Her paper on female Muslim Instagram bloggers in Kyrgyzstan was presented on July 22 at the EASA 2026 conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. The work is based on offline and online ethnography, in-depth interviews with religious bloggers, and a survey of Muslim youth in Bishkek.

The researcher notes that after the collapse of the USSR, interest in Islam in Central Asia has grown significantly, but a lack of religious knowledge remains.

Against this backdrop, Instagram and other platforms have become important venues for young people to learn about religion and apply it in their daily lives.

One example was the Imam Sarakhsi Mosque in Bishkek. During her fieldwork, Shabdan discovered that women learned about lectures at the mosque through Instagram. According to one participant, without the social media account, religious events would not have attracted so many attendees. The researcher believes that the internet has effectively expanded the mosque’s activities beyond its building.

The survey involved 200 young people, primarily between the ages of 18 and 22. Of these, 161 were women, 38 were men, and one participant did not indicate gender.

Among the 193 respondents who answered the question about namaz, 72 percent reported not performing daily prayer, and 28 percent said they did. Of those who did perform namaz, 78.3 percent prayed five times a day.

Attending mosques also turned out to be a relatively uncommon practice. Of the 185 respondents, 80.5 percent said they did not attend mosques. Only 5.7 percent of respondents regularly attended the service on Fridays.

However, the term «Muslim youth» in the study does not exclusively refer to deeply religious people. Many young Kyrgyz consider themselves Muslims by family and cultural affiliation, even if they do not perform namaz, attend mosques, or observe all religious observances.

According to the author’s observations, social media allows young people to form a religious identity not only through family influence. Bloggers demonstrate the Islamic way of life through clothing, daily habits, moral teachings, and ideas about a prosperous life. Audiences don’t simply view this content; they relate it to their lives and choose their own ways of practicing their religion.

Shabdan emphasizes that digital religiosity isn’t limited to the internet.

Advertisements seen on social media bring people to lectures and mosques, and bloggers’ recommendations influence real-life practices—prayer, wearing the hijab, choosing halal food, and participating in religious life.