Religion in Kazakhstan: a look into the past, realities. What is the faith and religion in Kazakhstan

To the question what religion do the Kazakhs have? given by the author Natalya Titova the best answer is Kazakhs are Muslims of the Sunni religion of the Hanafi persuasion.
The spread of Islam on the territory of modern Kazakhstan was a process that lasted several centuries. At first, Islam penetrated into the southern regions. By the end of the 10th century. Islam established itself among the settled population in Semirechye and the Syr Darya. Islam became the religion of the Turkic Karakhanid Empire, which arose in Semirechye in the 10th century. A monument of that era is the work of Yusuf Balasagunsky (1015-1016) “Kudatgu bilik”, in which Muslim ideology was reflected.

In some areas Christianity successfully competed with Islam. Nestorianism, for example, gained recognition among the Naimans who migrated at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 12th century. XIII centuries from Central Asia to Eastern Kazakhstan and Semirechye. Naiman Khan Kuchluk even persecuted Muslims.
The spread of Islam was slowed down Mongol conquest, who brought new population groups (Turks and Mongols) with their traditional religion to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. However, during the Middle Ages, Islam steadily moved into the nomadic steppe, capturing new and new population groups.
Purposeful propaganda of Islam among nomads began under the Golden Horde Khan Berke (1255-66) and intensified under Uzbek (1312-40). Preachers of Islam went to the steppes from the Volga region and Central Asia, from different areas of the Muslim world. Among the missionaries there were many representatives of the Sufi clergy. A great contribution to the spread of Islam among the nomadic Turkic population of Southern Kazakhstan was made by the founder of the Sufi order Yasaviya, a native of the city of Sayram (Isfijab), Khoja Akhmet Yasawi (died in 1166-67 in Turkestan). His poems preached the greatness of God and the need for humility.
The conversion of the nomadic nobility to Islam did not mean that the Muslim faith was firmly adopted by all strata of society. The common people preserved for a long time religious beliefs their ancestors.
Observers who described the life of the Kazakhs in the past usually emphasized that Islam was adopted by the Kazakhs superficially. Even in the 19th century. Islam did not penetrate into the life of the Kazakhs as deeply as it did among the long-settled Central Asian population. Due to the peculiarities of their everyday life (life in yurts, seasonal movements), the Kazakhs did not have female seclusion. They did not cover their faces with a veil; boys and girls enjoyed considerable freedom of communication.
However, the position of Islam became stronger and stronger from year to year. The number of mosques gradually increased. Their construction was facilitated by private individuals, and partly by the government, which supported Islam in the Kazakh steppes.
The name of Sultan Aryn-Gazy, elected khan in 1815, is associated with the increased introduction of Muslim law into the life of the Kazakhs. Aryn-Gazy considered it necessary to rely in governing the people not on the customs of his ancestors, but on Sharia.
A notable phenomenon in the last century was the advancement of the Tatars into the Kazakh steppes with the goal of becoming mullahs. Usually Tatar mullahs married Kazakh women, and therefore became their own people in the steppe. The precautions of the Orenburg authorities (in 1832 the Orenburg Border Commission banned marriages of Kazakhs with Tatars and Bashkirs) are unlikely to have created effective barrier this process. Despite all the primitiveness of their education, their activities brought tangible results - literacy among the Kazakhs grew. A tradition arose of recording poems and songs and distributing them in lists. Books in the Kazakh and Tatar languages ​​found increasing demand among the Kazakhs. Along with the introduction of literacy came the establishment of Islam.
Next.. http://www. heritagenet. unesco. kz/kz/content/duhov_culture/religia/religia_in_kz. htm (RELIGION IN KAZAKHSTAN)

A people who does not remember their past does not deserve a future. This phrase, like no other, is suitable for understanding the topic of the article. We will talk about the formation of the Kazakh people. We will tell you who the Kazakhs are and where they came from, who the ancestors of the people of the Great Steppe were, as well as the origin of the term “Kazakh”. Read on: it will be interesting.

Who are the Kazakhs: the origin of the Kazakhs

The formation of a nationality, or ethnogenesis, is a long and extremely complex process. It is necessary to form mutual language, external, spiritual and cultural traits. In addition, you need your own territory.

