The book is devoted to the study of one of the important aspects of the history and development of Central Asia over the past two and a half centuries - the interaction of politics and Islam. The main attention is paid to the role of religion in the Central Asian khanates and among the Kazakhs during the period of the region's entry into the Russian Empire and the formation of the Islamic policy of the new government. The complex twists and turns of relations between the Soviet government and local Muslim elites are revealed, including attempts to establish cooperation, the use of repression and retaliatory resistance. The process of the revival of Islam in the Central Asian republics after the collapse of the USSR was investigated, and the features of the formation of state-confessional relations were also shown.