Public Morality

The road to death and destruction passed through immorality, and the Jadids saw plenty of evidence of that in their society. Russian rule had brought with it legal prostitution and the sale of alcohol, both of which were quite popular in Turkestan. We read of a brothel in Samarqand with "nearly 400 Turkestani, Bukharan, Tatar, and Russian prostitutes," without any indication that it was in at all unusual.^[98] Even more troubling to the Jadids, however, was the widespread practice of dancing boys (bachcha, jawan, besaqqal ) who, dressed as women, figured in evenings of entertainment (bazm, ma'raka ) and who were often also prostituted. This form of pederasty was a widespread practice (and perhaps had become more widespread under Russian rule).

For the Jadids, the practice was a sign of the worst depths of degradation to which Central Asia had sunk. Fitrat's Indian traveler is appalled when he witnesses pederasty at the tomb of Baha'uddin Naqshband:

Woe to me! Next to this noble paradise were open the doors to hell. Next to these sacred tombs had arisen the vileness of the tribe of Lot! Among the tea stalls people sat in circles of five or ten; in the center of each circle was a young boy who with innocence and modesty read several verses from memory. All those around him pressed up against him, staring at the poor child with eyes full of lust, just like the devil!!! This terrible and impious spectacle made my whole being shiver .... I said to myself, "O Muhammad! ... Rise! O edu-

[94] Hamza Hakimzada, Zaharh hayot (1916), in Tola asarlar toplami , ed. N. Kanmov et al., 5 vols. (Tashkent, 1988-1989), III: 15-41.

[95] The story was serialized in ST in 1914; cf. Cholpon, "Dokhtur Muhammadyor," Sharq yulduzi , 1992, no. 1, 131-138.

[96] Qadiri, Jawanbaz (Tashkent, 1915).

[97] Sayyid Ahmad Siddiqi [Ajzi], Tarjima-yi mir'at-i ibrat (Samarqand, 1914), 25-26.

[98] Ayina , 8 February 1914, 281.

cator, take a look at the actions of these savages! O reformer of people! Either find a way of reforming them, or else show them a place under the earth, like the people of Lot! Don't let the filthy existence of these shameless people harm the glory of the Qur'an.^[99]

For Munawwar Qari, "Forbidden acts such as drinking, gambling, pederasty, feasting, turning men into women and women into men' [erkekni khatun qilmaq wa khatunni erkek qilmaq ], adultery, backbiting" were the reason why "our lands were captured and we were reviled and demeaned [khwar-u zalil bolduk ]."^[100]

Many of these practices came together in the often extravagant feasts (toys ) celebrating circumcisions, weddings, and deaths that were an integral part of Central Asian life. They were defended, even by ulama, as worthy ancestral traditions. By the turn of the century, they had become a means for the newly rich to celebrate their wealth and to assert their social status. The more extravagant feasts lasted several days, with guests (often numbering in the hundreds) arriving from all over Central Asia; the central feature was a party featuring alcohol and dancing boys. The Andijan millionaire Mir Kamil-bay hosted a toy in 1911 that lasted twenty-five days; guests came from all over Turkestan, and charity and food were provided for "widows and travelers" throughout this period. The awestruck report in TWG ("a royal feast neither heard, nor seen, nor known to people of previous generations") estimated the total expenditure to have been 25,000 rubles.^[101] The Jadids took a dim view of such practices, which they saw as a waste (israf ) of resources that should better be spent for the public good, and especially after a wave of bankruptcies during the economic slump of 1913, as a sign of ignorance leading to destruction. Jadid authors expressed opposition to toys in newspapers and school textbooks, much of which was encapsulated in the 1914 play The Feast by Behbudi's disciples Haji Muin and Nusratullah b. Qudratullah.

The play depicts the dire consequences of ignorance and wastefulness. A rich merchant plans to celebrate his son's circumcision with a toy , brushing aside exhortations against wastefulness and other acts "forbidden by the shariat." Vanity and selfishness govern his actions ("If you give a huge feast, your wealth will be known and you will be fa-

[99] Fitrat, "Bayonoti sayyohi hindi," 21.

[100] Munawwar Qari, ibn Abdurrashid Khan, untitled article, Taraqqi —Orta Azyaning umr guzarlighi . 7 March 1906.

[101] TWG , 28 April 1911.

mous"); only the rich are invited, while the poor are insulted ("I didn't have this feast for beggars and the poor; get lost!"). The feast, complete with alcohol and bachchas , is duly celebrated, but goes 4,000 rubles over the already extravagant budget of 15,000 rubles, leaving the merchant with a bank balance of precisely 130.23. rubles. He has to default on a payment of 5,000 rubles to the Moscow Bank, which had conveniently (for the plot) fallen due at that time, and as a result his store is sealed. The stage is set for the protagonist to deliver his speech:

When will we Muslims of Turkestan [save ourselves] from this ignorance? Ignorance has turned us into drunkards, pederasts, fools, and wastrels. And now it has dishonored us and laid waste our homes. Other nations spend their money in the path of knowledge and learning, on religious and national causes, and therefore progress by the day. We, because of our ignorance, waste our money, and even sell [lose] our houses and orchards on feasts parties, and kobkari , and soon will be begging for a piece of bread. If we Muslims don't take advantage of this time [remaining] and do not change our wasteful customs, soon we'll be deprived of what we have [left] and be cast into the streets. May God grant all Muslims the eyes of admonition.^[102]

The cause of moral corruption was ignorance, and knowledge was the only true guarantee of good morals and piety. "Schools are blessed places built for our good," a textbook informed pupils. "Mosques are also extremely sacred places built for Muslims to worship in. If there were no schools in the world, who would enter a mosque and worship there?"^[103]

It was a crisis not because the morals of individuals were at stake or because sin was widespread but because immoral acts led to dereliction of duty to the community, which had come to be the locus of Jadid reform. A correspondent for Shuhrat calculated that at a recent Feast of the Sacrifice (Id-i qurban ), Muslims of Tashkent spent 100,000 rubles on alcohol and prostitutes. "If this is not progress, what is?" the writer asked. "But what kind of money was this? This was money enough to educate millions of children, to bring them from bestiality to humanity, to produce thousands of servants of the nation [millat khadimi ]."^[104] Narcotic addicts, lampooned in a play by Haji Muin, were similarly immoral not so much because Islamic law forbade the use of narcotics but because they wasted time, money, and human resources.^[105]

[102] Nusratullah ibn Qudratullah with Haji Mum, Toy (Samarqand, 1914).

[103] Abdullah Awlani, Birinchi muallim (Tashkent, 1912), 30.

[104] Dimashqi (pseud.), "Musulmanlarda ichkulik balasi," Shuhrat , 11 December 1907; the issue was also taken up in "Ichkulik balasi," Tojjar , 13 January 1908.

[105] Haji Muin Shukrullah, Koknari (Samarqand, 1916).