This is interesting! The term “Kazakh” comes from the Turkic word “Kazak”, which means ‘free’, ‘free’, ‘independent’ or ‘wanderer’.

According to historians, the main event in the formation of the Kazakh people occurred in the middle of the 15th century. Then the first Kazakh khans Zhanibek and Kerey took about 100 thousand people to Semirechye. This happened during the uprising against the Uzbek Khan Abulkhair.

Search better life attached to people the term “Uzbek-Cossack”, which translated means ‘free Uzbek’ or ‘Uzbek who went to wander’. A hundred years later, the term “Uzbek” began to be applied to the population of Central Asia, and the people who remained in the territory of western Semirechye began to be called Kazakhs.

At the beginning of the 16th century, several Turkic tribes and nomads joined the Kazakhs, who finally formed ethnic group. This was the final stage of the ethnogenesis of the Kazakh people. Now we propose to understand in more detail the processes that preceded the formation of modern Kazakhs.

Education of the Kazakh people

Where did the Kazakhs come from? This question spans almost a thousand years of history. Conventionally, the process of ethnogenesis can be divided into three stages:

• Stage No. 1

Originates in the Bronze Age. At this time, various tribes settled throughout Central Asia. They were based on Caucasian peoples, and appearance theirs was appropriate.

According to scientists, it was here that pastoral nomadism originated. The first horse was immediately tamed and ridden. The Andronovo tribes played a significant role in the emergence of Kazakh culture at that time. Many of their buildings and burials have been preserved on the territory of Kazakhstan. And on the pots and jugs found, patterns can be seen that can be found on Kazakh carpets.

At the beginning of the Iron Age, Kazakhstan was inhabited by the Sakas, Sarmatians, Usuns and Kangyuis. According to the records of Herodotus, the Sakas desperately fought the Persians, defending the borders of their lands. It is known that there was a war with kings Darius I and Cyrus II.

Turkic tribes had a strong influence on the education of the Kazakh people. The union of the Wusuns and Kangyu led to the emergence of the Kangyu state and the settlement East Turkestan. The families of Kanly and Sarah Uysyn are still preserved in the Senior Zhuz. Towards the end of the Iron Age appearance the ancestors of the Kazakhs remained European. However, the resettlement of the Huns introduced a Mongoloid element into the appearance of the representatives of the ancient tribes of Kazakhstan.

• Stage No. 2

Began in the 6th century AD. e. from the mass settlement of Turkic tribes. They mixed with the descendants of the Scythian tribes, Usuns and Kangyuevs. Language and culture have changed ancient people. With the arrival of the Arabs, Islam, as well as the Islamic calendar, spread among settled tribes.

From the 6th to the 13th centuries, large Turkic states emerged on the territory of modern Kazakhstan. The Turgesh Khaganate was a powerful power, but over time it broke up into the Karluk and Kimak Khaganates, as well as the Oguz Empire. After them, the Karakhanid state was formed, which for the first time among the Turkic countries adopted the Islamic religion.

In the 11th century, the unification of Turkic tribes led to the emergence historical region Eurasia - Desht-i-Kipchak (Kipchak Steppe). IN Russian history it is called the Polovtsian steppe. The development and interrelation of pastoral nomadism, agriculture and urban life at that time seriously influenced the formation of the Kazakh ethnic group.

The conquests of Genghis Khan and the emergence of the Golden Horde made a significant contribution to the appearance of modern Kazakhs. Mongoloid features are due to the assimilation by the Turks of scattered Mongolian tribes.

• Stage No. 3

The final stage of the formation of the Kazakh people is associated with the unification of all clans and tribes of the Turks, who have already acquired a single appearance. This happened in the period from the XIV to the XV centuries, after the collapse of the Golden Horde. After it, separate states arose: Ak-Orda (White Horde), Nogai Horde and the Uzbek Khanate.

In 1458, Zhanibek and Kerey, dissatisfied with the rule of the Uzbek khan, took people from the Syr Darya to eastern Semirechye, where they founded the Kazakh Khanate. At that time it was already formed common language, later called Kazakh. Under the leadership of Khan Kasym, the Kazakhs recaptured Saraichik, the capital of the Nogai Horde, from the Nogais and expanded the territory of the state from the Irtysh to the Urals. By 1521, the number of Kazakhs reached a million people.

