Nation, religion and social heat: heritaging Uyghur mäshräp in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Yärkäntning baghida bulbul, sayraydu sähär tangda Nakhsha eytip saz chelip, dostlar oynaymiz gulistanda Chalsangchu rawabingni sataringni, Yärkäntning muqamigha, Dostlar zoqlunup qalsun, dostlar, Yärkäntning sadasigha Yärkänt yolida ösäk, ösäkni berip korsäk Ösäktiki dostlarni dostlar qochaghlap turup söysäk The nightingale in Yärkänt's orchard sings at dawn Let's sing and play our instruments, friends, and play in the flower garden Play your rawab and satar for the muqam of Yärkänt Let's entertain ourselves, friends, with the songs of Yärkänt There's woodland beside the Yärkänt road, let's go and see Friends, let's embrace each other in the woodland Driving along the road leading west out of Zharkent on our way to a mäshräp gathering we pass an area of scrubby woodland. Our driver Nurmuhämmät bursts into song. This song, Ösäk Sadasi, he explains, is the anthem of the mäshräp. But this mäshräp isn't going to be much fun, he complains. He gestures towards his neck. This will be a dry gathering; no alcohol allowed. The town of Zharkent (Yärkänt in the Uyghur pronunciation) lies in southeast Kazakhstan, near the Chinese border crossing and trading centre of Khorgas. The new highway -built with Chinese money under the Belt and Road Initiative -has by-passed Zharkent. It retains the feel of a Soviet-era Central Asian town with its single-storey houses with sloping corrugated iron roofs and thick whitewashed walls. A ramshackle but thriving bazaar runs along the street leading to the old Zharkent mosque. Now a heritage site, this nineteenth-century monument combines the distinctive Chinese-style curved tiled roof with a Central Asian dome and minaret. The mosque and bazaar attest to the complex histories of

Analysis of causes and factors of the spread of takfirism in Kazakhstan

“…There are many words and phrases in Arabic that are interchangeable. For example, there is a verse that says: "The Judaizers say that God's hands are tied, but their hands are tied..." (Harris & Kamalov, 2021).…”

“…Historically, when Ibn Abbas had an academic debate with a group of Kharijites, about 4,000 of them are said to have changed their minds. It could be argued that their main shortcomings were illiteracy and superficial awareness (Harris & Kamalov, 2021).…”

“…It is well-known that not all leaders preaching across the ocean are sincere. An example of this is the Tunisian Muaz Garzalawi, the longtime leader of the "Caliphate Troops" who performed terrorist attacks in 2011-2012 in western Kazakhstan (Harris & Kamalov, 2021). Mention should be given to Abu Munzir al-Shinkiti, who gave the radical religious youth of Kazakhstan a fatwa to organise a militia against the authorities.…”

“…The indifference to the fundamentals of Islam in society seems to have pushed some religiously observant young people to the other side of the scales. In particular, this results in their radical understanding and implementation of the takfir concept (Harris & Kamalov, 2021). In response to repressive measures by the Egyptian police, members of "Al-Takfir wa al-Hijrah" began to use violence in the mid-1970s.…”

“…Researchers R. Harris and A. Kamalov (2021) consider terrorism as a complex socio-political phenomenon, defining its essence and evolutionary mutations. The scholarly writings of B.…”