Living classic of Kazakh literature says “choose school, not mosque”

Mukhtar Magauin, a living classic of Kazakh literature, has warned about the dangers of “fanatical” Islamisation. He has also criticised former President Nazarbayev as being “an agent” of the former colonial power.

A longtime critic of Nazarbayev’s regime, Magauin has been living abroad since 2006. In a rare interview with Halyq Uni YouTube channel last week, Magauin spoke against the growing popularity of conservative forms of Islam in Kazakhstan.

“Religion is like a drug. You have to understand that. In small doses, drugs can cure, but if you overuse them, they will make you sick.

“There is no need for fanatical religiosity. Religion is not a source of science or knowledge. Choose school, not a mosque,” Magauin said.

He also criticised the fact that Islamisation is being accompanied by the adoption of Arabic traditions and language.

“Why should we copy the Arabs? Their views are alien to our own nature.

“The religious ones are now speaking out against Kazakh traditions and customs, against our national dress. They are against putting gravestones in people’s resting places, against the bride greeting ceremony. They are messing up our language,” he said.

“In general, religiosity should be reduced. The Kazakhs must move away from it. We need to strive towards becoming more intelligent. We need to become a secular state,” he added.

Magauin also took former president Nazarbayev to task for “ripping off” and “corrupting” the Kazakhs.

“There have been various rulers in history. There were genius rulers. There were dictators, and manipulators. There were stupid, and mentally ill rulers.

“However, we are the only nation to have had a ruler who sold both his people and our land,” he said.

“We had some hopes [about Nazarbayev] at the beginning. However, he was someone who had been appointed by the former colonial power so that they could continue their colonial rule,” Magauin said.

“Nazarbayev ripped the Kazakhs off and corrupted the nation morally and spiritually … He was an agent of the colonial government, a continuation of the colonial period.”

“Of course, to an extent we all have to share the responsibility for that,” Magauin added.

Speaking about his own work, Magauin said he had finished writing a new historical novel, “Altyn Orda” (“Golden Horde”), that covers 1,000 years of Kazakh history. The book, “based on old and new historic research materials”, is planned to be published in Kazakhstan this year.

“I think it tells a complete history of Altyn Orda, not from the Kazakh point of view, but in an objective and fair way,” he said.

Asked about his thoughts about his works not finding international recognition, Magauin said that “the main thing for the Kazakh writer is to serve their own people”.

“Being a writer from a colonised nation is both a curse and a piece of luck. A curse, because your work does not get attention, it is seen as secondary, inferior. And luck, because you can write about things that others cannot write about.”

“Getting translated into foreign languages is not an aim in itself. If you do get translated it should not be seen as an achievement, and if you do not it should not be seen as a failure either. To get a good translation takes time, I have no time for that at the moment,” he said.

Magauin added that whether or not Kazakh writers win international prizes, Kazakh literature as a whole has a good future ahead.

The Soviet government saw Magauin, who is now 83 years old, as a nationalist, and his books started to be published only after Kazakhstan became independent in 1991. In 1997, Magauin won an international prize for Turkic-speaking writers.

After leaving Kazakhstan in 2006, Magauin lived in Prague for several years, before moving to the United States. He is currently living between Turkey and the US.

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