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Kyrgyzstan
The Introduction of Islam
Islam was introduced to the Kyrgyz tribes between the ninth and
twelfth centuries. The most intense exposure to Islam occurred
in the seventeenth century, when the Jungars drove the Kyrgyz
of the Tian Shan region into the Fergana Valley, whose population
was totally Islamic. However, as the danger from the Jungars subsided
and Kyrgyz groups returned to their previous region, the influence
of Islam became weaker. When the Quqon Khanate conquered the territory
of the Kyrgyz in the eighteenth century, the nomadic Kyrgyz remained
aloof from the official Islamic practices of that regime. By the
end of the nineteenth century, however, most of the Kyrgyz population
had been converted to at least a superficial recognition of Islamic
practice.
Data as of March 1996
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