Basing on their archival and field studies of Islamic practices including holy places, mosques and waqf endowments in Western Siberia I.V. Belich and A.K. Bustanov argue the importance of Sufi traditions in the spread of Islam in the area under study. A comparative study of narrative sources and field oral materials allows them to formulate new goals of Islamic studies in today's Siberia concentrating on biographies of ulema and Sufis as main actors in the history of Islamization of the region.