Responding to atheist state policy and practicing religion: the Ismailis of Soviet Badakhshan

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the implementation of Soviet religious policy among the Ismaili Muslim population of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) of Soviet Tajikistan. By means of oral interviews and the analysis of archival sources from the province, this paper reveals the challenges and complexities faced by local commissioners and Communist Party officials when executing centralized Soviet religious policy. In this process, the local commissioners (upolnomochennye) had to stress the religious community’s compliance with Soviet legislation and were expected to provide accounts of decreasing religiosity among the Ismailis, and even their having ceased to practise their religious rituals. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Ismaili religious dignitary (khalifas) did not remain passive recipients or agents of Soviet religious policy but tried to modify their actions to conduct religious rituals within the limited but legal space for religious activities.