The journey to a lost Mennonite colony in Uzbekistan

“How can you be half a religion?” The question comes to Sofia Samatar in a way that characterizes her memoir of a pilgrimage across Uzbekistan in search of a lost colony of Mennonites: through several lenses at once and in the form of an incomplete story.

At dinner one evening in Bukhara, Samatar’s friend Diane says that she once told someone she was “half Mennonite.” That person’s response was, “How can you be half a religion?” Their Uzbek guide immediately picks up on the question and tells them that Uzbekistan is full of “half Muslims.” He quotes the 11th-century scholar and poet Omar Khayyam, who says, “Their right hand is on the Qur’an, their left hand on the bottle.” One of the Uzbeks at the table thinks this is funny. Another “looks severe.” Then Samatar adds, “For dessert, a Rice Krispie treat stuffed with dried fruit,” as if that image will clarify the different definitions of religion, identity, and culture that are at play.

This is the landscape The White Mosque takes you through: one of prismatic identities and wandering passions, with the hope and the question of fidelity and coherency at the center.