Who are the Kazakhs? This is a people with a distinctive language and culture that has been formed for almost a thousand years. Many nationalities disappeared over time, but the Kazakhs survived and founded a country with enormous potential. Now more than 18 million people live in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and this figure is growing every year. Kazakhstanis sing Great Steppe in memory of the power of Desht-i-Kipchak - the cradle of independent Kazakhstan, which we congratulate on Constitution Day.

Kazakhs are Muslims of the Sunni religion of the Hanafi persuasion.

The spread of Islam on the territory of modern Kazakhstan was a process that lasted several centuries. At first, Islam penetrated into the southern regions. By the end of the 10th century. Islam established itself among the settled population in Semirechye and the Syr Darya. Islam became the religion of the Turkic Karakhanid Empire, which arose in Semirechye in the 10th century. A monument of that era is the work of Yusuf Balasagunsky (1015-1016) “Kudatgu Bilik”, in which Muslim ideology was reflected.

In some areas Christianity successfully competed with Islam. Nestorianism, for example, gained recognition among the Naimans,

migrated at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. from Central Asia to Eastern Kazakhstan and Semirechye. Naiman Khan Kuchluk even persecuted Muslims.

The spread of Islam was slowed by the Mongol conquest, which brought new population groups (Turks and Mongols) with their own traditional religion to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. However, during the Middle Ages, Islam steadily moved into the nomadic steppe, capturing new and new population groups.

Golden Horde period

Purposeful propaganda of Islam among nomads began under the Golden Horde Khan Berke (1255-66) and intensified under Uzbek (1312-40). Preachers of Islam came to the steppes from the Volga region and Central Asia, from different regions of the Muslim world. Among the missionaries there were many representatives of the Sufi clergy. A great contribution to the spread of Islam among the nomadic Turkic population of Southern Kazakhstan was made by the founder of the Sufi order Yasaviya, a native of the city of Sayram (Isfijab), Khoja Akhmet Yasawi (died in 1166-67 in Turkestan). His poems preached the greatness of God and the need for humility.

The conversion of nomadic nobility to Islam did not mean that the Muslim faith was firmly adopted by all layers of society

The common people preserved the religious beliefs of their ancestors for a long time.

19th century

Observers who described the life of the Kazakhs in the past usually emphasized that Islam was adopted by the Kazakhs superficially. Even in the 19th century. Islam did not penetrate into the life of the Kazakhs as deeply as it did among the long-settled Central Asian population.

Due to the peculiarities of their everyday life (life in yurts, seasonal movements), the Kazakhs did not have seclusion for women

They did not cover their faces with a veil; boys and girls enjoyed considerable freedom of communication.

However, the position of Islam became stronger and stronger from year to year. The number of mosques gradually increased. Their construction was facilitated by private individuals, and partly by the government, which supported Islam in the Kazakh steppes.

The name of Sultan Aryn-Gazy, elected khan in 1815, is associated with the increased introduction of Muslim law into the life of the Kazakhs. Aryn-Gazy considered it necessary to rely in governing the people not on the customs of his ancestors, but on Sharia.

A notable phenomenon in the last century was the advancement of the Tatars into the Kazakh steppes with the goal of becoming mullahs. Usually Tatar mullahs married Kazakh women, and therefore became their own people in the steppe. The precautions of the Orenburg authorities (in 1832 the Orenburg Border Commission banned marriages of Kazakhs with Tatars and Bashkirs) are unlikely to have created an effective barrier to this process.

Despite all the primitiveness of education, the activities of the mullahs brought tangible results - literacy among the Kazakhs grew

A tradition arose of recording poems and songs and distributing them in lists. Books in the Kazakh and Tatar languages ​​found increasing demand among the Kazakhs. Along with the introduction of literacy came the establishment of Islam.

20th century

In the pre-revolutionary years, the ideas of Muslim modernism (Jadidism), which formed as a socio-political movement among the Tatars of the Volga region and Crimea, also penetrated the Kazakhs.

One of the central tasks of the modernists was the rejection of medieval scholasticism and the teaching of secular sciences, the Russian language

New-method schools began to appear everywhere - first in cities, and then in large populated areas and some villages that brought with them new ideas and knowledge.

