Gender, Islam, and social change in Uzbekistan

Central Asian Survey

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 303-317

  Fathi, Habiba ^a  

^a French Research Institute on Central Asia   (Uzbekistan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GENDER IDENTITY; ISLAMISM; SOCIAL CHANGE; WOMENS STATUS;

ASIA; EURASIA; UZBEKISTAN; WEST ASIA;

EID: 33847236984     PISSN: 02634937     EISSN: 14653354     Source Type: Trade Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02634930601022575     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. H. Fathi, Femmes d'autorité dans l'Asie centrale contemporaine, Quête des ancêtres et recompositions identitaires dans l'islam postsoviétique (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose/IFEAC, 2004).
2. N.A. Falk. and R.M.Gross (eds.), La Religion par les femmes (Genève: Labor & Fides, 1993)
3. F. Lautman (ed.), Ni Ève, ni Marie, Luttes et Incertitudes des héritières de la Bible (Genève: Labor & Fides, 1997).
4. D. Kandiyoti and N. Azimova, 'The Communal and the sacred: Women's worlds of ritual in Uzbekistan', The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol 10, No 2, 2004, pp 327-349
5. R. Sultanova, 'Qadiriyya Dhikr in Ferghana Valley', Journal of History of Sufism, Vol 1-2, 2000, pp 531-538.
6. S. Kleinmichel, Halpa in Chorezm und Atin Ayi in Ferghana, Zur Geschichte des Lesens in Uzbekistan, Anor (Berlin: Verlag Das Arabish Buch, 2001)
7. A. Krämer, Gesetliche Autorität und islamische Gesellshaft im Wandel. Studien über Frauenälteste (otin und xalfa) im unabhängigen Uzbekistan (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2002).
8. M. Tokhtakhojaeva, Utomlennye prošlym, Reislamizacija obščestva i položenie ženščin v Uzbekistane (Tashkent: Izd. M. Tokhtakhodjaevoj, 2001).
9. F. Mernissi, Le Harem politique, le Prophète et les Femmes (Paris: Albin Michel, 1987);
10. T. Zarcone, 'Le culte des saints en Turquie et en Asie centrale', in Le culte des saints dans le monde musulman, Chambert-Loir and E. Guillot (eds.) (Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, 1995), pp 267-307.
11. A. Schimmel, Mon âme est une femme, La Femme dans la pensée islamique (Paris: JC Lattès, 1998).
12. According to the French version of the Qur'an translated from Arabic by: J. Berque, Le Coran, Essai de traduction de l'arabe annoté et suivi d'une étude exégétique (Paris: Albin Michel, 1995).
13. Body of tradition relating to the Prophet Muhammad.
14. J. P. Berkey, 'Women and Islamic Education in the Mamluk Period', N. R. Keddie and B. Baron (eds.), Women in Middle Eastern History, Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender (New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1991), pp 143-157.
15. S. Andézian, 'Femmes et religion en islam: Un couple maudit?' Clio, "Femmes et religions", Vol 2, 1995, p 131.
16. Those who have had special training or knowledge of the Muslim religion and law, and are regarded by Muslims as the authorities on these matters.
17. The role of women in the transmission of religious culture has been underlined in the three monotheistic religions. See J. Allouche-Benayoum, 'Conversions au judaïsme et enjeu de mémoire' in F. Lautman (ed.), Ni Ève ni Marie, Luttes et Incertitudes des héritières de la Bible (Genève: Labor & Fides, 1997), pp 245-271
18. L. Babes, L'Islam intérieur, Passion et Désenchantement (Paris: Al Bouraq, 2000)
19. J. Delumeau (ed), La Religion de ma mère, Le Rôle des femmes dans la transmission de la foi (Paris: Ed. du Cerf, 1992).
20. R.A. and E.W. Fernea, 'Variation in Religious Observance among Islamic Women', in N.K. Keddie (ed), Scholars, Saints and Sufis, Muslim Religious Institutions in the Middle East since 1500 (Berkeley-Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1972), p 391.
21. Personal observations, Bakou, March 2005.
22. E. Alles, 'Des oulémas femmes, le cas des mosquées féminines en Chine', in O. Roy and P. Haeni (eds), Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, "Le post-islamisme", Vol 85-86, 1999, pp 215-236.
