Islam and the Nation: Debates on Religion in the Early 20th-Century Kazakh National Movement in Sources and Historiography

Abstract

The historiography of the pre‑revolutionary Kazakh national movement often presents a simplistic dichotomy between pro‑Islamic traditionalists and secular national liberals. This binary view fails to capture the nuanced perspectives of Kazakh nationalists on religion and its role in shaping national identity. It is well‑known that many early Kazakh intellectuals from both sides participated in the Soviet secular nation‑building project, influencing the development of Kazakhness. My paper examines the history of early Kazakh nationalism through the lens of secularism, focusing on the educational and personal backgrounds of the intelligentsia and their reactions to historical changes and arguing that pragmatic considerations largely drove the evolution of their nationalist views. The study involves a historiographic review and a reassessment of critical moments that shaped the intelligentsia’s shift toward secularism. It reveals that, despite the controversy, the Alash movement included intellectuals who viewed Islam as an integral component of Kazakh identity. The diversity of their perspectives supports the thesis that the nation’s boundaries were negotiated before the Soviet national project.