The outstanding Kazakh scientist Shokan Valikhanov wrote about the spread of Islam in the Steppe, being himself a witness to the ongoing events and changes in the spiritual sphere in the Kazakh society of the first half of the 19th century century. In the article “On Islam in the Steppe” he writes:

Islam has not yet become ingrained in our flesh and blood. It threatens us with the separation of the people in the future. In the Steppe we now have a period of dual faith, as was the case in Rus' during the time of St. Nestor

“Russia, among its sons,” noted Shokan Valikhanov, “has many peoples of other faiths and non-Russians who lead a lifestyle diametrically opposed to the lifestyle of the indigenous Russian population, have customs and mores diametrically opposed to the mores and customs of the Russians Slavic tribe. It is clear that the transformations designed for the Christian and sedentary Russian population will not bring any benefit and will be meaningless if they are entirely applied to the nomadic and wandering foreigners of European and Asian Russia.” He recommends that the administration and the government "be extremely careful and careful" in carrying out reforms that affect the lives of millions of people.

Description of the Kyrgyz-Cossack, or Kyrgyz-Kaisak, hordes and steppes. - St. Petersburg, 1832.

Etching by Bronislaw Zaleski ("La vie des Steppes Kirghizes", 1865)

“What faith are you?” — I once asked two Kyrgyz Cossacks. “We don’t know,” they answered. You will hear this answer from most of their compatriots. And in fact it is difficult to decide what the Kirghiz are - Mohammedans, Manichaeans or pagans?

All of them generally have an idea about the highest being who created the world, but some worship him according to the laws of the Koran, others mix the teachings of Islamism with the remnants of ancient idolatry, others think that in addition to the good deity, who cares about the happiness of people and is called by them thin, There is evil spirit, or Shaitan, the source of evil. Moreover, the Kirghiz recognize the existence of many other spirits and believe in sorcerers and sorcerers. [Editor's note: In fact, the question of religion and beliefs of the Kazakhs is much more complex and is still little studied. Special Research there is nothing on this problem yet, and in ethnological and atheistic literature, mainly individual issues of the history of the introduction of the Kazakhs to Islam, the history of Islam itself, etc. are considered. At the same time, the pre-Islamic beliefs of the Kazakhs have been practically not studied. There are only a number of works devoted to the cult of ancestors, beliefs and rituals in family life, and shamanism. Meanwhile, there is a lot of evidence that the Kazakhs, along with Islam, preserved vestiges of Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, and pantheistic cults]. However, of all the parts of this mixture of different confessions, the Mohammedan one is found predominantly before the others [It is not known when the Mohammedan religion became common among the Kirghiz, but we know that Kuchum, the last Khan of Siberia, came to Siberia from the Cossack Horde and, having established himself on the throne, immediately began to convert his new subjects to the Mohammedan faith, which he himself professed and for the spread of which his father Murtaza sent him an akhuna and many mullahs. This incident happened, as everyone knows, at half XVI century. See Fischer’s “Siberian History”] and, although it does not at all produce in the Cossack hordes the fanaticism that animates other Muslims, they are confident that people who do not honor their Prophet are infidels ( kafir), who can be tortured and against whom weapons must be used. The Kirghiz think this way not only about Christians, Lamais or people of any other confession, but even about Mohammedans Shiite sense, because they consider themselves Sunnis or, better said, without understanding this difference, they only know that the Turks, Tatars, Bukharans, Khivans and other neighbors are of the same religion with them, and they consider the Persians and other followers of Ali to be schismatics. For this reason, not a single Sunni can be a slave in the Kyrgyz hordes, and Shiites, Christians and Kalmyks taken captive are sold and kept equally.

One of the most important rules The Koran, observed by the Kyrgyz, is polygamy. They follow it very diligently when their wealth allows them to pay the established price for their wives. folk customs bride price.

The Kirghiz do not observe fasting and ablution - a very prudent decree of Magomet, they find it difficult to pray five times a day, they do not have mosques or mullahs elected among themselves. Sometimes prayers are read by old people in the presence of many kneeling around them, but for the most part everyone prays whenever and wherever they want. Some do not perform any religious rituals at all. Number of diligent Muslims so rare among these people that Islamism it could have completely faded away if it had not been supported by the spiritual, often coming from Bukharia, Khiva, Turkestan, and the mullahs identified Russian government to the khans and ancestors to correct the position of clerks under them. Strong sultans themselves hire such secretaries, and they, being the only interpreters of the Koran, which also contains civil laws, become judges and advisers to the rulers of the people. Hadji, that is, those who visited Mecca and similar saints, traveling around the Kyrgyz hordes, enrich themselves by performing divine services, fortune-telling from the al-Koran, predictions and the sale of talismans, or written prayers, which are sewn in handbags to the dress and, in the superstitious opinion of the Kyrgyz Cossacks make them invincible, protect them from wounds and attacks, keep them on their chosen path, not allowing them to stray from it, and deliver them from all evils.