23. S. Andézian, op cit.
24. H. Boulmik, 'Diverses manifestations de l'individualité: Discours et pratiques', C. Lacoste-Dujardin and M. Virolle (eds), Femmes et Hommes au Maghreb et en immigration, La Frontière des genres en questions (Paris: Publisud), pp 143-149.
25. O. Reveyrand and C. Coulon, 'Islam de femmes en Afrique noire, Une femme à la tête d'une structure islamique' M. Gadant and M. Kasriel, Femmes du Maghreb au présent, La Dot, le travail, l'identité (Paris: CNRS, 1990), pp 263-277.
26. A variety of different terms is used both in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. These women of God are called halpa in the Khorezm region, oyi-mulla in Bukhara, otin-buvi in the northern part of Tajikistan, etc.
27. On the history of Sufism in the region, see A. A. Hismatulin (ed), Sufizm v Sentral'noj Azii (Saint-Petersburg: Filosofskij fakul'tet Sankt-Petersburgskogo gosudaverstvennogo universiteta, 2001).
28. Women's religious functions as shaman and mullah in the Turco-Iranian world were pointed out by both Baldauf and Murodov: I. Baldauf, 'Zur religiösen praxis özbekisher frauen in Nordenafghanistan', Religious and Lay Symbolism in the Altaic World and Other papers (Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Walberberg, Federal Republic of Germany, 12-17 June 1984, Wiesbaden, Edited by Klaus Sagaster, 1998), pp 45-54
29. O. M. Murodov, Drevnie obrazy mifologii u Tadžikov doliny Zeravšana (Dushanbe: Doniš, 1979), pp 98-99.
30. For the ties between mysticism and shamanism in Central Asia, see N. V. Basilov, Šamanstvo u narodov Srednej Azii i Kazahstana (Moscow: Nauka, 1992)
31. T. Zarcone, 'Interpénétration du soufisme et du chamanisme dans l'aire turque, "Chamanisme soufisé" et "soufisme chamanisé", D. Aigle, B. Brac de la Perrière, and J. P. Chaumeil (eds), La Politique des esprits, Chamanisme et religions universalistes (Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie, 2000) pp 383-396.
32. Most of the otin-oyis in our sample claimed to belong to a holy family designated by the following terms: Sayyed, ishan, tura, khoja. On these holy families, see T. G. Abaeva, Očerk istorii Badahšana (Tashkent: Fan, 1964)
33. S. Demidov, Turkmenskie ovljady (Ashkhabad: Ylym, 1976)
34. A. Muminov, 'Veneration of holy sites of the Mid-Sïrdar'ya Valley, continuity and transformation' M. Kemper, A. Von Kügelgen and D. Yermakov (eds), Muslim Culture in Russia and Central Asia from the 18th to the Early 20th Centuries, Vol II (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1996), pp 355-367.
35. See J. G. Massel, The Surrogate Proletariat, Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia, 1919-1929 (Princeton-New York: Princeton University Press, 1974)
36. D. Northrop Veiled Empire, Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia (Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press, 2004).
37. These women told me that they had not attended local madrasas. Some of them obtained basic religious education in other Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, or Egypt) while others received this religious education from their own husbands or brothers.
38. The Uzbek otin-oyis I talked to at the beginning of 1995 told me that they had been recruited by the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan to teach in their madrasas. As for Tajikistan, when I visited the female section of the madrasas of Khodjent and of Dushanbe in November 1997, I was told that these bibi-khalifes were employed because of their religious knowledge. In Khodjent, all the bibi-khalifes teaching there belonged to the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan. In Dushanbe two of these female religious teachers were trained by their husbands who were Jordanian Muslims.
39. This was the case of Fatima-aya (1892-1966), an Uzbek otin-oyi arrested in 1937 in Ichkent, a village located in the region of Kashkadaria, and released in the 1950s. On her destiny, see Š. Turdiev, 'Fatima-aya', Mahalla, 31 July 2005.
