Islam in Kazakhstan

The penetration of Islam into the territory of modern Kazakhstan took place over several centuries, starting from the southern regions.

The first impetus to the spread of Islam was the Battle of Talas, 751th year. At which the Turks of the Turgesh Khaganate , having united with the troops of the Abbasid Caliphate , defeated the troops of Tang China . Victory in the battle stopped the expansion of the Chinese Tang empire to the west, and allowed Islam to establish itself among the sedentary population of Semirechye and the Syr Darya by the end of the 10th century .

According to Iranian scientist-historian Atabaki Turazh, Islam was initially established in the city of Turkestan and its environs ^[2] . Then, according to the medieval Islamic historian Ibn al-Asir , thanks to the Samanid missionaries in the city of Taraz and its environs ^[3] . Further, Islam began to spread very slowly to the north of the territory of modern Kazakhstan.

Islam was established as a state religion in the state of the Karakhanids at the end of the 10th century. As the empire of Genghis Khan expanded, the spread of Islam slowed down, since Tengrianism was the traditional religion of the Turks . But Islam continued to spread in subsequent centuries. Thus, the khans of the Golden Horde Berke (1255-1266) and Uzbek (1312-1340) adopted Islam. At that time, among the Turks was strongly influenced by the Sufi clergy. A huge contribution to the spread of Islam among all the Turkic-speaking peoples of the region was made by the founder of the Sufi order Yasaviya Khoja Ahmet Yasavi, who died in 1166 in the city of Turkestan .

The Islamization of the population in the territory of modern Kazakhstan took place gradually, over many centuries. Previously, urban residents and the agricultural population of the south of modern Kazakhstan were Islamized. In the mid-15th century, Isolam became the state religion of the Kazakh Khanate. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Russian Empire conquered the territories of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the Russian Empress Catherine II used the Tatar mullahs to spread her influence over Kazakhs and other Muslims.

Currently, Islam is perceived by the Kazakh population as an integral part of ethnic identity. The bulk of the Kazakh population consider themselves Muslims and to some extent observe at least part of the Islamic rites and regulations. For example, the vast majority of Kazakhs perform the circumcision (sundet); all Kazakhs perform burial according to Muslim rites. Along with Islam, among the believing Kazakhs, some customs of the pre-Islamic period are preserved, which in principle do not contradict Islam. The boys are left to wear aydar (forelock) . There are rites of tusau-kesu (cut-offs), rites of cutting hair after newborn babies reach the age of 40 days. Often you can hear how Kazakhs sometimes use the word “ Tәңir ”, “ Kudai ” as a synonym for the word Allah .

Currently, about 3,700 mosques function in Kazakhstan.

With the support of a number of Islamic states, a whole network of Islamic educational institutions has been created in Kazakhstan. Since 1991, the Higher Islamic Institute for the Training of Imams-Khatybs at the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan has been functioning, since 2001 - the Egyptian University of Islamic Culture "Nur-Mubarak" with Egyptian teachers (since 2012 it has been renamed the Kazakh-Egyptian Islamic University "Nur") ^{[ 4]} . The last university only in 2004-2011 graduated 262 Islamic experts, a significant part of which began to work as imams and naib-imams in mosques of Kazakhstan ^[4] . In 2002, the Islamic Institute for Advanced Studies of Imams of the Republic of Kazakhstan was also opened ^[4] . However, one should not exaggerate the significance of Islam in the country's social and political life - for example, only in 2012 the first Islamic TV channel Asyl Arna appeared ^[4] . The state power seeks to control Islamic education - since 2011, the state standard of the specialty “Islamic studies” has appeared in the country and in 2011 150 grants were allocated for people studying in this specialty ^[5] .

Islam in Kazakhstan is mainly professed by Kazakhs , Uzbeks , Uighurs , Dungans , Tajiks , Kyrgyz , Turkmens , Tatars , Bashkirs , a number of traditionally Islamic peoples of the North Caucasus , Azerbaijanis (the latter mostly adhere to Shiism ).

• Islamic liberalism
• Polygamy in Kazakhstan

• Sultangalieva A.K. Islam in Kazakhstan: history, ethnicity and society. - Almaty: KISI under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan , 1998. - 188 p.
• Sultangalieva A.K. The evolution of Islam in Kazakhstan // Central Asia and the Caucasus . - 1999. - No. 5 .
• Sultangaliev A. K. “The Return of Islam” to Kazakhstan. - Almaty: Altynbek Sarsenbauly Foundation, 2012. - 170 p.

• Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan
• Islam in the history and culture of Kazakh society (XVIII-early XX centuries.)
• About Islam in Kazakhstan
• Forum - History of Islam in Kazakhstan
• Islam in Kazakhstan. Scientific view