Hardly any of the Kirghiz Cossacks have been to Mecca, but they consider Turkestan a holy place, and many of them, especially those who wander near this city, go to it to worship the tomb of Saint Kara-Akhmet Khoja, who is extremely respected by them. In addition, in their opinion, many graves existing in the steppes hide the remains of saints ( awliya). They go to worship them, read prayers over them, call on them, sacrifice livestock to them, which they themselves immediately eat and tie rags, hair and ribbons to the grass, bushes, or stakes driven into the ground, believing that the souls of saints dwell above their bodies in happy places, and that they descend on their tombs when they are called upon. In the same way, they think that the souls of all other dead people during commemoration descend to earth from the stars, where they reside and where, depending on the nature of their lives, they are with spirits good or evil. The Kirghiz also believe that each day depends on a special star, lucky or unlucky, and that is why they divide days into prosperous and unlucky.

To appease the evil spirit, they read prayers, make sacrifices to him, scatter them in all directions and then, stretching their hands upward, conjure him to be lenient.

For the deceased to receive a place in the Kyrgyz calendar, it is sometimes enough for some large tree to grow over his ashes.

Among the Kirghiz there are also half-saints, or holy fools, who, having no food, dress in tattered rags, walk from one village to another, sing prayers in a shrill voice, pretend to be inspired, make predictions and achieve their goal, that is, improve their condition or , By at least, get the required content. Some extend their desires even further and, appearing under the name of Prophets, gather large crowds of followers. This kind of people appeared more than once, and the last of them preached in the Middle Horde in 1821, but not for long. None of these preachers, however, gave out a new teaching and did not leave behind disciples.

In order to have the most convincing proof of the superstition of almost all the Kirghiz in general and the trickery of the few who use it, we will describe their sorcerers and fortune-tellers, to whom they attribute the power not only to recognize the past, present and future, but to produce cold, heat, storms, thunder, winds, rain, snow, heal all kinds of sick people, ward off impending disasters; and all through acquaintance with spirits.

Sorcerers and fortune-tellers are divided into several genera.

The most numerous are called Jaurunchi, or yaurunchi. They tell fortunes by using lamb bones, which are first cleaned of meat, then placed in the fire and burned until they are scorched and cracked. In the cracks thus produced, they see everything in the world, through them they tell the past and foretell the future. Captain Rychkov describes a curious fortune-telling by one Yaurunchi that took place during his time with Khan Nurali, when the latter wanted to know where the Kalmyks were who had fled from Russia, and whether our army sent after them would catch up with them? Here are his words:

“In the opinion of this fortuneteller, the entire pre-future was depicted with certain features on the burnt shoulder blade, and therefore, having examined it with thoughtfulness and attention, he told those standing around him the following: that at noon of the last day, a certain invisible spirit, called avryakh[correctly aurak (in Kazakh aurak) - approx. editors]. He only kindled great timidity and confusion among the people with the coming Russian troops, but at noon of this day another reached them avryakh, which created even more fear in them with some terrible omens, which they accepted as signs of their impending destruction. Finally, their entire fate must depend on the third Avryakha, who, if he comes to them the next day after the arrival of the last one, then he will be their savior from the expected misfortune, which terrifies all the people. This was the prediction of the fortuneteller, which all the Kirghiz, not excluding the khan himself, considered to be a true prophecy. It can be easily foreseen that he himself, with such a prediction, which has a double interpretation, always observes the people's veneration and faith, for if any misfortune really happened to the Kalmyks, the words of the first prediction showed this event: but when something completely opposite happened to him, then he I would remind my superstitions that they were saved from misfortune by the coming of the third Avryach.”

