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Caspian Studies Program
Event Sponsored by the Caspian Studies Program and the Harvard Forum for Central Asian Studies
Summary by Brenda Shaffer
Olivier Roy, Senior Researcher at the Foundation of National des Sciences Politiques in Paris delivered a lecture on April 4, 2000 on Islamic movements in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Prof. Roy has conducted extensive field research in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran. He framed his examination of the Islamic movements in Central Asia and the Caucasus within the larger question of the nature of contemporary Islamic movements in South Asia and the Middle East.
Roy's main thesis was that since the 1970s, two major trends have emerged as part of Islamic militancy in the Muslim world: One is Islamo-nationalism. The other he termed International Salafiyism.
In terms of the first trend, Roy asserted that many of the mainstream Islamic movements have shifted from a struggle in the name of a supranational Muslim community into a kind of Islamic nationalism. These activists want to be fully recognized as legitimate actors on the domestic political scene, recognize the nation and the state and often identify with both, and have largely given up the supranational agenda that was part of their ideology. These Islamo-nationalist movements want the Shariat (Islamic law) to be taken into account, but they want it to be taken into account as part of state law. They recognize that there should be state institutions, such as a parliament and elections. These movements, according to Roy, usually recognize political diversity. They struggle to reshape nationalism in terms of Islam or the reverse, and tend to promote foreign policy objectives connected to their state, and not a wider Muslim agenda. Most of the Islamic movements, he claimed have been shaped by national particularities and their main agendas are within their state. In Central Asia, he referred to the Islamic Renaissance Party in Tajikistan as an Islamo-Nationalist party. Roy claimed that the Islamic movements in Central Asia work along the lines of the states that were inhabited from the Soviet period. Elsewhere, Roy referred to the FIS in Algeria, the Refah Movement in Turkey, and the Hezbullah in Lebanon.
The second trend mentioned by Prof Roy is the emergence of International Salafiyism. This group does not recognize the different schools of Islam: Hanafi, Hanbali and so on. According to Roy, many Islamic militants in Central Asia and Afghanistan refer to themselves as Salafiya. Many people who are erroneously called Wahhabi in Central Asia refer to themselves as Salafiya. As part of their official doctrine, the Salafiyis do not recognize or acknowledge interpretations of different schools of Islam that emerged, and strive for the establishment of Muslim life similar to that which prevailed according to their interpretation at the time of the Prophet.
Salafiyism is viewed antagonistically by many groups in Central Asia, Afghanistan and the Caucasus, due to its rejection of Sufism. Sufism is a prominent and popular form of Islam in the region, and it is viewed by Salafiyists as non-Islamic. Sufism is viewed in Central Asia and the Caucasus as a component of the traditional culture of the region, thus Salafiyists are viewed as a threat to many local forces due to their supranational agenda.
Prof. Roy discussed the topic of terming Islamic militants in Central Asia, "Wahhabi." He said that the term was first used by the British in the 19th century to described those Muslims who were involved in movements against the Sikhs or the so-called "Bad Muslims." He stated that in Chechnya or Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, or Uzbekistan, the term "Wahhabi" is used to characterize any kind of Islamic militant. According to Roy, nobody in Central Asia and the Caucasus calls himself a Wahhabi. It is a derogatory term to qualify somebody else. He suggested discarding the use by the official press, the official media, of the term Wahhabi when relating to Islamic activists.
Roy discussed the emergence ties between Muslims in Central Asia and the Caucasus and those in the Middle East since the Soviet breakup. He pointed out that people travel in both directions between these two areas, and that the connections now between Central Asia and the Caucasus with the rest of the Muslim world are strong and working. According to Roy, Central Asia and the Caucasus are no longer isolated from the Muslim world. Among their activities, they study abroad, especially in Pakistan, the Gulf, and Turkey. However, the volume of travel to and from Iran is still quite limited. When the militants of Central Asia were repressed or expelled or obliged to flee after the civil war in Tajikistan, for example, quite naturally they joined these networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thousands of Tajiks were hosted in northern Afghanistan, in camps. Some of these camps, not all of them, were under direct control of these radical networks, supported by Pakistani militants and founded by Saudi money. Hundreds of Uzbeks also joined these camps.
However, in Central Asia and the Caucasus, there is unique local culture, which is a specific brand and mixing of Islam and local cultures. According to Roy, the tribal connection does not exist in Central Asia. Tribalism is not an operative concept in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan, however is an influential form of identity in Afghanistan.
Professor Roy asserted that the supranational, radical, internationalist Islamic movements have no future because they don''t have history, and because they refuse to recognize themselves in a given culture. They even refuse to speak of culture. Islam is presented only as a religion with nothing additional to offer. In contrast, a different trend is emerging in the Muslim world, which recognizes the concept of culture. What is very interesting in Iran now is that discussions about culture have replaced discussions about Islam. This is very evident in the speeches of Iranian President Khatami, who rarely mentions Islam or religion, but mainly culture.