Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a Turkic state in Central Asia. Formerly the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, a republic in the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan declared independence on October 27, 1991. The population of Turkmenistan is largely Sunnī Muslim, with Muslims representing between 87% and 93% of the population. A small population of Eastern Orthodox Christians, the state religion of the preSoviet Russian Empire, also exists. Islam spread to Turkmenistan during the Islamic conquests of the seventh century, with most Turkmen practicing a form of popular folk Islam that is integrated with the tribal social organization of Turkmen society.

Islam became prominent in Turkmenistan due, in large part, to the missionary activities of Sufi dervishes and shaykhs in the 11th through 14th centuries. The adulation of these holy men combined ...