Popular Islam in Chinese Central Asia (Mid-19th-late 20th century).

The article discusses the practice of popular Islam in Chinese central Asia and its compatibility with puritan Islam. Islam was consolidated in the region by the Karakanids and made the official religion by the Mongols. When the region was annexed by the Chinese empire, Muslims were allowed to continue practicing Islam. While native Muslims adhered to most tenets and traditions of Islam, they retained practices such as idol and ancestral worship that violated Islamic doctrine. Villagers prayed at shrines for imams and saints and would prostrate themselves before the descendants of saints. The author speculates these practices were imported from neighboring countries such as China or adapted from Buddhist rituals.