ISLAM IN THE FERGHANA VALLEY 341
interesting, as it raises the question whether the Muslim community, a patchwork
of ethnic groups and clans, can speak in one voice in politics.
153
More than a half of the population of the Kyrgyz Republic (54 percent) lives
in the southern region, which includes the Ferghana Valley and Batken province,
which directly adjoins it. Three-quarters of the total consists of ethnic Kyrgyz. At
the moment, there is a massive outflow of Kyrgyz north to the capital of Bishkek,
to the Chui Valley, and especially to Russia. Between 2005 and 2008, nearly
650,000 Kyrgyz left the Ferghana region, while as many as a million (officially
only 600,000) Uzbeks and Tajiks entered, largely on account of the more liberal
economic environment in Kyrgyzstan. Thus, the region is now dominated by only
two groups—Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. The rise of Kyrgyz nationalism has had the effect
of pitting these two groups against each other. However, it should be noted that
a region-wide mobilization of an Islamic alliance would have the reverse effect,
putting them all on one side against infidel forces, whether domestic or foreign.
Most authorities long considered the formerly nomadic Kyrgyz, with their
shamanist traditions, to be inherently less religious than the settled inhabitants of
the ancient oasis. To be sure, the Kyrgyz, while part of the conservative majority,
always followed rather strange and even bizarre forms of the faith. But whatever
the situation in the past, it cannot be denied that the process of Islamist revival over
the past two decades has enabled the faith to steadily expand its influence on social
relations among Ferghana Kyrgyz. Increasingly, Kyrgyz from all regions resort
to Islam as the highest court of appeal in addressing their daily concerns. In spite
of this, Islam still has been unable to fulfill the important integrative function in
society. In spite of Soviet efforts to destroy them, Kyrgyz tribal structures and their
replication within the government have proven very stable and entirely relevant to
present-day realities. Acknowledging this, the division of north and south appears
to be a more decisive factor in domestic affairs than the much smaller differences
among the clans of each region.
A 2008 survey of students at secular universities in Osh and Bishkek sheds light
on their views on religion. Barely a quarter attend Friday prayers even irregularly,
but this is from two to three times more than the figure from a 2003 study. Also,
while 53 percent identify themselves as “not religious,” 63 percent regard them-
selves as primarily Muslim and only secondarily Kyrgyz. These positions clearly
contradict the stereotype of the irreligious Kyrgyz, as opposed to the pious Uzbeks.
Today’s youth are undergoing an ideological transformation, shifting from a tra-
ditional and passive understanding of Islam to an active commitment to Muslim
values. This heightens the possibilities for religious-political perspectives and par-
ties, and indeed 67 percent thought that believers should be free to form political
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