Islam and the Russian Empire: Reform and Revolution in Central Asia

The history of modern Central Asia is of growing importance because of the Muslim role in Soviet society and the influence of the Muslim population on the Soviet Union's relations with other Muslim countries. Focusing on the state of Bukhara, this book deals with the conflict between the central authority of the Russian empire and its Muslim regions before, during, and immediately after the Russian Revolution.

After the Crimean War, a Muslim reformist movement developed among the Bukharan intelligentsia who, in time, threw in their lot with the Bolshevik revolutionaries. With the success of the Bolshevik Revolution, however, the Muslim reform movement was both absorbed and contained by it.

This rich account of the politics and administration of the state of Bukhara and its religious life fills an important gap in our understanding of the Muslim question in the Soviet Union today.