PICTURES

STORY

START 10.09.08

Market

10.09.10

10.09.20

10.09.31

Vox pops

10.09.50

10.09.56

10.10.07

Hijab stall

10.10.11

10.10.24

This is Osh, in southern Kyrgyzstan. It's the heart of Central Asia's most populated region, the Ferghana Valley, a melting-pot of countries and ethnic groups

I am from this part of the world, which when I grew up was a secular state. Now I've come to investigate the theme that really throws itself at you here - Islam.

PTC What I noticed in this market is that many more women are wearing headscarves or hijabs than ten years ago. And women who are not covered at all seem out of place here.

So what is it that has drawn people to Islam here?

This man told me that Islam is based on purity, and has made society more orderly.

This woman told me that Islam gives people a sense of calm. Her hijab protects her from men's prying eyes.

Then I found a hijab stall.

Their business was booming, and they were only too happy to fit me with one. Hijabs are really in fashion here. But as the patron told me, there is a more profound reason - if you are a Muslim woman, like me, it's your duty to wear one.

But this is not just about faith. The increasing popularity of the hijab here mirrors a wider political shift in Kyrgyzstan that could have profound consequences for the region.

Wedding

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Cooking etc

It's 6 am, and I've been invited to a wedding. The morning meal is the focal point of the whole day.

But this is no ordinary wedding. The catering staff are from an organisation banned throughout Central Asia, Turkey and Pakistan, as well as Russia and Germany: Hizb ut-Tahrir.

But, for the groom's family, what's more important is that the food is there and the caterers aren't drunk.

Hizb ut-Tahrir may be proscribed, but it certainly knows how to throw a party

HT man in house

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For their members this sense of order reflects the new world that Hizb ut-Tahrir - or the Islamic Party of Liberation - offers.

Ayub Khan: We are a political party, but we work differently.

We're not satisfied with democracy. It is an imported ideology, and one made by people. Look at what it has to offer: AIDS, homosexuals, crime, social problems - all of these are the consequences of democracy.

Drive

10.11.41

These barren, hot and impoverished hills of Central Asia used to be a sleepy backwater of the Soviet Union.  But now the region, plagued by corruption and rigged elections, is home to a vibrant Islamic movement challenging the status quo... and the new world order

Picnic

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10.12.19

To understand more, I was driven to an undisclosed location for a meeting with two senior members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Initially, they didn't seem keen to talk to a woman. But soon they explained their world vision.

HZ: We can take jihad to countries occupied by a foreign power. But we are not calling on our members to go and fight there. Our mission is to show how the US, Russia and China are occupying forces. Our weapon is far stronger than the atomic bomb.

HZ and DVD

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To illustrate what they meant, the men showed me a film that was clandestinely being distributed across the region. It began by claiming that the British, French and Russian empires conspired to destroy what is known as the Khilafah - or Islamic rule - across the Muslim world.

The film then showed violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya. Attacks on the Muslim nation, as they see it. The film was well received

Shahida: They're saying the reason people like this film because it shows the truth. It shows the kind of democracy Britain and the US want to introduce in Muslim countries. They're showing it's not democracy - it's violence.

As we watched, they asked me to tell the British people and queen that British troops must be withdrawn from Iraq. If not, they said, revenge would be taken once the Khilafah was established.

Aman driving in car

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Saaliev I/V

But how significant and widespread in the wider region are the views I had heard? Aman Saaliev is a former Islamic radical who now studies Islamist groups.

Saaliev: There are major changes afoot in Central Asia. Where they'll take us nobody knows.

People are disillusioned with the West's foreign policy, and with everything that's happened since the 90s within the country. They just see corruption and collapse. People are looking for an alternative.

Friday prayers, Karasuu

10.14.07

10.14.11

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And you don't have to travel far to find evidence of this.

It's Friday, and I've come to a mosque which is well known for attracting a younger crowd of Muslims.

In the courtyard there was plenty of literature telling people how to be good Muslims.

Inside the mosque spoke Abdu Rashod, the 29 year-old Imam.

Imam outside

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10.15.02

He clearly had a strong following. I asked him what role he saw Islam playing in today's Kyrgyzstan.

Imam: In Kyrgyzstan the official position is that there should be no politics in the mosque. But the whole point of Islam is that it is not only a religion, but it offers guidelines to the way people should live.

Islam answers every question in life.

Then I asked him whether he would like to live in an Islamic state

Imam: Of course. Any Muslim who says there is a better regime than the Islamic state must leave the Islamic nation.

Osh GVs

10.15.11

Religious extremism police, walking through tourist site

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It was evident that the idea of an Islamic state was fast gathering ground in Kyrgyzstan, for many challenging the legitimacy of the current political system

It is a sentiment that is increasingly worrying the authorities

Shakir Zulimov is the regional head of a police department specifically established to combat religious extremism. He told me Hizb ut-Tahrir was of particular concern.

Shakir: Until last year we just thought that Hizb ut-Tahrir were involved in propaganda and leafleting. Then we found out members were involved in plans for terrorist attacks in Kyrgyzstan. This year a big Hizb ut-Tahrir event in Indonesia called for a Khilafah across the whole world.

So we're expecting an escalation.

10.15.59

Mosque, Friday prayers

Since the end of the Soviet Union, much of Central Asia has seen its economic fortunes, political freedoms and social development tumble. Analysts put four of the region's nations in the 20 most corrupt countries in the world. For many Islam is the solution. Could it be that the next revolution here will be Islamic? The mood is certainly ripening.

END 10.16.21