Response paper 7

Chokan Valikhanov's statements about Islam in “Islam in the Steppe” differ significantly
from his notes on Levin, which is due to the fact that Valikhanov combined love for his nation
and Russian patriotism.
In his work “On Islam in the Steppe”, Valikhanov says that Islam can slow down the
development of Kazakhs, and calls on the government to take measures to skip this period.
However, it can be noted that Valikhanov does not mean the harm of religion itself, namely how
the people perceive it, for example, treatment of blood-letting (because Mohammed said it in the
Quran), the privilege and power with which people deprive mullahs (whom the author describes
as charlatans), and other wild things that he calls signs of religious fanaticism (On Islam in the
Steppe). Therefore, he advises to “tear away the mask from the mullahs and the ideas of Islam
and open Russian schools in the okrugs in place of Tatar ones” and limit Kazakhs from Tatar
enlightenment (Valikhanov, On Islam in the Steppe). The author emphasizes that his arguments
are aimed at what is good for the Kyrgyz people and in the interests of the government itself,
which again indicates that he loves his people, as well as is loyal to the Russian government
(Valikhanov, On Islam in the Steppe).
What is different in these two works of Chokan Valikhanov is that the author in his work
talks about the lack of enlightenment of Kazakhs in religion, and in the “Notes on Levshin”'
comments that the Kaysaks know their faith. Valikhanov disagrees with Levin at the point where
he wrote that witchcraft, deception and divination are part of the religion of the Kaysaks, but
these are just superstitions that are part of the culture of the steppe people (Notes on Levshin).
But this is not a discrepancy of his opinions, because Valikhanov asks Levshin not to confuse
superstitious rituals with religion, while in his own work he describes how Kazakhs misinterpret
Islam and create wildness from religious fanaticism.
It is also worth considering that Chokan Valikhanov was educated in the russian or in the
western way, which explains why he treated many nomadic rituals and religious beliefs with
misunderstanding, which were considered the norm among Kazakhs (Bailey). Also during his
many trips for research purposes, his opinion could change many times. Definitely, the fact that
he was educated and thus, the religious rituals that he described in “On Islam in the steppe”
certainly seemed to him something abnormal and harmful to the development of people. But
when Levshin condemned the religion of the Kazakhs in his work, Chokan Valikhanov,
apparently was offended for his people and justified them. As his friend Grigory Potanin wrote,
"in Valikhanov's heart, love for his people was combined with Russian patriotism".
Finally, Chokan Valikhanov was against religious fanaticism in the Kazakh steppe, and
not against Islam itself, so in Notes on Levshin he defended the faith of his nation.