Description: This volume explores the changing place of Islam in contemporary Central Asia, understanding religion as a "societal shaper" - a roadmap for navigating quickly evolving social and cultural values. Islam can take on multiple colors and identities, from a purely transcendental faith in God to a cauldron of ideological ferment for political ideolog...
Review Quotes: "This volume includes contributions from a broad selection of scholars who have sought to enrich our understanding of Islam in Central Asia through in-depth empirical studies."
"very recommendable as an introduction to what it means to be Muslim in Central Asia and to some of the important works that have been done recently to deepen our understanding of the question."
Maria Louw, Aarhus University, in Anthropos 115
"a comprehensive study focusing on the place of Islam in contemporary Central Asia [...] This book is unreservedly recommended to researchers in this field. As a work characterised by novel ideas and critical thinking, it makes a fresh and serious contribution to the understanding of Islam in the Central Asian region and especially to ongoing developments in its transformation."
Gulnar Nadirova and Dauren Aben, International Kazakh-Turkish University, in Europe-Asia Studies 72.4