Kyrgyzstan

Independent on the Soviet collapse (1991); Islam reached its Tien-Shan valleys through the Qarakhanids and Silk-Road trade and spread among the Kyrgyz over later centuries, leaving a Sunni-Ḥanafī majority — deeper-rooted in the south — within a secular state.

☾ The Coming of Islam

Islam from the Qarakhanids and the Silk Road

Islam reached the Tien-Shan valleys through the Qarakhanid dynasty — the first Turkic ruling house to adopt Islam — and along the Silk Road, spreading among the Kyrgyz over later centuries; the settled south became more thoroughly Islamised than the pastoral north.

☾ Religious Composition

A Sunni-Ḥanafī majority, deeper-rooted in the south

Most Kyrgyz are Sunni Muslims of the Ḥanafī school within a secular state; Islam is more deeply rooted in the south (the Fergana valley), while Soviet rule left practice in the north often nominal, alongside a Russian Orthodox minority.

Demographic shares are approximate.

At a glance