40. Only bibi-khalifes in the Shiite communities of Samarkand and Bukhara were taken into account in my study. The function of otin-oyi is only found among the traditionally sedentary populations of Central Asia. On the different Muslim ethnic groups of the region, see R. Wixman, The Peoples of the USSR, An Ethnographic Handbook (New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc. Armonk, 1984).
41. Several studies have brought to the fore the roles assigned to each of the sexes, taking into account the biological, cultural, psychological, and social characteristics specific to each of them. See, for example, E. Badinter, L'Un est l'Autre, Des Relations entre hommes et femmes (Paris: Odile Jacob, 1986).
42. These women's rituals relate to two Central Asian saints one could call 'folk' and whom one could oppose to 'serious' saints, to refer to the dichotomy established by E. Dermenghem Le Culte des saints dans l'islam maghrébin (Paris: Gallimard, 1954) p 9.
43. From one end of Central Asia to the other, they have a tomb that gives rise to women's pilgrimages and are invoked to honour the memory of B. Naqshband, founder of the Naqshbandiyya that remains active today, whose mausoleum is near Bukhara.
44. Throughout the Muslim world, women's religious practices have a social dimension and are characterised by autonomy. See, for example, S. Andézian, Expériences du divin dans l'Algérie contemporaine, Adeptes des saints de la région de Tlemcen (Paris: CNRS, 2001)
45. D. H. Dwyer, 'Women, Sufism and Decision Making in Moroccan Islam' N. R. Keddie and L. Beck (eds), Women in the Muslim World (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1978), pp 585-598.
46. A. L. Trojckaja, 'Ženskij zikr v starom Taškente', Sb. Muzeja antropologii i ètnografii, Vol (Léningrad: AN SSSR, 1929), pp 71-79.
47. These appellations are those that were used essentially before the Sovietisation of Central Asia. The Uzbek terms Oyi ('Mother') and Oyim ('My Mother') refer to the highly honorific manner of addressing ladies of high rank of various Muslim dynasties that have reigned in the region.
48. The religious class was merged with that of the rulers of pre-Revolutionary Central Asia. See H. Carrère-d' Hencausse, Réforme et Révolution chez les musulmans de l'Empire russe (Paris: Presses de la Fondation des sciences politiques, 1966), p 47.
49. K. E. Bendrikov, Očerk po istorii narodnogo obrazovanija v Turkestane, 1865-1924 (Moscow: AN pedagogitsheskih nauk RSFSR, 1960), p 47.
50. According to Semenov, the sayyed were descendants of the Prophet, the khoja descended from the first Arab conquerors, and the mîr, from the three first successors of the Prophet. A. A. Semenov, 'Očerk ustrojstva central'nogo administrativnogo upravlenija Buharskogo hanstva pozdnejego vremeni', in Materialy po istorii tadžikov i uzbekov Srednej Azii (Stalinabad: AN SSSR, 1954), pp 64-65.
51. K. E. Bendrikov, op cit, p 46.
52. V. Nalivkin, M. Nalivkina, Očerk byta ženaščiny osedlogo tuzemnogo naselenija Fergany (Kazan: Tipografija imperatorskogo universiteta, 1886), pp 59-60.
53. S. Ayni, Buhara, vospominanija (Dushanbe: T. 1, Irfon, 1980), p 59.
54. Only upper-class girls were admitted to a maktab, but the boys could come from poor and wealthy backgrounds alike. However, only boys from wealthy social classes could complete their studies in the madrasa.
55. A. Zaki Validi Togan, Vospominanija, bor'ba narodov Turkestana i drugih vostošnyh musul'man-tjurkov za nacional'noe bytie i sohranenie kul'tyry, Vol 1 (Ufa: Kitap, 1994), pp 34-35.
56. er juin 1996, Institut français d'études sur l'Asie centrale, Centre de projets et d'études en sciences humaines, Académie des sciences du Tatarstan, Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1997), pp 65-71.
57. This was related to us by a traditional otin-oyi, Guzal, aged 63, who spoke of her memories of meetings held by her grandmother. Personal interview, Bukhara, August, 1999.
