TCS: Tech Central Station - A Northern Strategy: "Taking off from the quote by Arben Xhaferi above, I would argue that a personal or private Islam is the dominant form of the faith, in a wide belt extending from the Balkans through Turkey to the countries of Central Asia. I have come to think of these as the 'northern tier Muslim countries,' and their form of religion as 'northern Islam.' As indicated by The Washington Post quote, Iran, notwithstanding its recent extremist history, also embodies comprehension, at least, of Islam as, potentially, a personal matter.
'Northern Islam' may even be somewhat inaccurate, in that a similar style of Islam was historically found in Pakistan -- before that country was assaulted by Saudi-funded extremists -- in India, and in Malaysia and Indonesia. Muslims from these countries refer to a 'Turko-Persian-Indian' Islamic tradition.
But are Muslims who keep their Islam private, even when they are the majority of a country's population -- 70 percent among Albanians, 88 percent in Uzbekistan, 90 to 99 percent in Turkey and Azerbaijan -- 'insincere' or 'nominal'?
That is a claim that many Western academics have made about northern tier Muslims. Everyone knows that Turkey is completely secularized. Bosnian and Albanian Muslims have often been described as adhering to 'Islam lite' because of their low rates of mosque attendance. In their case, what appears to be lack of religious enthusiasm is typically ascribed to the influence of Communism -- even though Albanians were and are provably the most anti-Communist nation in Europe. Unlike the Bosnians, who tended to embrace Communism as a representation of progress, Albanians viewed it as Slavic imperialism, nothing more, nothing less."
'Northern Islam' may even be somewhat inaccurate, in that a similar style of Islam was historically found in Pakistan -- before that country was assaulted by Saudi-funded extremists -- in India, and in Malaysia and Indonesia. Muslims from these countries refer to a 'Turko-Persian-Indian' Islamic tradition.
But are Muslims who keep their Islam private, even when they are the majority of a country's population -- 70 percent among Albanians, 88 percent in Uzbekistan, 90 to 99 percent in Turkey and Azerbaijan -- 'insincere' or 'nominal'?
That is a claim that many Western academics have made about northern tier Muslims. Everyone knows that Turkey is completely secularized. Bosnian and Albanian Muslims have often been described as adhering to 'Islam lite' because of their low rates of mosque attendance. In their case, what appears to be lack of religious enthusiasm is typically ascribed to the influence of Communism -- even though Albanians were and are provably the most anti-Communist nation in Europe. Unlike the Bosnians, who tended to embrace Communism as a representation of progress, Albanians viewed it as Slavic imperialism, nothing more, nothing less."
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