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Buehler, Arthur. Sufi Heirs o f the Prophet. The Indian Naqshbadiyya and the Rise o f the Mediating Sufi
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112 Buehler, Arthur. Sufi Heirs o f the Prophet. The Indian Naqshbadiyya and the Rise o f the Mediating Sufi Shayk. Columbia: University o f South Caroline Press, 1998.p. XVII. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 141 Upon adoption of Islam, funerals and memorial feasts among the nomadic Kyrgyz required the participation of a mullah or imam to carry out certain religious rites. Mullahs earned most of their living by offering their religious service at funerals and memorial feasts as well as by practicing healing through Quranic recitations and making protective charms, tumar. In other words, the people spoiled their mullahs with gifts and animals and they became used to receiving payment in different forms. We find the following lines from the above-mentioned Memorial Feast for Kokotoy Khan when Bokmurun offers his father’s ash: Moldolor diiniiyo boliishup, Oshondo da talaship 113
Mushtaship juriip olushiip. The mullahs divide the treasure [gifts] And even then they fight; They fight so much they kill each other. According to recent studies on Sufism among the Kyrgyz, there were two groups of Sufis called “ak taki'yaluular” and “kara taki'yaluular,114 “those with a white cap” and “those with a black cap.” It is said that these two groups of Sufis fought against each other and created religious confusion among the nomadic Kyrgyz. It is said that the Kyrgyz belonged to the white-capped ones.115
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 142 There are many popular proverbs and sayings about the Muslim clergy among the Central Asians. Some of these proverbs are quite clear in meaning, but some of them require an explanation of their social context. These sayings attest to the fact that Muslim clergy generally had a negative reputation among the people. The saying, Moldonun
a mullah tells people to do good things, but he himself does bad or inappropriate things which are against Shari’a. Another popular Central Asian saying goes Olongdiiu jerde
in different forms at each funeral where he recites the janaza prayer for the dead. Ishengen kojong suuga aksa, aldi-aldingdan tal karma, “If your most trusted khoja is carried away by a river, then you should all grab onto a willow tree.” This means that one should not rely on a khoja all the time, but rely on oneself. The presence of many Sufi religious terms demonstrate that Islam came to the nomadic Kazakhs and Kyrgyz through Sufi dervishes from sedentary regions of Central Asia. They transmitted basic religious knowledge and wisdom of the Prophet Muhammad in oral form mostly through poetry. Since oral poetry was highly valued among the nomadic Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, their poets incorporated new Sufi/Persian poetic genre san’at-nasihat ( terme.116 The development of the nasihat poetry is said to be related with the “Quranic principle that supports the moral autonomy of the individual” who can give “sincere advice (nasihah),
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 143 which entitles everyone to advise and to alert a fellow citizen, including the head of the state and his officials.”117 This group of poets wrote and composed wisdom poetry,
ideas and values.118 The literary development of this poetic genre, which became very popular during the spread of Islam and Sufism in Central Asia in the 18-19th century, remains largely unexplored by scholars. Most of the recent publications of Kyrgyz scholars on this genre contain mostly collections of sanat-nasiyat poetry or kazals with very little comparative analysis. Soviet scholars named this group of poets zamanachi aki'ndar, because they wrote and sang about changing times, mainly referring to the Russian colonial rule in the 18th and 19th centuries. They composed philosophical and religious songs about life in this and the other worlds and gave reasons for natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. These poets and their kazal poetry prove that they were also influenced by the 19th century Muslim reformist movements, which were taking place in other parts of the Muslim world.119 There are many pious Muslim figures and Sufi saints whom the Central Asians hold sacred. An important religious figure in Islam is a man named al-Khidr, whose image became popular among the Central Asian Muslim nomads. The Kyrgyz have a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 144 saying or wish, Jolung shi'dir bolsun, joldoshung Kidir bolsunl which means “May your road be smooth and your companion be Kidirl” This is said for those who set out on a long journey. According to Cornell, even though in Islam Muhammad is the final Prophet, it was believed that “divine inspiration could remain accessible to believers even after Muhammad’s death.”120 In Islam that divine inspiration is symbolized by the figure of al-Khidr (The Green One), who is described as “an unnamed servant of God and companion of the Prophet Musa (Moses).”121 We also find the strong presence of Sufism, and saints like al-Khidr in the Kyrgyz epic Manas. In one of the main versions sung by the well-known singer Sayakbay Karalaev (1894-1971), the singer describes Manas’ ancestors, and associates their greatness and merit with Sufi holy men. His forefathers were all khans, Blessed by