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Accepted Contribution:
Muslim sainthood and Qazaq nationhood: the shrine complex of Khorasan as a sample of social-cultural hybridity
Ulan Bigozhin
(Nazarbayev University)
Abstract:
In this research paper, I would like to focus on the shrine complex Abd al-Jalil Bab or Khorasan Ata or Khorasan Ata which is located in Zhanqorghan, southern Kazakhstan. This saint or aulia is often considered by many people in Qazaqstan as one of the country’s most important Muslim saints. The shrine complex Abd al-Jalil Bab is an active place of pilgrimage that attracts people across parts of Central Asia. The data were collected during ethnographic fieldwork in Zhanaqorgan and Saryagash areas and right on the sacred site of Abd al-Jalil Bab. Analysis of four hagiographies written in Kazakh Cyrillic contemporary hagiographies shows that the narrative of this Muslim aulia and his shrine complex is going through a different process of reimagination, where some hybridity and invention of different practices and traditions of secular and religious origins are going on the grassroots level.