Religious preachers of Kazakhstan use social media actively to expand their audience.
Priests, imams, individuals who preach religious values have become a sort of coaches for religious people. They have thousands of followers, they live stream on YouTube, Instagram, Telegram and even TikTok.
Who are they, religious influencers on the internet? How do they influence their audience and what do they speak about?
A TikTok imam
Because of the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020 all around the world, Kazakhstan prohibited mass events, including assemblies in mosques and churches. So, people interested in religion began to seek “spiritual food” in the worldwide web.
Demand generated supply – preachers came for their flock to the internet. We can name the chief imam of Almaty Tole Bi mosque, Yersin Amre, the naib of the mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan, Kenzheali Myrzabaev, the chief imam of the Central Mosque of Aktyube region, Serikzhan Yenshibaiuly among the active religious activists on the internet. Nurlan Baizhigituly, called by the people as a “TikTok imam,” has become very popular as well.
The TikTok imam has over 405 thousand followers on TikTok and the same number of followers on Instagram. In his accounts, Nurlan describes himself as an “imam, theologian, religious scholar, psychologist.” He gives advices to his followers regarding everyday problems, explains the canons of Islam in a modern, plain language understandable both to the young people and to the elder generation of social media users.
The religious activist in his interview to the YouTube channel ‘Nartau Aralbayuli’ explained his popularity as follows, “If I just sat there and said that all would die, and preached, I wouldn’t be able to have so many views, and I wouldn’t have young people listening to me. So, the main reason why I tell jokes, and why I speak the language the young people speak is to draw attention of the youth [to the Islam – Editor].”
His followers agree with him. “It’s all simple. Not every imam would make such examples as he does. It looks funny and enlightening,” said Takhir, a young man who watches the imam on TikTok, to CABAR.asia.
Blogger priest
Another vivid example of a religious internet influencer can be the rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in the district centre of Bulayevo in North Kazakhstan region, priest Aleksiy Gavrilov. He calls himself the ‘blogger priest’. He has over 24 thousand followers on TikTok and over 2.7 million views in total.
“The reason [of popularity] is that there is no obstacle between the priest and the man. Especially, when the priest is on social media: people ask him questions, and he answers them right away. It means approachability, honesty, undistorted thoughts,” said Aleksiy Gavrilov to CABAR.asia.
Although the rector of the cathedral delivers sermons on Instagram, he pays more attention to TikTok:
“TikTok is the most relevant network because it gives an opportunity to live stream, and people find in interesting when a priest communicates with them directly,” the priest said.
Simple and available
CABAR.asia asked Nurmukhammed Meimankhozha, research officer of the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies of the science board of the ministry of science and higher education, to explain the reason of popularity of religious bloggers.
“The themes of sermons on social media focus more on the questions and answers format. People are more interested in domestic, personal matters, often ask such questions as if it is allowed to hang a guitar on the wall, whether one is allowed to take a loan, credit from a bank. They ask about social obligations within a family, about upbringing of children and adolescents,” Meimankhozha said.
According to the expert, the activities of religious figures have switched to the internet mainly because many processes have switched to online format.
“The number of social media users has increased dramatically in the society. The youth is often reluctant to read books, magazines. The easiness and availability of access to information via virtual channels influence the religion too,” said Nurmukhammed Meimankhozha.
Is their activity legal?
Kazakhstan has laws forbidding to spread any information materials with religious content outside of places of worship, and missionary work is allowed only after the religious association has been registered with the justice authorities. Moreover, missionary work is permitted only after the positive opinion of the religious expert examination.
If the religious activity is pursued on the internet (i.e. outside the place of worship), it falls under the sanctions imposed by article 490 of the Administrative Offence Code. In fact, any material (article, post on personal account on social media) that contains any given religious component can result in an administrative fine. For example, in July 2022, journalist Rufia Mustafina was fined for publication of the video interview with the chief imam of Kyzylzhar mosque based in Petropavlovsk. The interview was for information purposes only – it was about the traditions of the Kurban Ait celebration.
In this regard, Nurmukhammed Meimankhozha said that there is the need to introduce the procedure of certification and monitoring of religious preachers on the internet.
“Lectures, videos posted by religious preachers of non-traditional school can have unreliable and distorted meaning of religious postulates. We need to certify religious preachers on the internet to determine the degree [legality] of their words, statements, ambitions, which should not contradict the principles of the secure state, interfaith harmony in the society,” Meimankhozha said.
However, other specialists in religion do not see any need in certification. Talgat Temirbaev, instructor of the chair of religious studies of the Egyptian University of Islamic Culture ‘Nur-Mubarak’, said about certification of religious preachers on the internet:
“At this stage, there is no need to do it. If they are citizens of Kazakhstan or persons who stay in the territory of Kazakhstan, their activities on the internet are governed by law of the Republic of Kazakhstan. And it is literally impossible to try to take control of the external flow on the internet.”
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