Even honey may become bitter when there is too much of it: Islam and the struggle for a balanced existence in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan

Maria Louw

Central Asian Survey, 2013, vol. 32, issue 4, 514-526

Abstract: In Kyrgyzstan, as in the rest of Central Asia, recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Islam. What is perceived as a growing ‘religiosity’ is often seen as a symptom of post-Soviet chaos and excess, but people equally tend to see Islam as an important source of well-being, for themselves and for society as such. It is argued that a general feature of the Islam many Muslims strive for – and occasionally experience glimpses of – is one that expresses, embodies and enables a balanced existence: a balance between well-being in this world and in the afterlife; a balance between the acceptance of one's fate and the attempt to improve one's situation; or a balance between adherence to abstract dogmas and respect for local moralities.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1080/02634937.2013.862965

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