Established in 1968 by the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and in continuous publication until its closure in 1991, the magazine Muslims of the Soviet East was the only Islamic periodical carrying the official seal of approval of the Soviet government. Published originally in Uzbek, the magazine
expanded its linguistic base in the following years, adding Arabic (1969), French and English (1974), Farsi (1980), and Dari (1984). A Russian version would come along surprisingly late, only in 1990, one year before its closure.
As with many foreign language publications in the Soviet Union, the target audience of the magazine were not its citizens but readers abroad. Consequently, the original Uzbek language edition was exclusively in the traditional Arabic script known as the Yana Imla, a disappearing writing form in Soviet Central Asia (due to the
aggressive linguistic and educational reforms carried out by the authorities), but in use in Uzbek communities in places like Afghanistan. The choice of the Arabic script had also a secondary strategic significance. Provided the subject matter of the magazine - religion, Soviet authorities were especially reluctant to make it
available in the reformed Cyrillic alphabet in use in Uzbek schools, thereby precluding, or at least reducing, the likelihood of the journal becoming available to the younger generation, whose anti-religious education was of paramount importance to the
government.
If the publication of the magazine in Arabic, Farsi, and Dari was meant to familiarize readers in those countries with the life of their coreligionists in the Soviet Union, the introduction of the magazine in the "Western" languages served an additional propaganda purpose, i.e. to counter the notion prevalent in the West that the USSR was thoroughly and intractably anti-religious. Consisting of multiple sections, the magazine contained a mix of sermons exhorting Islamic piety from notable Central Asian clerics, discussions of regional Islamic history, and the role of Soviet Muslims in the cultural and political life of the USSR.
Muslims of the Soviet East Digital Archive contains the most complete collection of the magazine in the English language. Fully searchable, the database provides researchers from a variety of disciplines a unique and a valuable insight into the life of Soviet Muslims, magazine's obvious propagandistic slant and purpose notwithstanding.