Kidir from the beginning, His ancestors were all khans, Blessed by Kidir from the beginning. In places where they had stayed overnight Sacred shrines were built, for God had blessed them from the beginning. In the places where they had passed by A city with a bazaar was established, for God had blessed them from the beginning. They had exchanged greetings with twenty Sufi masters, Learned writing from a caliph, And they thus were called great “sahibs.”122 Many Russian travelers and ethnographers, including the native Kazakh ethnographer Chokan Valikahanov, who collected ethnographic materials from the nomadic Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, all pointed out the fact that Islam did not play a significant role in their everyday lives. People were aware of some rules of Islamic Shari’a, but they 120 Kamali, Mohammad Hashim, p. 66. 121 Op.cit. 122 Manas, Kirgiz elinin baatirdik eposu. Version by Sayakbay Karalaev, Vol. 1, Bishkek: Ki'rgi'zstan, 1995, p. 22. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 145 most often did not observe them. Although they considered themselves Muslim by the 18th and 19th centuries, their religious or spiritual practices and rituals often had nothing to do with Islam. However, Privratsky is very skeptical of Valikhanov’s treatment of his Kazakh people’s religion as “survivals of shamanism” or “nature religion.”123 As Privratsky notes, Yalikhanov was trained in the Russian academy and thus very much influenced by Enlightenment ideas of the 19th century and coming from this background, Yalikhanov purposeflly ignored the Islamic elements of Kazakh culture and chose to speak only about pre-Islamic religious beliefs and practices. Similarly, native post-Soviet scholarship tends to undermine the significance of Islam in Kyrgyz history and culture. As Devin DeWeese notes, because of many pre- Islamic/”shamanic” religious beliefs and practices, many of which still persist among the contemporary Central Asian Turkic Muslims, Central Asian scholars and elite have “ignored or dismissed or underestimated the Islamic component of their ‘national’ culture in an effort to highlight the specifically ‘Turkic’ or, for example Qi'rghiz [Kyrgyz], component of the civilization of which they are the current bearers.”124 In Chapter 6, I will discuss the issue of why most native scholars and intellectuals ignore or underestimate the Islamic component of their Kyrgyz or Turkic national heritage. In Muslim Turkestan: Kazakh Religion and Collective Memory, Bruce Privratsky examines the degree of Kazakh “Muslimness” by offering detailed analyses of the Kazakh version of Islamic/Sufi religious values in the city of Turkistan. Many Central
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 146 Asians consider Turkistan a “Second Mecca,”125 because the well-known 13th century Sufi saint, Qoja Ahmad Yasawi, was bom and buried there. Privratsky did extensive fieldwork research primarily among the Turkestani khojas, but he applies his findings to all Kazakhs. He uses his theory of “collective memory” and asserts that almost all religious beliefs, values, customs, and practices, which have been claimed before as native Kazakh (or shamanic) in fact come from Islam or Sufism. Privratsky concludes: “Kazakh religion is a collective memory in two ways. First, it commemorates the Kazak ancestors as a Muslim people. Secondly, it depends on the social memory of family and friendship networks eating together.”126 However, he goes too far in his attempt to prove that all current religious behaviors and beliefs of Kazakhs are rooted in Islamic or Sufi traditions and practices. For example, he suggests that the “cultural origin” of the popular Kazakh (and Kyrgyz) term of endearment “Aynalayin (Kazak)/aylanayin (Kyrgyz),” i.e., “I will turn around you (in an act of self-sacrifice),” which is used mostly by the elderly towards the young, is related with “the self giving devotion to the saint and his memory” and with the Sufi practice of dzikr where the dervishes whirl in remembrance of God.127 It needs to be added that aylanayin is the most endearing term used in Kazakh and Kyrgyz languages, but there are many other similar terms that are used interchangeably with it. These terms also describe different physical movements of a person. As Privratsky notes correctly, the term aylanayin “invokes the memory of a healing rite” of a 1 9 8 shaman in Inner Asia. In this practice where a shaman circled (aylan-) around the yurt in which a sick person or child was placed. Other popular Kyrgyz terms of endearment 125 Ibid., p. 3. 126 Ibid, p. 149. 127 Ibid., p.32. 128
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 147 that are similar to aylanayin are kagilayin (kak- to shake off; kagil- to shake oneself) and sogulayin (sok- to hit; sogul- to hit oneself against something [the ground]). Sufi dervishes do not perform such movements, but a shaman does. Privratsky concentrates his analysis mostly on Islamic elements of Kazakh religious practices, but ignores the un- Islamic or native elements, for example in the healing rites. He is right that the rite of dem salu (“putting” the breath into the body of the sick person) by a mullah is a common 170
