Soviet historical scholarship and Oriental studies did not sufficiently examine the role of the Islamic factor in the political repressions of the 1920s–1940s. Although pressure on the social, cultural, and spiritual structures of the Muslim community during this period was systematic and consistent, its historical significance and scope remained largely overlooked by researchers for decades. The scale of the issue becomes evident when regional demographics are taken into account: in many national republics, the proportion of rural Muslim population ranged from 10 to 60 percent, and among nomadic and semi-nomadic communities it was even higher.

The expansion of the Soviet repressive apparatus in the 1930s affected virtually all social groups, and naturally did not spare the Muslim population. The “Great Terror” of 1937–1938 resulted in mass persecution and elimination of representatives of the traditional national and religious elite. Within this broader process, Islamic institutions, spiritual leaders, qadis, imams, madrasa instructors, and other religious figures came under close ideological scrutiny by the state.

From the late 1920s to the late 1930s, Soviet security organs pursued a deliberate and systematic policy toward the Islamic milieu. This policy aimed to remove the religious class from public life, weaken the institutional foundations of Islam, dismantle centralized forms of religious administration, undermine the authority of spiritual leaders, and construct an image of Muslims as a “potentially dangerous social group.”

The Soviet ideological apparatus sought to portray Islam as a force allegedly threatening political and social stability. Pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism were artificially depicted as “counterrevolutionary tools.” Any cultural, educational, or religious activity undertaken by the Islamic elite was interpreted as an expression of political disloyalty.

These historical circumstances created the conditions for the emergence, in 1940, of a major political investigation later known as the “Chain of the Qur’an.” This case became the culmination of Soviet repressive policy toward Islamic institutions and one of the most extensive and complex campaigns targeting the Muslim intelligentsia.