girls have routinely performed an integral part in Islam all through crucial Asia - the substantial zone from the Caspian Sea to Siberia. With this ground-breaking and unique research, Razia Sultanova examines the reports of Muslim girls within the sector and the ways that faith has formed their day-by-day lives and keeps to take action this present day. 'From Shamanism to Sufism' explores the basic interaction among spiritual trust and the cultural historical past of song and dance and is the 1st publication to concentration quite at the position of ladies.

Based on facts derived from over fifteen years of box paintings, 'From Shamanism to Sufism' exhibits how girls saved alive conventional Islamic non secular tradition in principal Asia, specifically via Shamanism and Sufism, even below Soviet rule whilst all faith used to be banned. Nowhere was once the function of ladies extra vital than within the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan, the cradle of woman Islamic tradition and a centre for women’s poetry and song. This region is domestic to the ‘Otin-Oy’, a sisterhood of religiously informed girls and contributors of Sufi orders, who take a number one half in rituals, marking the pivotal moments within the Islamic calendar and preserving spiritual practices via song and formality dances. Sultanova exhibits how the perform of Islam in Uzbekistan has developed over the years: lengthy underground, there has been a spiritual resurgence at independence in 1991, boosting nationwide Uzbek identification and nationalism - 500 new mosques have been outfitted - basically to be by means of a go back to persecution by way of a repressive nation below the banner of the ‘war opposed to terror’. Now occasions have come complete circle, and once more covert worship through girls is still the most important to the survival of conventional Muslim tradition.

Ritual and track are on the middle of important Asian and Islamic tradition, not just at weddings and funerals yet in all features of lifestyle. via her in-depth research of those features of cultural existence inside of principal Asian society, 'From Shamanism to Sufism' deals very important insights into the lives of the societies within the area. The function of girls has usually been ignored in stories of non secular tradition and this ebook fills a massive hole, restoring ladies to their rightful old and cultural context. will probably be crucial interpreting for somebody with a significant curiosity within the background or faith of primary Asia or in international Islam..