Islamic Culture and Pre-Islamic Beliefs in Central Asia

Mihai Dragnea is president of the Balkan History Association and associate researcher at the University of South-Eastern Norway.Dorina Dragnea is vice-president of the Balkan History Association and currently works at the National Institute of Heritage, Bucharest.Antonio Alonso Marcos is professor of political science at the CEU San Pablo University.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Religious Landscapes of Central Asia throughout HistoryMihai Dragnea, Dorina Dragnea, Antonio Alonso Marcos, and Elissa BullionSoviet Religious LegislationChapter 1: Communist Atheism Overrides Islam: The Soviet Movement for Religious Control in Central Asia (1930s-1960s) Rui Kai XueChapter 2: Interpretation of the "Soviet Past" in Historical Policy Newly Independent States of Central Asia Viachaslau MenkouskiChapter 3: Impact of Communal Identity on the Notion of States in Soviet Kyrgyzstan and UzbekistanShambhavi ThitePolitical Islam and Islamic Social and Cultural ReformationChapter 4: Hizb ut Tahrir (HT) in Central Asia Since 2000: A Political Party, a Terrorist Group or a Social Movement?Antonio Alonso MarcosChapter 5: Islam in Central Asia: Why Jadidism is ‘Out’ and Why Salafism is ‘In’Dareg Zabarah-ChulakPre-Islamic and Early Islamic Material CultureChapter 6: Ancient Religions and Beliefs: Pre-Islamic Cult Architecture of the Ancient States of Central AsiaShoira Nurmukhamedova and Feruzjon SubkhonovChapter 7: Heads or Altars: An Analysis of Religious Culture in Early Islamic NumismaticsJonathan OuelletSacred Spaces and Religious MobilityChapter 8: Islamic Shrines and pilgrimage in Samarkand (1992-2022)Azim MalikovChapter 9: The Impact of the Seven Pir Shrines in the Bukhara Province on the Social-Spiritual Life of the Muslims in Uzbekistan Fahri Türk and Dolunay Yusuf BaltürkLanguage and Ethnic IdentityChapter 10: The Semantic Analysis of Mythological Conceptual Units in Religious Discourse: A Case Study of the Karakalpak Language Gulzira KdirbaevaChapter 11: Beliefs of the Semi-Nomadic Turkic-speaking Ethnic Group in Iran, the Qashqais Venera MustafayevaAbout the Contributors

“This volume is an exciting addition to the scholarship of Central Asia. This region has provided the fulcrum between different peoples and cultures. This volume, for the first time in recent scholarship, tackles the complexity of these interactions, and in particular, the impact that beliefs had on this critical space in the ancient world. The chapters explore a range of issues from the ancient to the Soviet era and will be vital for scholars of the region.”