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ID: 095552

Colonial legislation meets sharica: muslims' land rights in Russian Turkestan / Sartori, Paolo

Sartori, Paolo	Journal Article
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2010.

Summary/Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analyse the impact of Russian legislation on the notary activity of sharica courts with regard to transactions involving landed property. The hypothesis is that incorrect assumptions made by Russian lawmakers as to the 'tradition' of Muslims' land rights caused a substantial loophole in the application of colonial substantive laws. On the one hand, the Russian state attempted to retain land ownership for itself by introducing regulations that formally restricted Muslims' land rights to possession and usufruct; on the other hand, the colonial administration never established regulations that ensured that these laws would be enforced by sharica courts and failed to integrate them into the application of Islamic law. Therefore, this paper aims to highlight how the colonial definition of Muslims' land rights was largely disregarded when the Muslim judiciary notarized transactions on land in accordance with sharica. This will lead to the conclusion that the limited effectiveness of the colonial legislation with regard to land in Turkestan stemmed from the failure to reform Islamic procedural law, a process that would have entailed codifying it.

Key Words

Rule of Law ; Landownership ; Substantive Laws ; Procedural Law ; Sharica

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ID: 095549

Introduction: dealing with states of property in modern and colonial Central Asia / Sartori, Paolo

Sartori, Paolo	Journal Article
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Publication	2010.
Summary/Abstract	In April 1868 the Military Governor of the Syr-Darya province (oblast') received a petition from a community of Chala Kazakhs1 who lived in a locality known as Kara Kamysh. The petitioners complained that other Sarts most probably from nearby Tashkent, had tried to usurp their territory.

Key Words

Russia ; Colonial Central Asia ; Chala Kazakhs ; Tashkent

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ID: 082360

Waqf in Turkestan: the colonial legacy and the fate of an Islamic institution in early Soviet Central Asia, 1917-1924 / Pianciola, Niccolo; Sartori, Paolo

Pianciola, Niccolo	Journal Article
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Publication

2007.

Summary/Abstract

The paper investigates early Soviet policies regarding the institution of waqf (charitable endowment) in Turkestan, questioning the issue of the post-colonial character of the early Soviet administration. After taking into consideration practices related to waqf management in modern Muslim states and European colonial empires, the paper briefly describes the tsarist administrative approach to the issue. We then address the ambiguity inherent in Soviet policies on waqf requisition and restitution during Civil War years. In the section that follows we deal with different groups of Muslim intellectuals that attempted to use the Soviet state in their mutual struggle over authority in Central Asian society and describe the creation and functioning of the bureaucracies responsible for managing waqf. Finally, we outline some provisional conclusions on the legacy of tsarist colonialism for Soviet power in Central Asia and the role played by progressive Muslim intellectuals

Key Words

Central Asia ; Muslim ; Islamic Institution ; Soviet Central Asia

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