practice among the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. However, he does not describe fully the rite of joyuu (from joy- to eliminate [bad spirits]), which is done when a bad spirit enters the body. Kyrgyz and Kazakhs say kirne kirdi, which Privratsky translates as “inserts.”130 Joyuu is very common among the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz and is usually done by a bakshi', healer who uses kiil (ash) as main ingredient in cleansing the spirit of the sick. Professional or powerful healers usually begin yawning constantly when they are around a person or child who is not feeling well.131 What makes Central/Inner Asian Islam distinct from other Muslim communities in the world is this “ancestral complex” which persisted and still persists “most strongly 1XJ after the adoption of Islam.” Often, ordinary Kyrgyz do not and cannot distinguish which of their religious activities are Islamic and which are non-Islamic. This is because 129 Ibid., p. 195. 130 Ibid., p. 205. 131 When I was growing up in the mountains, we did not have a healer, so my grandmother would eliminate the bad spirits from my body whenever I felt sick. Like a baksh'i, she would take a cup of ash, cover it with a piece o f cloth and begin her healing by moving her hand in which she held the cup o f ash in a circular motion above my head, then she would move to my shoulders, back, chest, arms and legs and saying: Merlin kolum ernes Umay enenin kolu. Chik! Chik! Chik! It-mishiktarga bar, uuru-kaskilerge bar, jaman orustarga bar! Menin balamda emneng bar?! “These are not my hands but Umay131 the Mother. Get out! Get out! Get out! Go to the cats and dogs, go to the thieves and hooligans, and to the evil Russians! What are you doing in my child’s body?!” I think this kind o f healing has a psychological effect on the sick person. I would feel better after my grandmother’s healing. 132 Ibid., p. 41. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 148 Islamic ideas became conceptualized and deeply integrated into the local religious values and rituals. Kyrgyz strongly believe it is their sacred duty as Kyrgyz to recite or dedicate the Quran to honor their deceased ancestor(s). In other words, the ancestral spirits became “Islamized.” DeWeese questionis the validity of a one directional way of viewing the “Islamization” of Central Asian nomads. We must acknowledge first off that the process signified by the unfortunate inelegant term “Islamization” is in reality a dual process that necessarily works in two different directions: on the one hand the introduction of Islamic patterns into Inner Asia involves the “imposition” of Islamic norms in a new setting, an alien environment; on the other hand, the nativization of Islamic patterns involves their incorporation and assimilation into indigenous modes of thought and action.133 Central Asian Muslims recite Quranic prayers in Arabic (often without knowing what they really mean), and dedicate these holy verses to the spirit of their deceased parent(s), sibling(s), relatives, and ancestors in general. At the end of a Quranic recitation, the Kyrgyz say: Atam Kdchumkuldun/(dtkdn-kertkenderdin) arbagina/soobuna
Kochiimkul (or to all those [people] who have passed away/departed from this world.”) It is important to point out that when we say “ancestor veneration” it does not only imply one particular ancestor, but also close and distant deceased family members. People believe in the ancestral spirit’s strong power to bring misfortune to an individual, family or community if the ancestors are not remembered, respected, and offered the proper memorial feasts (beyshembilik, kirqi, j'ildik, ash discussed in Chapter 5) and rituals accompanied by a recitation from the Quran. One of the common 133 Ibid., p. 51. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 149 traditional curses among the Kyrgyz is Arbak ursun!/Arbak urgur!,m “May the deceased’s spirit hit (curse) him/her/you!” Another saying is Kuday urgan ongolot, arbak
in life), but one who is cursed by a (an ancestral) spirit will never recover (his bad deed will not be forgiven),” demonstrating that nomadic Kyrgyz believed in the spiritual power of the ancestors or deceased family member. Therefore, most Kyrgyz do not feel guilty if they do not pray five times a day or do not fast during the holy month of Ramadan. But they fear God, (Arabic Allah, or Persian Quday) and the ata-babalardin arbag'i (ancestral spirit) and feel compelled to carry out periodic offerings of various forms by sacrificing animals paying homage to their arbak(s). Thus, ancestral spirits have an equal, not lesser, power than God. DeWeese confirms this idea in his following statement: A natural and vital focus of such religious life, designed to maintain and promote life and well-being, falls naturally upon the Ancestors, who are the key to the community’s health and well-being as protectors not only of the family’s stock and lineage, but of its economic foundations as w e ll .. . More important, the ancestral spirits, are a central focus of the most common and most sacred religious practice among Inner Asian peoples; for the vast majority of individuals and communities, religious life lies primarily not in recourse to a shaman or “worship” of some deity, but in the periodic offerings to the ancestral spirits in the various forms, intended to preserve the health and continuity of the family and community.135 The majority of Kazakhs and Kyrgyz (and even some Uzbeks, who are said be to more devout Muslims) do not know the basic five pillars of Islam. People utter Persian and Arabic words for God i.e., Quday or Allah. They recite surahs and prayers from the
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