page_title: Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan
section_title: Creation of SADUM
hierarchical_section_title: Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan / History / Creation of SADUM
caption_attribution_description: English: Miri Arab madressah in en:Bukhara. Photo by Anatoly Terentiev, 7 May 2003.
context_page_description: The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan was the official governing body for Islamic activities in the five Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union. Under strict state control, SADUM was charged with training clergy and publishing spiritual materials, among other tasks. The organization was headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Established in 1943, SADUM existed for nearly 50 years. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the five newly independent republics reformed their respective branches of SADUM into their own national Islamic institutions.
context_section_description: The creation of SADUM occurred in the midst of the Second World War (known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War). The Soviet government, fighting for its survival and requiring the support of all its citizens, relaxed restrictions against religion. As religious persecution subsided and mosques began to re-open, the Central Asian ulema saw an opportunity to push for concessions.
  In June 1943, several prominent members of the ulema petitioned Mikhail Kalinin, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, to permit a conference of the Central Asian religious elite in Tashkent. At this conference they planned to lay the foundations for a central Islamic organization. The ulema argued that this organization would allow them to better organize the regional war effort. Desiring to shore up Muslim support for the war, the Presidium approved a plan for the creation of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, to be headquartered in Tashkent. For the first kurultai, a preparation committee was formed which included notable theologists of Uzbekistan, led by Eshon Babakhan ibn Abdulmajidkhan, of Kazakhstan, led by sheikh Abdul Gaffar Shamsutdin, of Tajikistan, led by sheikh Salekh Babakalon, of Kyrgyzstan, led by sheikh Olimkhon Tura Shakir and of Turkmenia, led by sheikh Anna Ishan.
  The organization was formally established on October 20, 1943.
  Its first chairman was Eshon Babakhan ibn Abdulmajidkhan.
  SADUM moved quickly after its founding to re-open local Islamic institutions and re-establish ties with the wider Muslim world. In 1945 a meeting was held with the Saudi king Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, after which Soviet Muslims were allowed to participate in the Hajj. The following year, 1946, saw the reopening of the Mir-i-Arab madrasah in Bukhara.
  A second center of Islamic learning, the Imam al-Bukhari Islamic Institute, was founded in Tashkent in 1971.
caption: Mir-i-Arab madrasah in Bukhara
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