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Notes from Modogazi' Ziyaev’s lecture on “Ya-Sin Surah,” Bishkek, Islamic Institute, June 24, 2003
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- Chapter V: Kyrgyz Funeral Rites: “Islamic In Form, ‘Pagan’ In Content” Introduction
- 194 Bolot ake is the neighbor o f my parents, and he is retired and stays at home because o f his poor health
- 195 Chotonov, Ozubek Aj’i. Iymart sabagi (lyman Lesson). Bishkek: Technology Press Center, 2002. p. 229.
- Central Asia” which existed from 1943-1991) h as to conform to the state ideology.
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190 Notes from Modogazi' Ziyaev’s lecture on “Ya-Sin Surah,” Bishkek, Islamic Institute, June 24, 2003. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 188 wearing the hijab. She had always been a talkative woman, but after becoming “religious” she became even more talkative. She began preaching to me about Allah, hell and heaven, the first time she came to greet me. I noticed that all our relatives and people in her neighborhood avoided her. Just before I left for the States in the summer of 2005, my uncle was arrested for a second time; this time the court sentenced him to two years in jail. When my father visited him in jail, he was still holding strong onto his religious principles. This time, he grew his beard long. While he was in jail, his seventeen year old eldest daughter Giiljan married an Uzbek man in Jalal-Abad. For our relatives, this came as a shock. Later they found out that her father had given that man, who is also a HT, the permission to marry his daughter. He took Giiljan as a second wife. The man was married and had several children. Learning that the man was already married and that he is also an Uzbek, my aunts brought Giiljan back to the village. After about a month, she eloped or was kidnapped again, no one knows the truth and my relatives just gave up and kept cursing her. None of the traditional marriage ceremonies involving relatives and parents were done for her. In other words, Giiljan did not have her grandparents’ and other close relatives’ blessing before getting married. The last news from her was that her husband divorced her and sent her back to her parents in Kizil-Jar. However, my uncle and sister in-law do not seem to feel responsible for the unhappy life of their young daughter. Recently, I talked with my paternal aunt Sirga on the phone and she quoted Giiljan’s parents who said: “Oh, it is O.K. She will see what is written on her forehead by Allah Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
189 and will get married again to another [HT] man.” However, this kind of attitude with no shame and honor is not tolerated in our Ogotur clan and also in Kyrgyz culture in general.
In concluding the chapter we can say that Islam is part of Kyrgyz and Kazakh identity. Their Muslim identity, however, does not override their ethnic identity as Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. There are many un-Islamic traditions, customs, and socio-cultural values rooted in their nomadic heritage that makes the Kyrgyz real Kyrgyz and the Kazakhs real Kazakhs. Among many such important legacies of nomadic heritage are the funeral customs which have incorporated many Islamic and some Soviet/Russian funerary traditions, but yet preserved some of the main ancient rites and practices (see Chapter 5). As the Kyrgyz writer and journalist Choyun Omiiraliev notes correctly “when Islam [or Sufism] began spreading among the nomadic Kyrgyz it was tolerant of the local customs and beliefs. Before adopting Islam, Kyrgyz knew and believed in the existence of the one and only God called Tangri/Tengir (see Chapter 6). The Islam which is now being promoted in Central Asia by fundamentalist groups such as HT does not want to tolerate anything that is un-Islamic or pre-Islamic. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
190 Chapter V: Kyrgyz Funeral Rites: “Islamic In Form, ‘Pagan’ In Content” Introduction Now I have laid out what Islam means to contemporary Kyrgyz in the preceding chapter, I will proceed to illustrate how this Islam mixes and interferes with other traditions by giving a detailed account of one major custom that shows the interrelation clearly: the contemporary Kyrgyz funeral. Many important aspects of Kyrgyz funeral such as leaving a kereez, final words of the dying person, koshok, traditional lament songs and ash, offering of the memorial feast are closely related with oral tradition, and the only place to learn about them are the oral heroic epics which contain rich cultural information described from the native viewpoint. Therefore, I make extensive use of Kyrgyz oral epics to support my arguments. I will later be providing analysis and examples to show how the oral literature combines tradition and at the same time is a living and changing tradition. Funerals and the range of customs and rituals associated with them have always been a significant part of Kyrgyz social life. Since their adoption of Islam, the Kyrgyz incorporated many Muslim funerary traditions, but did so without replacing some of their core pre-Islamic funeral customs and rituals. In other words, the Kyrgyz have been modifying and adapting their traditional funeral customs to new religious changes and developments by incorporating Islamic elements, but preserving the essence of their native pre-Islamic beliefs, practices, and social values. From the viewpoint of orthodox Islam, this religious syncretism in Kyrgyz funerary traditions can be characterized as Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
