Abstract
The author, a historian and specialist of Islam in Central Asia from the 16th to the 20th century, analyzes the Program adopted by the Muslim Directorate of Uzbekistan on March 1 2000 in an effort at counteracting the influence of radical Islamist movements. This analysis reveals to what extent the official Uzbek clergy is still habituated to using threats, political practices and rhetorics dating from the Soviet era. Reactions to this program are used to assess how much this Directorate - a religious hierarchy initially set up under Stalin - lacks legitimacy, even inside the Hanafî theological school, headed in principle by the Tashkent mufti. A systematic critique is made of the coercive religious policy launched by Islam Karimov's government, which has set a police state that could undermine the political stability not just of Uzbekistan, but even of all of Central Asia.
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