58. Z. M. Mar'ufov (ed.), Üzbek tilining izohli lughati (Moscow: Ikki tomli, Rus tili našrijoti, 1981)
59. S. Sattor, Üzbek udumlari (Tashkent: Fan, 1993)
60. M. A. Usmanov, Islom spavočnigi (Üzbek sovet énciklopediasi, Tashkent, Fan, 1989).
61. M. Szuppe, 'The female intellectual milieu in Timurid and post Timurid Herât: Faxri Heravi's biography of poetesses, "Javâher al 'Ajayeb'", Oriente Moderno, Vol 15, No 2, 1996, pp 119-137.
62. In his book named Ash''ori nivsan (Women's poetry) published in 1914, Ibrahim Davron, an Uzbek poet from Kokand, who collected various poems of 22 women of his native town, pointed out that most of them came from a popular milieu. Cited by T. Jalolov, Üzbek shoiralari (Tashkent: Ghafur Ghulam, 1980), p 131.
63. According to the traditional otin-oyi interviewed, the number of pupils was limited to female family members and a few neighbours, but rarely exceeded five.
64. Personal interview, Marghilan, 1998.
65. Personal interview, Bogholon (Khorezm), 1999.
66. Several women in our sample claimed they had become believers and had acquired their religious function after a mystical dream during which they received spiritual initiation. This encounter with spirits is characteristic of the mystical path, as well as of Central Asian shamanism.
67. Personal interview, Tashkent, 1995.
68. At the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century, Jadids felt that the books used in the unreformed maktab and that certain collective women's religious practices were products of obscurantism. See, for example, Tavallo, 'Xotin-qizlarimiz oradalindagi bida 'atlar xusinda', Ravnaqul islom, Vol 1, 1917, pp 28-29.
69. On the djadidism, sea D. Alimova, (ed.), Džadidizmv Srednej Azii, Puti obnovlenija, reformy, bor'ba za nezavisimost'(Tashkent: Uzbekistan, 2000)
70. S. Dudoignon (ed.), 'Le réformisme musulman en Asie centrale, Du "premier renouveau" à la soviétisation, 1788-1937', Cahiers du monde russe, Vol 37, No 1-2, 1996
71. A. Khalid, The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reforms. Jadidism in Central Asia (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998).
72. Indo-Persian Poet (1644-1720).
73. One of the greatest mystical poets of the Persian language, born in Balkh in the Khorassan in 1207, died in Anatolia, in 1273, the site of his tomb.
74. One of the greatest Persian lyrical poets, born in Shiraz in the first half of the fourteenth century, died in 1389.
75. Poet (1641-1711) born in Namangan, died in Balkh.
76. Sufi Allayar (1644-1724) was born Katakurgan, near Samarkand. This dervish was tax collector in the court of the emir Abd-al-Aziz, then devoted himself to Sufism, leaving behind many poems which remain very popular to this day.
77. Poet (1441-1501) born in Herat. See A. Erkinov, 'Les manuscrits du Khamsa de 'Alî Shir Navâ'i et la vie culturelle du khanat de Boukhara sous les Mangits', Cahiers d'Asie centrale, 'Boukhara-la-Noble', Vol 5-6, 1998, pp 169-180.
78. Personal interview, Tashkent, 1995.
79. In 1995, in the religious milieu, some 'wahhabi' groups contend that Muslims of Central Asia must pray in the manner of the Saudi Muslims, namely according to Hanbali rites. This goes against local customs, which are based on the Hanafite school.
80. These are the main questions posed in the beginning of 1995 in writing on little pieces of paper so as to maintain anonymity and then given to an otin-oyi during one of her sermons gathering several women in a mosque in Tashkent (da'wa). These women's sermons ceased after the government cracked down on what it perceived as Islamic extremism starting in 1995, when the illegal activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Party of Liberation) began to come to light. Some radical otin-oyi have been arrested. From then on in Uzbekistan all otin-oyi were required to have a certificate in order to devote themselves to any religious activity.
81. O. A. Suhareva, Islam v Uzbekistane (Tashkent: AN UZ SSSR, 1960), pp 22-23.
82. On that question, see H. Fathi, 'L'institution et le genre en islam, l'expérience des musulmanes tatares de Russie', Oriente Moderno, Vol 21(82), No 2, 2002, pp 379-413.
83. 'Xotinlar qozi büla oladami?', Turkistan Viloyatning Gazeti, 5 July 1912.