191 being Islamic in form, but “pagan” in content. By saying Islamic in form, I refer to those external or formal elements such as Quranic recitations and Muslim ways of burial which the Kyrgyz adopted later, and by “pagan” (from the viewpoint of orthodox Islam), I refer to many of the existing rituals of Kyrgyz death customs which are imbedded in their pre- Islamic worldview. The official or formal part of the funeral involves the participation of an Islamic clergy, i.e., the imam or mullah who carries out specific funerary practices such as janaza and taziya, according to Shari’a or Muslim way. One of the important Muslim funerary rites is the frequent recitation from Quran before, during, and after the burial. Every time a new mourner pays a visit to the house of the deceased, a mullah or some other family member like an elderly man recites short excerpts from Quran. Every time a female visitor or group of women enters the funerary yurt and finishes crying and greeting the mourners, a man steps into the yurt and begins reciting Quran, a sign that the women should stop crying and singing lament songs. This act gives the utmost authority to Quran, which stands above all other Kyrgyz traditional values and funerary practices. However, the Kyrgyz people, especially women do not always obey this highest authority. In some cases, some of those so-called “un-Islamic” or “pagan” Kyrgyz rituals and practices overpower Quran. For example, at my grandfather’s funeral I observed several times that when a close female relative arrived, she simply ignored the recitation of Quran by a man and kept singing lament songs loudly. Many core rituals and customs associated with the funeral have deep roots in Kyrgyz nomadic culture, and due to this very recent historical connection, the essence of funeral customs seem to resist to the new demands and changes in time and society. In the past, both the Muslim clergy and the atheist Soviet/Communist regime opposed and Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
192 banned this tradition, but it was able to survive by modifying itself through adaptation and incorporation of new religious practices and ideas both from Islam and modem Soviet/Russian culture. The core rites of the funeral customs remain quite conservative unto this day. When I say the core of the tradition I refer to the key customs and rituals, representing the socio-cultural values and religious beliefs, which are closely associated with their nomadic culture. These main aspects are: carrying out the kereez, words of testament of the deceased, sending out kabar, bad news to the close and distant relatives and public in general, uguzuu (telling the family members and close relatives about the death), erecting of a yurt, boz iiy for the funeral, killing animals (mainly horses and sheep), traditional mourning etiquette for women and men regarding their “duties” at the funeral such as the singing of koshoks (or joktoo) lament songs (for women) and okurtiii, crying out loud (for men), receiving and accommodating the guests with a soyush, i.e., allocating sheep for groups of guests no more than twelve people in neighboring yurts/houses and serving the meat according to the age, gender, and the status of guests and, finally, the burial. Burial, however, does not mark the end of funeral and mourning. There follows all kinds of mini memorial feasts until the fortieth day memorial feast. Ash is the final and major memorial feast, which is offered after one year or whenever the family can afford to offer it. All of these aspects will be discussed in detail later. Different peoples in the world mourn their dead in different ways, but all cultures share common values in terms of carrying out death rites and memorial services. Like in Kyrgyz culture, in rural Greece, for example, death rites involve the sequence of memorial services called “Trisayio” referring to by the date of its occurrence: “stis tris” (at three days), “stis enia” (at nine days), and “stis saranda” (at forty days), “sto examino” Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
