Reviews for Cross Cultural At Death, Dying And Religion

The average rating for Cross Cultural At Death, Dying And Religion based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-09-26 00:00:00 Matt Gough A very insightful and often harrowing book about the impact of Communist rule on the peoples of Central Asia. While today they are marginal to world events, historically speaking the regions of Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent and others in Central Asia were among the most intellectually and culturally important centers of Islamic civilization. When the Tsars invaded and annexed them to the Russian empire in the 19th century, their status began to decline. But it was only with the Bolshevik Revolution that Central Asia was really torn off from the rest of the world, with its culture and society never transforming indelibly. The era of Stalinist rule over Central Asia completely changed the region, including popular understandings of Islam, The traditional schools and clerical establishments that had transmitted the religion ceased to exist. Because the repression was so total, the historical record is not even entirely clear what happened. But by the time the worst of the purges had ended, the mosques, schools and clergy that had been the holders and transmitters of Central Asia’s ancient religious culture had been completely eradicated. Mosques that had existed for hundreds of years were levelled, while famous clerics and intellectuals disappeared into Siberian gulags. It was like a thick blanket of fog had descended over the region and by the time it lifted almost nothing was left of the old society. In the decades after the worst of the repression had ended, new understandings of Islam began to take hold. Instead of a religious philosophy, so to speak, Islam became a component of ethnic identity. Contrary to popular belief the Soviet Union encouraged distinct nationalist identities among its subject peoples, as long as such identities were subsumed into a broader current of Soviet patriotism. Most everyone in Central Asia then and now considers themselves “Muslim,” but their Muslimness is very much tied and inextricable to the identity of being Uzbek, Tajik or Kazakh - provincial identities which themselves had been largely defined by the Russians. Because of the decades of isolation from the rest of the world that they experienced under the Soviet Union, their understanding of what it means to be Muslim is also very different from their coreligionists in the rest of the world. For most, it is much more tied to a Russian identity and there is less of an emotional attachment to the causes and issues that other Muslims around the world tend to hold dear. It is a difficult dynamic to explain but it is familiar to me and Khalid does a good job of articulating it. The way that people practice Islam is unique and very much tied to ethnic community. Women and older men are widely expected to practice the religion “on behalf” of the community, which is by definition Muslim as a collective. Young men are exempted from abiding by rules, but since the Prophet Muhammad received revelation at 40 and died at 65, these are key markers of when they should start taking such matters more seriously. This is obviously a novel way of conceiving Islam which is alien to most Muslims around the world and throughout history, but it is the understanding that grew in isolated local conditions under Russian rule. The experience of Communism was not as uniformly negative as some paint it out to be. There were real gains in material wellbeing for many ordinary people. Pre-Communist society was hardly a cultural golden era, and, though there were vital links to the past that were severed with the arrival of the new rulers, some genuinely oppressive aspects of the ancien regime were also cast off. Muslim modernists like the Jadidists actually welcomed the revolution at first and saw it as a vehicle to put forward their own reformist ideas about Islamic thought and practice, though they were later eradicated as the Bolsheviks gained the strength to implement their full program. Even greater than the Soviets, perhaps, has been the tragedy of the post-Soviet regimes, which have maintained all the brutality and totalitarianism of the Communists but without the attempts to socialize material goods for the benefit of the masses. The result has been brutal repression and the suffocating regulation of any independent thought or organization, including any practice of Islam not under the absolute control of the state, mixed with unchecked kleptocracy and rulers who maintain cults of personality. The way that Islam is regulated and managed in these countries basically precludes any form of genuine spiritual or intellectual role for the religion. The accepted state religion is merely a handmaiden for the policies of tyrannical government. Any small religious gathering, practice or study must registered and closely monitored by state officials. Those who dare to practice any sort of independent thought are deemed enemies of the state and wind up in prisons notorious for torture and humiliation, where a prisoners piety is often used as a weapon against them. In such an environment it is not surprising that jihadism has arisen from some quarters of Central Asian society, as it is the only form of Islam that could survive such Darwinian conditions while matching the ruthlessness and brutality of the state. It’s a sad state of affairs, particularly when ones takes into consideration what a site of cultural and intellectual flowering this region once was. This is an excellent book about one of the least understood parts of the world. While it is an academic work it is quite accessible as an introduction to Central Asia and its history, particularly its fraught experience with Russian and Bolshevik rule. Khalid has a gift for covering a lot of ground in a short amount of space, thought this book only really suffices as an introduction to a very broad subject. Islam continues to exist in Central Asia, but in ways deeply colored by the Communist past and its promotion of state atheism and ethnic identity. It is interesting to see where things head in an era of globalization, which is continuing to transform religious ideas and practice around the world.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-02-21 00:00:00 Sydny Guechtal Adeeb Khalid analyzes Islam in Central Asia from the early period of the Soviet Union up to the post-independence period. He starts with the global view of Islam, how it is viewed in the West, and how it is in Central Asia. He proves that Islam, being perceived as violent and harmful is created and is the result of the failed policy of twentieth-century global superpowers. One of the main ideas of the book is the "accommodation" of Islam in the region. The USA used religion in order to invoke the local population and lead them to overcome the communist regime. Books were published in local languages and spread to foster an anti-communism mood. At the same time, the Soviet government was also engaged in using Islam to keep people under control. The main tool was the institutionalization of control over religious practices and traditions. Both failed as USSR ceased to exist. However, the policies they rooted in the region resulted in further post-independence outcomes. The governmental institutional control of religion remains as a mechanism for regimes to stability and support from the West at the same time. The author focuses mainly on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in some parts, however, he gives a good picture of the state of Islam in Central Asia generally. It is a good book for those who want to know about religion in Central Asia and Islam in the region. It gives an introduction to some actual global issues concerning Islam in the world and their reflection in Central Asia. To read this book much acquaintance with the region is not needed. But, it is a good start to studying the post-communism religion and politics if interested.