In my research on Islam in Uzbekistan, I have been impressed by a striking contrast. A subdued, even fearful atmosphere surrounds religious practice. The postindependence government has sought to closely regulate religious expression. It has attempted to subordinate Islam within its construction of a Central Asian national and spiritual tradition, the Golden Heritage at the heart of its ideology of National Independence. Interpretations of Islam not endorsed by the government are outlawed as extremist. I have described the atmosphere of existential vulnerability this has generated, wherein the label ‘Wahhabi’ has come to represent anything not deemed culturally authentic and which might attract the attention of the state security services.

There is, at the same time, a riot of exploration with regards to Islam and also expressed in the variety of Christian and other groups that emerged after independence and are attracting adherents. Muslims in Uzbekistan are creatively developing understandings of moral selfhood and of moral community resulting in a great diversity in interpretations of Islam and what it means to be a Muslim. In addition, registered and unregistered Protestant Christian groups are active and are attracting members from the indigenous, Muslim population, particularly in urban centres such as Samarkand. Groups like the Krishna or Baha'i have become established, and new spiritual movements outside these more formally institutionalised religions are emerging.