How the USSR’s effort to destroy Islam created a generation of radicals

[Valar Dohaeris]

In 1929, Soviet leader Mikhail Kalinin laid out his vision for Central Asia: "teaching the people of the Kirgiz Steppe, the small Uzbek cotton grower, and the Turkmenian gardener the ideals of the Leningrad worker."

It was a tall order, especially when it came to religion. About 90 percent of the population there was Muslim, but atheism was the state religion of the USSR. So in the early 1920s, the Soviet government effectively banned Islam in Central Asia. Books written in Arabic were burned, and Muslims weren't allowed to hold office. Koranic tribunals and schools were shuttered, and conducting Muslim rituals became almost impossible. In 1912, there were about 26,000 mosques in Central Asia. By 1941, there were just 1,000.

Rather than stamp out Islam, though, efforts to stifle Islam only radicalized believers. It's a trend that's played out again and again over the past century, and one that could have dire consequences in the war on terror. Today, Central Asian Muslims are radicalizing at alarming rates. Thousands have flocked to the Islamic State, and Turkish media reports suggest that the suspect who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub last week was an ethnic Uighur from Kyrgyzstan.

In the 1930s, the Soviet move against Islam silenced moderate imams and leaders. But fundamentalist leaders privately began to woo followers. One of the best known was Shami-damulla, an Uzbek with ultra-conservative views of Islam. He was jailed in 1932, but he left behind scores of disciples who preached his hard-line beliefs in makeshift mosques and at underground schools. When Joseph Stalin relaxed the Soviet Union's stance on official religion in the 1940s, it was this group of spiritual leaders who were poised to take control of the state-run, public governing bodies.

They did, and by the '70s Islam had made a comeback in much of Central Asia. Holidays Ramadan and the spring New Year of Novruz were celebrated publicly. Tea houses doubled as mosques.

In the 1980s, fundamentalists were further bolstered by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which turned many Central Asians against the USSR, and by the weakening of travel restrictions, which brought a freer flow of information and people from the Middle East.

By the time the Soviet Union fell, radical Muslims had built out strong networks, allowing them to take on the fledgling governments of their newly formed countries. In 1991, a group of militants took control of the former Communist Party building in an Uzbek city, demanding the establishment of an explicitly religious state in which sharia law was implemented and children were separated by gender in schools. In 1992, those same militants took local authorities hostage. In another part of the country, then-President Islam Karimov faced down thousands of Islamist demonstrators calling for a more accountable government.

Karimov and the region's other leaders quickly decided to crack down. Pious Muslims were a threat to their regimes, and these autocrats used Soviet-style tools to keep the faith under political control. Now state committees regulate religious expression, censor literature and ban activities and groups that don't conform to their tastes. Muslims in Central Asia can be punished for talking about religion outside of a mosque or carrying an unauthorized Koran. Thousands of Muslims have been tortured and imprisoned in the region for exercising their religious freedom, according to Human Rights Watch.

In Kyrgyzstan, preachers' sermons must be vetted before delivery. Uzbekistan has even banned beards, outlawed Islamic dress and shuttered halal restaurants.

This oppression has once again pushed mainstream Muslims underground and into the arms of radicals. Today, the International Crisis Group, a conflict-monitoring NGO, estimates that between 2,000 and 4,000 people in Central Asia have become radicalized. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan has partnered with the Taliban and other groups, fought against coalition troops in Afghanistan and carried out attacks in Pakistan. Recently, the police in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, had a public shootout with alleged Islamic State fighters, killing six and wounding seven more.

Even government leaders are not immune. Last year, the head of Tajikistan's elite police force defected to the Islamic State. In a video posted to YouTube, he called the government "dogs" — and promised to bring jihad to Russia and the United States

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...eneration-of-radicals/?utm_term=.058da31e0348

 

[Kompromat]

More like how USSR’s war on Islam destroyed the USSR.

 

[AUz]

More like how USSR’s war on Islam destroyed the USSR.

Today, 90% of Central Asia is Muslim and hell, according to projections by PEW, by 2050--almost 1/5 of Russia will follow Islam as well. There are states within Russia that have "Shariah" as their de facto official law code for state affairs (Thanks to Putin's effort to defang separatists).

I bet most of Islam hating hindus and christians (who see Putin as God's warrior) don't know of these facts on the ground

 

[The Eagle]

Seems like someone is blaming other for the problem which itself caused as being part of the same scheme during cold war by firstly arming them and then abandoned and labeled as terrorists. USSR tried to destroy Islam and turned into Russia then it is message for others as well that who are working hard on the same scheme.

Washington post....

 

[ashok mourya]

Russia did killed lot of Muslims in Azerbaijan,Chechnya, Afghanistan and now Syria.

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

More like how USSR’s war on Islam destroyed the USSR.

Seems like someone is blaming other for the problem which itself caused as being part of the same scheme during cold war by firstly arming them and then abandoned and labeled as terrorists. USSR tried to destroy Islam and turned into Russia then it is message for others as well that who are working hard on the same scheme.

Today, 90% of Central Asia is Muslim and hell, according to projections by PEW, by 2050--almost 1/5 of Russia will follow Islam as well. There are states within Russia that have "Shariah" as their de facto official law code for state affairs (Thanks to Putin's effort to defang separatists).

I bet most of Islam hating hindus and christians (who see Putin as God's warrior) don't know of these facts on the ground

Indeed the article seems like typical american media bashing Soviets for the same kind of problem which they have been creating themselves as a solution to almost every problem.