193 (at six months) and “stis hrono” (at one year). The forty day memorial, which is also known as “merasma,” i.e., “sharing or distribution, it is repeated one year after the death” is associated with the events in the life of Christ, during forty days after his resurrection. Christ appeared to his disciples many times until the fortieth day he ascended into Heaven.191 The food that is distributed at funerals and memorial services is believed to find its way to the dead.192 Kyrgyz funerals and rituals associated with them became the main focus of my research in my hometown. I had many interesting formal and informal interviews, conversations, debates, and discussions with local elders, Muslim clergy, and my paternal uncle Mirzakal, who is the active member of the radical Islamic group Hizb-ut Tahrir (HT). The funeral of my paternal grandfather, Kochkorbay and the memorial feast for my late paternal uncle Abdi'kerim were the most memorable events at which I personally experienced all the important rituals and practices of a Kyrgyz traditional funeral. As a grown-up female member of the family, I carried out my duties at their funeral and memorial feasts. As tradition required, I mourned their death by singing lament songs together with my other female cousins and aunts inside the yurt. As a participant- observer, I closely observed how other people inside and outside of the yurt interacted with each other as well as with those visitors who came to pay their last respects to the deceased and express their condolences to the mourners. At my grandfather's ki'rki, 193 fortieth day memorial and my uncle’s one-year memorial feast, jildik, with the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 194 permission of my great uncles, father, and grandmother, I videotaped some important parts of the main rituals without making my relatives too uncomfortable. Because I was a family member, no one seemed to object to my videotaping, especially when I explained the importance and value of this tradition in Kyrgyz society and thus also for my research. I had a long and interesting interview with Moldoshev Bolot, the former director of our Kizil-Jar sovkhoz, state farm.194 Below I present excerpts from our conversation about the Islamic revival in Kizil-Jar and how it is influencing people’s attitude towards Islam and to local funeral customs. In Kizil-Jar, people’s attitude towards religion [Islam] has increased in comparison to the Soviet period. During the Soviet period, it was prohibited to go to a mosque and pray five times a day. Lenin said in his time that every person has the freedom to believe or not to believe in religion. He also said that religion should be separate from the state. It is still so. When the perestroika began, even the ministers fasted during the month of Ramadan. Until today, many of them fast. Today, religious practices such as going to a mosque and praying are done by the free will of people, no one forbids praying. On the contrary, people are told openly to help mosques by donating money and other materials. During the time of Manas [semi-legendary Kyrgyz hero], Kyrgyz believed in God. However, today’s Islam did not exist at that time. During Chingiz Khan’s period, too, people practiced their own native religion. Since 639 AC, after the Prophet Muhammad, we accepted the religion of Islam. Islam became spread around the world. Many peoples and nations adopted Islam. Many people left Islam and converted to other religions for the sake of money. Many poor people and beggars do so. Our government allows religious practice as long as its politics do not interfere with theirs. 194 Bolot ake is the neighbor o f my parents, and he is retired and stays at home because o f his poor health conditions. Every time I visited my parents, I would see him sitting outside on the street bench eager to talk to people who were passing by. So, when I asked him whether he would be willing to tell me about the socio-economic history o f Kizil-Jar, and about the socio-cultural changes and developments that have been taking place since the Soviet collapse, he was very happy to share his knowledge and views with me. His young daughter-in-law kindly served us tea and sweets and we had a long four-hour interview, which he allowed me to tape-record. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 195 However, today mullahs are prohibiting some of our customs, especially those related to funeral rites. It is right that Quran prohibits the slaughtering of any animal and eating food for the first three days at the deceased house. It is said that offering of memorial feasts such as beyshembilik, kirkl', jildik, and ash bring economic harms and hardships to the poor people. However, people do not follow them, because these customs have penetrated too deep into their blood. I said to mullahs for several times: “If you forbid killing an animal and if it is written in Quran, when people serve you pilaf with a jilik, (sheep meat’s primal cut) why do you eat it?! If you are against it because Quran says so, why don’t you just refuse the meal; do your religious service to the deceased and stand aside without eating any food?!” Chongdor [big shots] are also to blame. If a big shot that holds a government position and if his relative dies, he kills one or two mares. Seeing them, do you think people would stop it? When Bekmamat Osmonov, the former governor of the province of Osh [southern Kyrgyzstan] had died, we went to pay our last respect to him. The entire village was assigned to accommodate the guests. One street was told to accept guests from the Aksi' region, the second from the Ala-Buka region, third from Bazar-Korgon, Nooken, etc. That is what I mean when I say that the big shots are responsible for promoting this kind of lavish events. At my grandfather’s kirki and uncle’s jildik, I witnessed a lot of confusion and frustration among my uncles and other townsmen who seem to have been lost in the “clash” between