If the Delphic oracle could give similar answers to the Greeks, is it any wonder that the Jurunchi also enjoy the trust of the Kyrgyz? Several sultans swore to me that such a soothsayer, who was with the Khan of the Lesser Horde Jantyuri, before his death, told him, looking at the burning mutton bone, that his killers were coming, appointed the distance at which they were located, determined the hour at which he would lose his life and that everything seemed to be fulfilled according to these words with the greatest accuracy. Khan laughed at the prediction, but at the moment of death he repented and even more confirmed the witnesses of this incident in their ancient prejudice.

Ramchi[Right yrymshi— approx. editors], who make up the second class of soothsayers, tell fortunes by the color of the flame with which the lamb fat they throw into the fire burns, while they read prayers and call upon the spirits.

Giulduzchi They are astrologers who predict and tell fortunes by the stars in which the spirits they know live.

Funnier and scarier than everyone else bucks, or melons, very similar to Siberian shamans. Their clothes are sometimes ordinary long, sometimes short, or tattered rags, just by their appearance, which already affects the imagination of the spectators of their tragicomic performances. Their image of divination is also not always the same. Buck, whom I happened to see, entered the wagon with the quietest step, with downcast eyes, with an important face and in rags. Taking the kobyz, which was like a whistle, in his hands, he sat down on the carpet, began to play, sing and began to quietly sway, and then make various body movements. As his voice rose, his antics became faster and more difficult. He thrashed, twisted, stretched and bent like crazy, sweat poured from him like hail, foam swirled from his mouth. Throwing the kobyz, he jumped up, jumped up, shook his head, began to shout in a piercing voice and call upon the spirits, either beckoning them to him with his hands, or waving away those that he did not need. Finally, exhausted, with a pale face and bloodshot eyes, he threw himself on the carpet, let out a wild cry and fell silent as if dead. After a few minutes, he stood up and looked around in all directions, as if not knowing where he was, read a prayer, and began to predict, based, as he said, on a vision that he had then.

The Siberian Bulletin of 1820 (book 6) contains an interesting description of a Kyrgyz sorcerer of a different kind. Let's write it down.

“He was a sedate-looking Tashkent citizen, had a turban on his head, like a Khoja or a mullah, and was wearing a white striped long dress, belted with a white sash; in his hands he held a tall crutch, set in copper, decorated with multi-colored stones and entwined with wire with three long and wide badges tied to it, one of white fabric and two of silk. He sat on a bench in the middle of the yurt, read prayers and called by name the saints revered by the Mohammedans, assigning to each of them an occupation, who allegedly appeared to him, and he felt great admiration and at the same time annoyance that one evil spirit prevented him from hearing their revelations . To drive this away, he was forced to jump from his place, ran around the yurt with a crutch, even jumped out of it, sat on a saddled horse and galloped off into the field, more than a quarter of a mile, and upon returning from there, he turned around, sitting on the horse, several times at all times. hand, waved his crutch and entered the yurt with a calm spirit, rejoicing that he had driven away his enemy. There he sat down as before on the bench and called on his saints with special reverence, and after a while he fell into some unconsciousness, fell to the ground and made such strong movements that four people could hardly hold him. Finally, after 10 minutes, he calmed down, came to a perfect sense and, in response to questions from those present, recounted the revelations made to him. He told them that the current year would end happily, without war and any other misfortunes for the people, in a word, he promised everything that could console them or feed them with pleasant hope.”

In the Great Horde, bucks dress up in white shrouds, sit on white horses and gallop through the fields like mad.

Pallas speaks of another kind of Kyrgyz sorcerers, whom he calls jaadugar [jaadugar (jaduger)- a person who can bewitch, speak to someone - approx. editors] and who attribute to themselves the art of bewitching prisoners so that in their escape they must certainly lose their way. To do this, they knock out their hair, sprinkle ash on their tongues, order them to step back three steps, and so on.

In addition, the Kirghiz have other ways of bewitching and conjuring, which, however, differ little from those described above. Without going into details, let’s say in general that many of those involved in this craft do not act with antics alone, but have some knowledge of botany and chemistry. The most skilled of them, as they say, walk harmlessly with their bare feet on hot iron, stand on sharp sabers and burning coals, swallow knives, whips and let sabers down their throats.

Witchcraft and deception are not only part of the religion of the Kirghiz-Cossacks, but also the most important part of their medicine, for they resort to them in the most dangerous diseases.

