The Economist, September 25, 1993
Copyright 1993 The Economist Newspaper, Ltd.
The Economist
September 25, 1993
SECTION: World politics and current affairs; ASIA; Pg. 47 (U.K. Edition
Pg. 69)
LENGTH: 300 words
HEADLINE: Giving Sufism a whirl
BYLINE: FROM OUR CENTRAL ASIA CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BUKHARA
BODY:
THE visitor to Central Asia might be forgiven for forgetting, as his
hosts offer another shot of vodka, that he is in a Muslim land.
Communism has some success in eradicating signs of Islam.
Religion, though, is not easily quashed. On September 17th religious
leaders and followers of a Sufi teacher and sant, Bahauddin Naqshbandi,
met in Bukhara, once one of Islam's holiest cities, on the 675th
anniversary of his birth. Sufis are Muslim mystics, among them the
"whirling dervishes" who dance themselves into a divine trance.
Naqshbandi's followers became the most important Sufi order in the
Middle Ages. The medieval mosque around his grave just outside Bukhara,
a "museum of atheism" during the Soviet period, as been restored, and
selected guests at this celebration were allowed to pay their respects.
This was the first gathering in honour of a religious figure permitted
in Central Asia for decades.
There was no whirling on this carefully-controlled occasion. The
celebration was conceived not by Bukhara's communist-tamed religious
establishment, but by the Uzbek government. Although President Islam
Karimov has a horror of Islamic extremism, he is prepared, in the
interests of nation-building, to make concessions to religion.
For President Karimov, Naqshbandi is the right sort of Muslim. In the
1920s his followers opposed communism, but in general Sufism is more
concerned with the inner life than the outer political one. Naqshbandi
taught that people should live a pure life, tell the truth and remain
patient -- just the sort of wholesome virtues the government likes to
encourage. It hopes that, since the masses must have their opiate, it
can channel religious feelings into a safe Islam, one that will not
threaten Uzbekistan's much-vaunted "stability".
(
geocities.com/capitolhill/senate) (
geocities.com/capitolhill)