This paper was the basis for a talk I gave in Russian at a conference for the jubilee of Ashirbek Muminov at the Eurasian National University on the 20th November 2014. It was published in the conference proceedings: Yu. V. Shapoval, A. S. Kabylova & N. Robinson (ed.) Islamovedenie v Kazakhstane: sostoyanie, problemy, perspektivy (Astana: ENU, 2014), pp.24-30.