Research On Politicalization Of Islam In Central Asia Nowadays

Owing to its al-Qaeda-like goal to restore the caliphate, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami(i.e.The Islamic liberation party-hereafter Hizb ut-tahrir has increasingly drawn international community’s attention. Furthermore, due to its culture of secrecy and its illegal status in Central Asian states, it is definitely challenging to assess the organization.In the last decade, the world has started taking more notice of Central Asia, which has almost been ignored for most time of the twentieth century. The September11,2001terror attacks and the U. S. invasion of Afghanistan have initiated a debate about radical islamic groups in Central Asia.Although the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) initially received much greater scrutiny because of its military activities, scholars have extended their attention to include non-violent radical groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami and so on.The Islamization of Central Asia started from the late seventh century when Arab armies from Mesopotamia invaded the region. The area between Amu-Darya River and Syr-Darya River, was incorporated into the Islamic caliphate by the beginning of the eighth century. The spread of Islam was a relatively peaceful process; the new religion first found strongholds among the urban population in Bukhara and Samarkand, and then gradually the nomadic tribes of the Central Asian steppes became converts to the Muslim faith.Throughout the following centuries, Central Asia was an important centre of Islamic culture, where raised many of the greatest scholars and scientists in the history of Islamic civilization. From the ninth century onwards, Bukhara(in present-day southern Uzbekistan), became one of the Muslim world’s leading centers of the scholarship and arts,hosting famous hadith complier Al-Bukhari, the philosopher and scientist Avicenna(Ibn Sina),and Bahauddin Naqshiband,the fourteenth-century founder of one of the most influential Sufi orders(turuq-plural of’tariqa),the naqshabandiyya order.The vast majority of central Asians are sunni muslims of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. The liberal and tolerant character of Hanafi school allowed the peaceful incorporation of non-Islamic traditions of central Asia.Therefore, Islam in Central Asia accommodated and integrated pre-Islamic traditions and ritual practices deriving from Zoroastrianism,Buddhism,Nestorian Christianity,and shamanism.When it came to the Soviet occupation of Central Asia, which was a particularly difficult era for the faithful Muslims:mosques were destroyed, Muslim leaders were unjustly persecuted, and the glorious Islamic past of the region was fade away. However, Moscow underestimated the capacity of Islam to survive under harsh conditions, which was also regarded as a primitive religion. Surprisingly, the endurance of the Muslim faith in Central Asia, after seven decades of sovietization, is astonishing.The five independent Central Asian republics emerged from the collapse of the USSR in December1991.Ever since the independent day, the new states not only have struggled to build viable political systems and economies, but have also sought to integrate Islam into the new state ideologies. However, such effort has caused tensions within regional societies and dilemmas for the political elites.Particularly, at the very beginning of the emergence of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, regional governments viewed it as an "alien group". As a matter of fact, the group which has Palestinian origins was largely active in Arab countries for the most of the second half of the twentieth centuries. However, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami has been developing from its penetration most central Asia countries in the early1990s to the degree that nowadays it constitutes the leading Islamist organization in the region.Taking the only certain indicator "the number of its members in prison" to measure the numerical strength of the group, we may easily conclude that how successful Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami has been in recruiting thousands of members in Central Asia (Judged by the figures for jailed Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami members, given by the U.S.Department).Furthermore, the strength of the group should be measured not only on the basis of membership, but also by the reaction it has provoked. Its increasing popularity has raised many questions that still remain unsolved in essential.The available researches of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami in Central Asia tend to offer more description than theoretical analysis and do not attempt to either understand the factors driving its upsurge in popularity throughout the region or evaluate systematically the group’s potential for turning to violence. Therefore, this doctoral dissertation is guided by the following questions:What are the goals of groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami in Central Asia?Why have these groups emerged in Central Asia?Why do these groups not stick to the same standing on the violence?The doctoral dissertation will show how the basic principles of Marxism can be utilized to address the rise of these groups in Central Asia, such as sociology of religion, the theory of social movement, conflict Theory, ideological theory and so on.The doctoral dissertation consists of elven chapters,together with an introduction and a conclusion.Chapter1is mainly devoted the meanings of the term politicalization of Islam.Before that,it is necessary to review the relationship between Islam as one of the three major religions in the world’s and politics. Without doubt, there are many resources worthy of being mentioned from Marxist religious theory,especially the relationship between church and state. What’s more,to get a better understanding of politicalization of Islam,the author makes comments on some scholar’s views.In the end of this section,the issue of how to deal with Islam as kind of religion and politicalization of Islam as politics is put forward.Chapter2is meant to introduce the process of spread of Islam in the Central Asia before it was conquered by the tsarist regime.Furthermore,it pays attention to the the Islamic theocracy in the then so-called "Three Khanates",which were Khanate of Kokand,Khanate of Khiva, Khanate of Bukhara respectively, as well as political subculture of Sufi order in the dominant feudal culture.Meanwhile,it attempts to review the religious policy of the Soviet Union,while it puts emphasis on the Basmachi movement which broke out the moment the Soviet Union was established.Besides,the author makes comments on the effect of the religious policy of the Soviet Union,arguing that it brought about the so-called"Offical Islam"and it made the Muslim population in the area an orphan of the Muslim ummah.Chapter3makes a thorough study about the revival of Islam in Central Asia, including its causes, features and influences. The author holds the view that it lead to the politicalization of Islam,which in turn posed a security threat to the regional countries.Chapter4is devoted to the rise of politicalization of Islam in the post-soviet period.It pays particular attention to1992-1997,the period of Tajikstani’s civil war between neo-communist and the Islamist-led opposition,as well as the post-war political developments in that country.In addition,the chapter covers the emergence of radical Islamic groups in the Uzbekistan in the early1990s,when the newly eatablished Karimov regime faced an Islamist challenge in the Uzbek part of the Fferghana Vally.It also describes the rise and the fall of Central Asia’s most feared terrorist group,the IMU. In addition,the chapter covers the emergence of politicalization of Islam in the Kazakhstan and Kyrgzstan.In addition,it is dedicated to the history of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the life of its founder,Taqiuddin an-Nabhani.moreover,it pays attention to the party aims and ideology,foucusing on Hizb ut-Tahrir’s blueprint for the restoring of the caliphate.In addition,the chapter explains Hizb ut-Tahrir’s political methodology and its internal organization and the recruitment strategies,as well as Hizb ut-Tahrir’s linkage to the contemporary Islamist mobilization in the Muslism world.Besides, it will attempt to apply SMT to explain the contemporary rise of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Central Asia,which is mainly structural-function theory.Chapter5concludes by summarizing the main findings about a number of policy measures taken by regional policy-makers.It also analyzes the effect of the measures mentioned above.Chapter6concludes by summarizing the prospect of politicalization of islam in Central Asia and its impacts on China which borders Central Asia.Moreover,it will attempt to put forwards some releated policy recommendations for the government and its policy-makers.For the purpose of the analysis, the term Central Asia includes Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. While Turkmenistan is certainly part of the region, the country will be largely excluded from the analysis. The current political conditions in Turkmenistan make it almost impossible for any researcher to travel freely and collect data for such a politically sensitive issue as clandestine Islamic groups.