Contribution of Islam in Shaping the Socio-Cultural and National Identity of the Central Asian States

Abstract

"Religion is opium for people" was the Bolshevik slogan during Soviet period . In reality, Islam was one of the basic ideological enemies against the idea of Communism in Central Asia. Therefore, the period between 1920s-30s was of the ‘The Rule of Terror’ which launched suppression against religion including Islam. As a result of this suppression many Islamic leaders, many Sufi Qamil Murshids, masters and followers were killed, number of mosques were demolished; Muslim Madarasas and Maqtabs etc. were destroyed. The objective of the suppression by the Soviet leaders was to replace the Islamic ideology with communist ideology from the minds of the people of Central Asia.