By tradition the Kazaks are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school, and the Russians are Russian Orthodox. In 1994, some 47 percent of the population was Muslim, 44 percent was Russian Orthodox, and 2 percent was Protestant, mainly Baptist. Some Jews, Catholics, and Pentacostalists also live in Kazakstan; a Roman Catholic diocese was established in 1991. As elsewhere in the newly independent Central Asian states, the subject of Islam's role in everyday life, and especially in politics, is a delicate one in Kazakstan. The words kazaks, kazak may be a transliteration from Russian language of Kazakhs, people of Kazakhstan Cossacks (Russian: kazak) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... This article appears to contradict itself. ... The Russian Orthodox Church (Русская Православная церковь) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... A Baptist is a member of a Baptist church. ... It has been suggested that Holiness-Pentecostal be merged into this article or section. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Central Asia is a region of Asia. ...

Islam in the Past

As part of the Central Asian population and the Turkic world, Kazaks are conscious of the role Islam plays in their identity, and there is strong public pressure to increase the role that faith plays in society. At the same time, the roots of Islam in many segments of Kazak society are not as deep as they are in neighboring countries. Many of the Kazak nomads, for instance, did not become Muslims until the eighteenth or even the nineteenth century, and urban Russified Kazaks, who by some counts constitute as much as 40 percent of the indigenous population, profess discomfort with some aspects of the religion even as they recognize it as part of their national heritage. Turkic peoples are Northern and Central Eurasian peoples who speak languages belonging to the Turkic family, and who, in varying degrees, share certain cultural and historical traits. ...

Soviet authorities attempted to encourage a controlled form of Islam as a unifying force in the Central Asian societies while at the same time stifling the expression of religious beliefs. Since independence, religious activity has increased significantly. Construction of mosques and religious schools has accelerated in the 1990s, with financial help from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt. Already in 1991, some 170 mosques were operating, more than half of them newly built; at that time, an estimated 230 Muslim communities were active in Kazakstan. Soviet redirects here. ... Mosque; Aswan, Egypt. ... The 1990s refers to the years 1990 to 1999; the last decade of the 20th Century, but in an economical sense The Nineties is often considered to span from the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to the September 11 attacks in 2001. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Islam and the State

In 1990 Nursultan Nazarbayev, then party first secretary, created a state basis for Islam by removing Kazakstan from the authority of the Muslim Board of Central Asia, the Soviet-approved and politically oriented religious administration for all of Central Asia. Instead, Nazarbayev created a separate muftiate, or religious authority, for Kazak Muslims. However, Nazarbayev's choice of Ratbek hadji Nysanbayev to be the first Kazak mufti proved an unpopular one. Accusing him of financial irregularities, religious mispractice, and collaboration with the Soviet and Kazakstani state security apparatus, a group of believers from the nationalist Alash political party attempted unsuccessfully to replace the mufti in December 1991. This article is about the year. ... Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев) (born July 6, 1940 in Chemolgan, Kazakhstan) is the current leader of Kazakhstan. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Alash is a nationalistic political party in Kazakhstan. ... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary December is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ...

With an eye toward the Islamic governments of nearby Iran and Afghanistan, the writers of the 1993 constitution specifically forbade religious political parties. The 1995 constitution forbids organizations that seek to stimulate racial, political, or religious discord, and imposes strict governmental control on foreign religious organizations. As did its predecessor, the 1995 constitution stipulates that Kazakstan is a secular state; thus, Kazakstan is the only Central Asian state whose constitution does not assign a special status to Islam. This position was based on the Nazarbayev government's foreign policy as much as on domestic considerations. Aware of the potential for investment from the Muslim countries of the Middle East, Nazarbayev visited Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia; at the same time, however, he preferred to cast Kazakstan as a bridge between the Muslim East and the Christian West. For example, he initially accepted only observer status in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), all of whose member nations are predominantly Muslim. The president's first trip to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, which did not occur until 1994, was part of an itinerary that also included a visit to Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. 1993 (MCMXCIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) involves ten Asian nations. ... This article is about the holy city in Saudi Arabia. ... Pope John Paul II (Latin, in full: Ioannes Paulus Papa II), born Karol Józef Wojtyła (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as pope of the Catholic Church for almost 27 years, from 16 October 1978, making his the second-longest pontificate (or the third-longest, as enumerated...

By the mid-1990s, Nazarbayev had begun occasionally to refer to Allah in his speeches, but he had not permitted any of the Islamic festivals to become public holidays, as they had elsewhere in Central Asia. However, certain pre-Islamic holidays such as the spring festival Navruz were reintroduced in 1995. Norouz (also spelled Norooz, Noruz, Naw-Rúz or Nowrouz) is the traditional Iranian festival of the New Year which starts at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spring. ...

See also

• Islam by country

Distribution of Islam Important note: There is currently no exact mechanism in place anywhere around the world for counting religious denomination membership with precision. ...

References

• This article incorporates public domain text from the Library of Congress Country Studies.