Bucks treats as follows:

First, he sits down opposite the patient, plays the kobyz, sings, screams in a wild voice, rages and makes various antics described above, then he jumps up from his seat, reads meaningless speeches, takes a whip and beats the sufferer with it in the hope of expelling from him all the unclean spirits that produce the disease; finally, he licks him with his tongue, bites him until he bleeds with his teeth, spits in his eyes and, grabbing a knife, rushes at him as if with the intention of stabbing him.

Such treatment is sometimes accompanied by various other, equally ridiculous rituals and lasts 9 days. Some doctors claim that, despite all its strangeness, it can sometimes be useful in diseases, from irritation occurring.

Another kind of Kyrgyz deceivers, calling themselves healers, have other means for the gullible. They light a fire, heat the iron in it and heat the lamb fat, then, joining with the audience ahead, and giving each of them a lighted candle in their hand, they make ceremonial moves and carry around the patient either three bowls with burning candles, filled with all sorts of things, or stretched goats and sheep, with which the patient is pushed 9 times and whose skins are provided for the benefit of the doctor.

Sometimes mullahs treat instead of bucks. These latter, in order to drive away diseases and unclean spirits, use only the reading of the al-Koran and some meaningless prayers, during which they think and spit in the eyes of the sick [it is useful to note that in all these superstitious rituals the Kirghiz strictly observe the numbers 3 and 9, for example, 9 days of treatment, 3 bowls, 9 sheep, 3 buck badges, etc.]. Faith or superstition, taking the place of art, makes this third method of treatment sometimes valid. We find similar techniques among many enlightened peoples.

In some cases, sick Kyrgyz people call to their aid at the same time mullahs and bucks and various other deceivers. The former do not interfere with the latter, the latter live in harmony with both. All those active in such assemblies have one goal - to receive payment for their work, and therefore everyone carries out his craft without contention.

Ignorance, superstition and deception always help each other and everywhere, although in different types, but with united forces, oppress the human race. (Recognized text from the site www.vostlit.info)

Kazakhstan is a secular country.

1. The Republic of Kazakhstan asserts itself as democratic, secular, legal and social state, highest values which is a person, his life, rights and freedoms.2. The fundamental principles of the Republic’s activities are: social harmony and political stability, economic development for the benefit of all people, Kazakhstani patriotism, the decision of the most important issues public life by democratic methods, including voting Republican referendum or Parliament.

The most common religions in Kazakhstan are Islam and Christianity [ source not specified 418 days] . Judaism and Buddhism are also present. 45% of the population of Kazakhstan are atheists and agnostics

Islam

Islam is the main religious institution of Kazakhstan. Kazakhs are Muslims of the Sunni religion of the Hanafi persuasion. The spread of Islam in the territory of modern Kazakhstan was a process that lasted several centuries. At first, Islam penetrated into the southern regions. By the end of the 10th century. Islam established itself among the settled population in Semirechye and the Syr Darya. Islam became the religion of the Turkic Karakhanid Empire, which arose in Semirechye in the 10th century. A monument of that era is the work of Yusuf Balasagunsky (1015-1016) “Kudatgu bilik”, in which Muslim ideology was reflected. It is characterized by tolerance for dissent, recognition of freedom of opinion in religion, and the absence of fanatical strictness in observing the ritual and legal norms of Sharia. In addition, the rooting of Islam in Kazakhstan occurred in inextricable connection with pre-Muslim beliefs, in particular with Zoroastrianism and Tengrism. Moreover, national identity Kazakhs from time immemorial has been based on the principles of ethnicity and national statehood. Therefore, it is unlikely that Islam can acquire fundamentalist features in this country. In the entire history of independent Kazakhstan, not a single terrorist attack or religious conflict. Islam in Kazakhstan is practiced mainly by the Turkic and Caucasian peoples of the Republic.

The military should have it like this: to lie down means to lie down; to stand up means to stand up. If you want to pray, go to civilian life. If your head is clogged, go and get treatment. At one time it was fashionable that when soldiers took the oath, they would certainly call the imam and the ruler. Race. And when we launch a ship, and when we lift a plane into the sky, we also call a clergyman. I think we need to give up this theatrical show. An army is an army.

see also

Notes