But, here I would like to post a question which may seem irrelevant.

What is going to be the future in the long run of those Muslim states, specially the one in Central Asia, where the governments are some sort totalitarian authorities of any form ?
Where the transfer of power lacks any sort of transparent mechanism ?
As we can see this is apparently one of the biggest reasons of current chaos in ME countries ?

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

More like how USSR’s war on Islam destroyed the USSR.

USSR was destroyed by its inability to compete with the West during the Cold War.
It had to spend more and more on defense to keep up, resulting in a state of bankrupcy.
The defeat in Afghanistan was financed by the US.
When USSR broke up, the Chechens managed to free themselves, and then continued
to use that freedom to attack Russia, and then lost their freedom as a result.
Not very smart...

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

USSR was destroyed by its inability to compete with the West during the Cold War.
It had to spend more and more on defense to keep up, resulting in a state of bankrupcy.
The defeat in Afghanistan was financed by the US.
When USSR broke up, the Chechens managed to free themselves, and then continued
to use that freedom to attack Russia, and then lost their freedom as a result.
Not very smart...

Why not west was able to defeat soviets before Afghanistan, instead, it was USSR who kept humiliating west through all the cold war.

 

[vostok]

The Soviet Union was at war with the Islamists in Afghanistan, thereby to prevent the spread of radical jihadism, sponsored by the West. USSR destroyed the plans for global destabilization and radicalization of the Muslim countries. But, West still came back to this plan - Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq ...
The Soviet Union, and now Russia - the only friend of normal Muslims. West - sponsor of Islamic terrorism.

 

[GR!FF!N]

Only thing that is dumber than communists are radical muslims.

Truth hurts,but some times it needs to be told.

Show me one instance where radical islam brought any kind of prosperity.

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

Why not west was able to defeat soviets before Afghanistan, instead, it was USSR who kept humiliating west through all the cold war.

It was Ronald Reagan's administration (1981-89) which sped up the competition.

The destruction of USSR was administred by the Russians.
Gorbatjov tried to reform the economy and open up the society.
This resulted in a military coup, which was stopped by Russians led by Boris Yeltsin.
Yeltsin then announced that Russia would withdraw from the USSR - Game Over.
Afghanistan and Islam was not involved in that process.
The credibility of the Red Army was not high, but that was all because of US support.
The Mujahedin did not do so well before the US support commenced.

USSR kept humiliating the Warsaw Pact members by invading them,
whenever they wanted basic human rights.
As soon as they got a chance, they changed allegiance to the West and NATO.
Who got the last laugh?

 

[Kompromat]

They were at war with Islam and Muslims, they burned our villages, men, children and the elderly. There are recorded accounts of Soviet soldiers shooting Muslim Afghan children for sport. USSR always lusted after the geography and resources. Please spare me this self defeating bullshit of USSR being a force for good. We fought it with hundreds of thousands of people killed and we buried the red plague there.

The Soviet Union was at war with the Islamists in Afghanistan, thereby to prevent the spread of radical jihadism, sponsored by the West. USSR destroyed the plans for global destabilization and radicalization of the Muslim countries. But, West still came back to this plan - Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq ...
The Soviet Union, and now Russia - the only friend of normal Muslims. West - sponsor of Islamic terrorism.

 

[somebozo]

USSR unwanted war on Islam and obsession with atheism created a pool of mercenaries willing to be hired guns against their own land and condemned USSR into the dustbin of history!

 

[vostok]

They were at war with Islam and Muslims, they burned our villages, men, children and the elderly. There are recorded accounts of Soviet soldiers shooting Muslim Afghan children for sport. USSR always lusted after the geography and resources. Please spare me this self defeating bullshit of USSR being a force for good. We fought it with hundreds of thousands of people killed and we buried the red plague there.

The USSR was an ally of socialist Arab Muslim countries - Libya, Syria, Iraq, Egypt. USSR supported the Muslim Palestinian struggle for liberation.
USSR defended many Muslim countries from invading of the West and jihadists. And in Afghanistan, we also protect normal Muslims from mad jihadists, who was created by the West to destroy the normal Muslims.

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

It was Ronald Reagan's administration (1981-89) which sped up the competition.

The destruction of USSR was administred by the Russians.
Gorbatjov tried to reform the economy and open up the society.
This resulted in a military coup, which was stopped by Russians led by Boris Yeltsin.
Yeltsin then announced that Russia would withdraw from the USSR - Game Over.
Afghanistan and Islam was not involved in that process.
The credibility of the Red Army was not high, but that was all because of US support.
The Mujahedin did not do so well before the US support commenced.

USSR kept humiliating the Warsaw Pact members by invading them,
whenever they wanted basic human rights.
As soon as they got a chance, they changed allegiance to the West and NATO.
Who got the last laugh?

Would you care to mention the dates of all the above events you stated ?
How many instance of the world you recall where economic collapse and political unrest ended up in defragmentation of the federations ?

And, before the Mujahideen, what US was achieving in its fight against USSR and where ?

The USSR was an ally of socialist Arab Muslim countries - Libya, Syria, Iraq, Egypt. USSR supported the Muslim Palestinian struggle for liberation.

USA was ally of greater number of Muslim states and more influential and stronger ones.
USSR did more damage than good to every Muslim state. Same goes for uncle same.