This ethnography of Muslim life among the Kazaks of Central Asia describes the sacralisation of land and ethnic identity, local understanding of Islamic purity, the Kazak ancestor cult and domestic spirituality, and pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi saints.

PREFACE 1. THE PROBLEM OF KAZAK RELIGION The Historical Setting, Perspectives on Kazak Religion, Collective Memory and Kazak Religion, Method, 2. KIYELI IER: MUSLIM LANDSCAPES AND KAZAK ETHNICITY The Ethnic Demography of Turkistan, Local History: Turkistan and Kazak Ethnogenesis, Muslim Burial Grounds and Kazak Ethnic Identity, Yasawi and His Pilgrims Conclusion 3. TAZAJOL: THE PURE WAY OF ISLAM AMONG THE KAZAKS The Pure Way and its Variability, The Names of God and the Kazak Idea of Islam, The Daily Experience of Purity and Impurity, Upholding the Five Pillars of Islam, Reprise: The Five Pillars in Old Age, Observing the Islamic Rites of Passage, The Qojas: Guardians of the Taza Jol, Memories of the Sufi Tradition, Conclusion 4. ARUAQ: REMEMBERING THE ANCESTORS Kinship, Lineage, and the Ancestor-Spirits, Dreams of the Ancestors, The Quran Recital and Blessing, The Thursday Rite of Quran and Oil, The Funeral Cycle and Memorial Feast, Kazak Ancestors and the Persistence of Religion Conclusion 5. AULIYE: REMEMBERING THE SAINTS, The Way of the Muslim Saints, The Shrine Center and its Periphery, Pilgrimage Scenes at the Yasawi Shrine, Dynamics of Pilgrimage, Living Saints: New Age Religion in Kazakstan, The Ayan Complex: A Symbiosis of Ancestors and Saints, Conclusion 6. EMSHI: THE KAZAK HEALER Qoja and Mullah: The Muslim Way of Healing, Three Tawips: Women as Healers, Palsht: The Fortune-Tellers, Baqst: The Kazak Shaman, Semantic Problems in the Healing Tradition, Today's Emshi - Yesterday's Shaman, Conclusion, 7. KAZAK RELIGION AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY The Kazaks and their Religion, Collective Memory Reconstructed, Conclusion 8. RELIGION AS CULTURE AND SPIRIT The Construction and Reality of Religion, The Integrity of the Religious Life, Religion and Science, Kazak Religion and the Ethnographic Experience