The post-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan is changing: new mosques are springing up all over the country, people are taking part in ritual Islamic prayers, and traditions that have been practiced up to now are changing. This book provides an ethnography that is unique in its breadth, explaining these and other changes as part of a growing religious infrastructure. Everything revolves around one resource: religious knowledge ilim. It focuses on the institutions and actors that have played a key role in the dissemination of religious knowledge since Kyrgyzstan's independence: Mosques, madrasas, religious foundations, imams and the transnational movement Tablighi Jamaat. The author sheds light on their institutional and social interdependencies and how they influence, shape and change the everyday lives of people in north-eastern Kyrgyzstan. The tension between normative theological interpretation and everyday practice shows how ilim becomes a moral resource for certain people in north-east Kyrgyzstan, which in turn causes socio-cultural change.

This book is included in DOAB.