkins argues that indi -
vidual and collective identities can be understood using a model of dialectical
interaction of internal an d external denition processes (2008: 46). Identity at
one level or another is expr essed through either discourse or through everyday
social behaviour (Giddens 1991: 70).
Individuals are unique, b ut in the processes of primary and subsequent
socialisation and in their constant in teractions, individuals dene and redene
themselves and others througho ut their lives (Jenkins 2008: 40). Society can
oer a person only a choice o f dierent behaviours, but it cannot d etermine
the selections that are taken depending on the sit uation. In life, there is always
a private personal space in which there is a cho ice to express yourself. It is
possible to choose and relate to certain norm s of society (L ayder 2004: 9).
erefore, unders tanding group identity helps the study of in dividual identity
and its interaction with collective iden tity. While studying the m ultiple identi-
ties of sacred lineages, levels such as social, religious, regio nal, national, ethnic
can be distinguished. us, a com plex pattern of variable identities is formed.
e study of the histo r y of powerful sacred lineages in the past helps to
understand dierent wa ys in which the local Muslim religious elite adapted to
changes in the political, religious-ideol ogica l, social and economic systems in
Uzbekistan. A ccording to Michael W oods, the elites are socially and discur-
sively constructed as elites ei ther by themselves or by others and have p rivi-
leged access to or contro l over certain material and symbolic (knowledge)
In the pre-Soviet period (before 1917), Central Asia did not h ave any ethnic-
national dierences amo ng its population. People distinguished each o ther by
social characteristics: religious, village versus city , nomadic versus settled, as
well as by local cultural categories, such as w ealth, so cial status, region, lan-
guage or dialect (Abramson 2001: 179–180).
e Sayyids or Alids emerged as one of the local elit es in Central Asia by
the late ninth century (Bernheimer 2005: 44). Sayyids have enjo yed a privi-
leged position in almost all Islamic coun tries. In the pre-Soviet period, the
criteria used to recognise dierent grou ps of sacred lineages were the geneal-
ogy ( nasab-noma ) and the name of an ancestor who was a Su gur e. e
ancestors of Sama rqand sacred families (Ahrari – the descendants of Xoja
Ahrar, M akhdumi A ’zam and Sayyid A ta) participated in the coronations of
the rulers of the Bukharan Emirate 4 (Akhmedov 1985: 118–119). During the
time of the Bukharan Emirate, the richest and the mo st eminent families of the
‘sacred lineag es’ had waq f s 5 that were exempt fro m state taxes. e families of
the descendants of Xoja Ahrar , Sayyid Ata and Makhdumi A ’zam contracted
marriages with the representa tives of the reigning Manghyt dynasty . Some
‘sacred lineag es’ had certain monopolies in the eld of Islamic j urisprudence,
In the pre-Russia n perio d (before 1868), the representa tives of ‘sacred lin-
eages’ , who had written genealogies, lived in dierent r egions of Central Asia.
Makhdumi A ’zam ’s descendants had а kno wn political and social inuence
not only in the Bukharan khanat e but also in the Kokand khanate and western
China in the nineteenth century (Y aoyi 2010: 123, 137). During this period
Xojas were venera ted as Su saints ( Ishan ) (Papas 2018).
e state policy aimed at undermining the stat us of sacred lineages began
aer Samarqand joined the R ussian Empire (Malikov 2019). A serious trans-
formation of the econo mic and social status of sacred families occurred during
the Soviet period under the inuence of the state. e state p layed a crucial
role in the national identi ty formation process in Central Asia in the Soviet
period. Barth says that the state is ‘ a speciable third player in the processes of
boundary construction between groups’ (1994: 19). During the Soviet period,
state resources wer e mobilised to create strong secular ethnonational identi-
ties (Khalid 2014: 2) and the birth of local nationalisms. e undermining of
the religious perception of the wo rld in Muslim societies of Central Asia was
facilitated by a twofol d change: the alphabet, and persecution and destruction
of those who played an importan t role in preserving and transmitting any
intellectual tradition that might exist (Lo uw 2007: 52).
Aer the national-territorial separation of 1924, the descendants of
Makhdumi A ’zam found themselves ocially register ed as a part of dierent
titular nations: the T ajiks, Kazakhs, U zbeks and Uyghurs. Based on their own
principles of ethnic engineering, an ti-religious and class struggle in the USSR,
the Soviet authorities, rst, depriv ed the sacred lineages of legal status and,
second, refused them the right to be registered as a separate com munity. e
Soviet authorities carried out bru ta l repressions a gainst the representatives of
sacred lineages in the 1930s, especially against many Ishan s and their children
(Shamsuddinov and Kholmirza ev 2015: 74–236).
Over the past one hundred years, as a r esult of several factors – the policy of
ethnic engineering during the period of Soviet rule, the emergence of nation-
states, the modernisation and transf ormation of Muslim society in Central
Asia – important chan ges in the identity of the population have taken place.
e Soviet government sough t to form relatively homogeneous ethnic socie-
ties for 70 years. is policy continued in the independen t states of Central
Asia. Nevertheless, the identities o f individual social g roups typical for the
pre-Soviet period persist even today .
Sacred Linea ges of Samarqand: History an dIdentity → 39
During the Soviet period, individual families preserved a certain level of
knowledge of Islam and I slamic traditions. Other representatives o f sacred lin-
eages, having mastered new kno wledge bas ed on the Soviet ideology, achieved
high political and administrative positions d uring the Soviet perio d. However ,
these achievements were in no small part rela ted to their personal ties with the
In the twentieth century , there was a social and ethnic transforma -
tion of sacred lineages, which caused a chang e in their identity. Some Xo ja
families sacriced their religious identity in or der to announce themselves
‘bearers of national conscio usness’ and ‘the inte llec tual elite ’ (Abashin 2005:
78). According to m y obser vations, at presen t, despite the Soviet policy of
ethnic engineering, the descendants of the most powerful sacred lineages in
Samarqand preserved their specic identity .
Aer the independence of U zbekistan, despite a revival of Islam, the public
space remains de-Islami se d and secular (Khalid 2014: 121). Against the back-
ground of the secular politics of the Soviet era and the modern period, at
present, a large part of the pop ulation has an extremely limited understanding
of Islam, the history of Susm a nd the role of Islam in the history of the region.
It should be noted tha t the name of Makhdumi A ’zam as a n outstanding theo-
logian is mentioned in the ocial history of U zbekistan and school textbooks
Samarqand is one o f the largest cities in Uzbekistan. Representa tives of dif-
ferent natio nalities (mainly Ta jiks, Uzbeks, Irani, Russians, T atars, Arabs, etc.)
live in Samarqand. A s Laura Adams notes, it is oen dicult to distinguis h
T ajiks from Uzbeks by ph ysical type, names or any common markers of eth-
nicity (2013: 118). However , if one studies the social structure of the society
more deeply , one can identify the descendants of the sacred lineages.
Sacred Lineages in the Perceptions of the Local Population in
Individual and collectiv
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