Marriage is at the base of the Central Asian traditional extended patrilineal and patrilocal family. In spite of some differences in the marriage customs of the republics of Central Asia because of the common nomadic, semi-nomadic, and sedentary origin of peoples, it is possible to speak about a “Central Asian marriage” that follows traditional rules even during the Soviet period, when the Communist regime tried to undermine religious marriages.

Before the Russian Revolution, Sharīʿa and adat (the customary law of nomad peoples) furnished rules regulating marriage rite…