After Deportation: Chechen and Ingush Sufi Groups and their Zikr Rituals in Soviet Kazakhstan

The present paper investigates the history of the Kunta-Hajji (Qadiriyya) Sufi groups (virds) of Chechen and Ingush deportees during their enforced exile in Soviet Kazakhstan (1944–1957/1963). On the basis of anthropological fieldwork among survivors, returnees, and their offspring, the authors argue that the Ingush and Chechen deportees perceived the virds as an important moral support network and a pillar of their identity in a foreign and inimical environment. In the absence of dominant shaykhs and formal chains of transmissions, flat hierarchies allowed for an easy admission into the virds, and for flexibility in the adaptation of the “loud” zikr circle dances to the terrible conditions of forced exile. The article reviews the various groups and their particular practices. Of particular interest is the emergence of a new vird among Chechen believers in northern Kazakhstan, and the integration of female participants into the zikr ritual of that group.