Russian-language programme in Kazakhstan targets potential female extremists

ASTANA -- After evidence emerged that females were among those being radicalized by groups like the 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL), Kazakhstan launched a series of Russian-language courses on the basics of Islam in an attempt to prevent women who are not fluent in Kazakh from suffering the same fate.

According to the 2009 census, the latest for which statistics are publicly available, 26% of the population did not know Kazakh. Such Russian-language courses are meant to reach the substantial minority with poor knowledge of Kazakh.

"We want to protect our women from ... radical ideas," Tatiyana Syshchenko, who runs a Russian-language group at Khazret-Sultan Mosque in Astana, told Caravanserai. "We provide true, reliable information so that in the future they can determine what is true and what is false."

"We have to warn women that radicalism, extremism and terrorism are the hideous results of extreme fanaticism," Leila Baimanova, head of the NGO Golden Swallow (Altyn Karlygash) in Shymkent, told Caravanserai.

Safeguarding women from radicalism

A six-month-long course that began January 16 in Khazret-Sultan Mosque is teaching female jamiyas (groups of Muslims who convene to study or socialise), said Syshchenko, who also edits the website muslim.kz.

"This is the first and, for now, the only Russian-language group for women in Astana," she told Caravanserai.

Her group of 20, in which everyone is aged 20 or older, is studying aqidah (Islamic creed), fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and tajwid (recitation of the Koran), she said.

The lessons include sermons that discuss the detrimental effects and negative aspects of extremism and radical movements.

"I hope that these courses will become a permanent fixture," said Elmira Bukharbayeva, a specialist on Sharia law who teaches the Almaty Russian-language group.

"We teach them the fundamentals of sharia and of traditional Islam, which in and of itself prevents radicalism," she told Caravanserai. "If these foundations have become part of you, then no one will ever be able to recruit you into a radical movement."

Keeping women on the 'right path'

"I'm truly glad that they now teach these courses in Russian," said Gaukhar, a 43-year-old woman who attends the courses at Khazret-Sultan Mosque and declined to give her last name.

"They teach us the correct religious knowledge, which is completely different from what you'd read about and see on dubious websites," she told Caravanserai.

"We're learning many new things," she said. "Our lives now consist of the parts 'before' and 'after' these courses."

"It's very delicate work and today it's essential," said Salima Amanbayeva of Taraz.

"If a woman wants to learn more about Islam or the Koran, she can now come to classes at the mosque," she told Caravanserai. "And if she has incorrect notions about Islam that radical relatives, like a husband or father, coerced her into believing, then the female teachers at mosques will [dispel] them."

"Women are leaving for Syria with their extremist husbands," Baimanova said. "Others are ... rearing their children in radical homes. The state is taking action in time."

The women "who complete the course won't stray from the right path and will keep their family members from becoming radicalised", Syshchenko said.

Focusing on female jamiyas

Working with female jamiyas is a new field within extremism and terrorism prevention in Kazakhstan, according to Gulnaz Razdykova, chairwoman of the Pavlodar-based Centre for Analysis and Development of Inter-Faith Relations.

Work with female jamiyas in Kazakhstan kicked off during a conference in Astana September 23, where specialists discussed the radicalisation of women.

"Since then, a large number of forums on female radicalism have taken place in almost all regions of Kazakhstan, including Atyrau, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Pavlodar," Razdykova told Caravanserai.

"We will do everything to vigorously continue this work everywhere we can," she said.