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The book presents the first integrated study of the relationship between official Islamic leadership (muftiship), non-official Islamic authorities, grassroots Muslim communities and the state in post-Communist Eurasia, encompassing Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, the Volga-Urals, Crimea, the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan and ex-Soviet Central Asia. It employs a history-based perspective and compares this relationship to that in both the Middle East and Western Europe. It argues that the nature and role of official Islamic leadership, as well as state-Muslim relations in most of the post-Soviet lands, have largely retained their particular national and broader Eurasian character, which distinguishes them from what prevails in the Middle East and Western Europe. At the same time, the increasing political ‘Europeanisation’ of Lithuania and Ukraine since 2014 and, to some extent, Belarus, has accounted for their divergence towards the Western model of state-Muslim relations.
“In this well-documented and up-to-date study, Galina Yemelianova traces the complex relationship between Islamic and political authorities in the Muslim-populated parts of Eurasia and deftly illustrates the resilience of Islam against external domination and internal challenges. This book will be a welcome addition to many university courses on Islam and Russian and Eurasian history and also of interest to a wider general readership.”— Dr Bhavna Dave, SOAS University of London, UK.
“Central Asia and the Caucasus do not loom large in the imagination of most in the West, and yet, this region was the zone of the Silk Road, the trading route that tied together the periphery of Eurasia. It was also the zone of greatest contact between Christianity and Islam. Not only did Islam reach into the area when great empires existed there, but it has persisted down to the present when these empires have devolved into nations or ethnic regions. The varying adaptations of Islam that have emerged offer a wide range of case studies. Dr. Yemelianova has a deep and extensive grasp of this region, both from scholarly sources and from field work across the region. As an author of numerous articles and books on Islam and Central Asia, her fluency in both Russian and Arabic enable her to forge a unique perspective on the changes that Islam has undergone in this vast region.” — John Colarusso, McMaster University, Canada
Galina M.Yemelianova has researched and taught for over thirty years on various aspects of Middle Eastern and Eurasian history, and contemporary Muslim and ethno-national politics.
List of Figures; Glossary; Note on Transliteration, Place Names and Calendars; Additional Signs Used; Introduction; Part I Islam, Islamic Authority and Leadership before and during the Russian Rule; Chapter One Authority and Leadership in Islam: A Historical and Comparative Perspective; Chapter Two Islamic Leadership among Tatars and Other Turkic Peoples prior to and during Russian Rule; Chapter Three Islam and Islamic Leadership in the Caucasus; Chapter Four Islam, Islamic Authority and Leadership in Central Asia; Part II Islamic Authority and Leadership in the USSR; Chapter Five The Volga-Urals; Chapter Six The North Caucasus; Chapter Seven The South Caucasus; Chapter Eight Central Asia and Kazakhstan; Part III Islamic Authority and Leadership in Post-Soviet Lands; Chapter Nine Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania; Chapter Ten European Russia; Chapter Eleven The Caucasus; Chapter Twelve Central Asia; Chapter Thirteen Eurasian Islamic Leadership within the Global Context; Notes; Bibliography; Index.