their pre-Islamic religious beliefs
and practices and orthodox/fundamentalist Islamic ideas imposed from outside and by local members of the radical Islamic groups such as the Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Even though HT is a banned religious group in Kyrgyztsan, it local members continue to carry out their missionary work with Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
196 the goal to reform or purify the Kyrgyz Islam by cleansing it from all “un-Islamic” elements or bid’ah, religious innovations. Among purist Muslim clergy is Ozubek Aj'i Chotonov, who strongly opposes all the un-Islamic Kyrgyz customs, especially funerals rites and publishes booklets and articles on the problems of Kyrgyz Muslimness: No matter how wonderful our customs are, since we accepted musulmanchilik [muslimness], we must first find out whether our customs conform to our religion or not. Otherwise, any customary act, which does not conform to the religion, makes that person an infidel. Religion is the law, decree, or order, which came from God, and no one has the right to violate it.... Our standing with one of our foot in Islam and the other in idolatry does not bring us any dignity or kindness.195 The official and orthodox Islam, Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Kyrgyzstan,196 through fatwas, religious decrees and weekly TV program called Juma khutbas'i, also condemns many Kyrgyz traditional practices and beliefs, which do not correspond to Shari’a laws. Local Muslim activists, dawatchis (missionaries) are sent out to villages and towns all over the country Through the newspaper called “Islam Madaniyafi” (Islamic Culture), booklets and textbooks, Muslim clergy and theologians such as Ozubek Aj'i Chotonov publish articles on religious issues most of which deal with the Kyrgyz funerals. They try to explain the Kyrgyz people about what is right and wrong in their religious and funeral practices. Chotonov condemns Kyrgyz funeral rites as being irrelevant to Shari’ah and Muslim values: Among all other Muslim peoples and nations in the world, death is considered a normal and natural experience in life and funeral rites are carried out quite easily and in orderly form according to Shari’a rules . . .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 197 Customs such as waiting for a close relative, or looking for a fat mare or money and keeping the body for 3-4 days do not exist in any other nations other than Kazakhs and Kyrgyz....197 At my grandfather’s funeral and my uncle’s memorial feast, heated discussions took place between Kyrgyz men and women and several local Hizb-ut-Tahrir members who, among many other things, oppose all un-Islamic elements of Kyrgyz funeral customs. Sitting inside the yurt together with my grandmother and my aunts, I listened to the interesting dialogues between local Hizb-ut-Tahrir members, among them one of my uncles, and my great uncles who know their Kyrgyz form of Islam, but lack the textual religious knowledge of Quran. My father, as an educated man and historian who is quite knowledgeable both in Kyrgyz history and history of Islam, served as a “moderator” of the discussions. Sometimes, when visitors stopped coming, I stepped out of the yurt and joined the men’s discussions. The Hizb-ut-Tahrir members tried to use funerals to promote the ideas of their organization and to lecture the Kyrgyz on their un-Islamic customs and practices. My uncle Mirzakal insisted that his father should be buried immediately after his death and strongly opposed all the important customs and traditions of a Kyrgyz funeral, such as the erection of a yurt, slaughtering of a horse, singing of mourning songs by women, the loud crying of the men standing outside of the yurt, and many other un-Islamic rituals. However, the elders and women did not listen to him and carried out all the essential rituals according to the Kyrgyz way, because without these rituals the Kyrgyz funeral and the memorial feast would not be complete. Despite the explanations given by my uncle as well as by mullahs and imams, who base their arguments on the Quran and the Sharia’h, it was very hard for ordinary Kyrgyz to Download 2.95 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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