Islam among the Turkmen of Stavtopol Krai and Astrakhan Oblast

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2019-47-3/222-234

Abstract

The article is devoted to the role of Islam in culture and social life of the Turkmen of southern Russia. The study is based on the author's field materials collected in 2007–2015 in the Stavropol and Astrakhan Regions. The ethnic group of the Russian Turkmen was formed in the XVII–XIX centuries and currently counts about 17,000 people. The Turkmen are Sunni Muslims, most of their customs and rituals are associated with Muslim prayers and symbolism. At the same time, the Turkmen are not among the zealous Muslims, in their spiritual culture there are folk customs and beliefs that are very superficially associated with Islam.
In the Soviet period, the Russian Turkmen maintained their religion, secretly carried out Islamic rites and rules, despite the anti-religious state policy. Currently, the religiousness of the Turkmen varies greatly, but almost all families hold major religious ceremonies. Mosques play the role of community centers, social life in the Turkmen settlements is closely intertwined with religious life, and the mullahs are local leaders and take part in self-government bodies.
Propaganda of fundamentalist Islam has not bypassed the Turkmen, as many regions of the North Caucasus. A peculiar situation has developed: young people have become involved in religion much more than old honored people, educated in the Soviet ideals. Residents of the Turkmen settlements and imams of mosques are trying to resist the spread of fundamentalist ideas. The situation is particularly difficult in the Stavropol Territory; so the regional administration is trying to control any cultural and religious activities on the ground, sometimes suspecting “Wahhabi sentiments” among quite loyal citizens, such as the Turkmen. It is important that the Turkmen are almost the only people of this region who, traditionally practicing Islam, retain complete loyalty to the Russian population and the Russian state.

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