ABSTRACT
This chapter contends that post-Soviet Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan both need Islamic finance and could benefit from it in practical terms to a similar extent, but, this notwithstanding, each approaches it in a different way. The reason behind this variation, the chapter argues, is that Azerbaijan faces immediate threats, both real and perceived, from state and sub-state agents that could potentially use Islam as a tool to influence the Azerbaijani state through its population, while Kazakhstan apparently does not face such challenges to a similar extent. Unlike Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan is geographically close to Iran, Turkey, and Russia’s troubled North Caucasus region and shares cultural affinity with each, a fact that makes Baku more ‘vulnerable’ to its neighbours’ cultural and ideological influences, in which religion has a significant role to play. Consequently, Kazakhstan has chosen to welcome the introduction of Islamic finance in the country, and hence – whether intentionally or not – has exposed itself to the possibility of wider Islamic penetration among its population as part of its unfolding post-Soviet identity, while the Azerbaijani government has so far been resistant to both.
