A Take on Extremist Threats in Central Asia

In recent years, extremism cloaked in Islamic rhetoric has incurred huge material and spiritual costs in newly-independent nations of Central Asia. Left unchecked, this phenomenon, which stands in stark contrast to Islamic culture of moderation and popular culture in the region, is bound to wreak greater havoc and inflict more pain. The current article studies the intellectual background to extremism in Central Asia and contemplates solutions to curb it. The findings suggest that the soviet religious and cultural policies in this region, which was exerted through the promotion of a popular religion at the expense of the official moderate religion, had already paved the way for extremism to thrive. Therefore, countering extremism necessitates the strengthening of jurisprudential Islam, in particular the Hanafi School, i.e., the religion practiced by the majority of the region’s population, which could rectify erroneous popular interpretations of Islam and, in turn, prevents the spread of extremism.