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PLACE AND ROLE OF ISLAM IN REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
2016.10.003. A. SAVATEEV. STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS: ACADEMIC PROJECT // The 2nd International Science Education Conference "Bigiev reading." Moslem thought in the 21 century: the unity of tradition and renewal. (Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientific-Educational Conference, St. Petersburg, May 17-20, 2015). Moscow, 2016. P. 300-311.
Keywords: Islamic movements, radical Islam, al Qaeda, Taliban, ISIL, the Islamic Caliphate, the prophet Muhammad, Salafi, P.A. Sorokin, ideationalism, Wahhabism, extremism.
A. Savateev,
Dr. Sc. (Hist.) Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences
The author notes that the Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences is Implementing the program "The Islamist movement in the world political process: ideological directions of the organization, development trends". Within the frames of this program there is being prepared a monographic publication in several volumes under the title "Islamic radical movements on the political map of the modern world". The main objective of the project is to give an idea about the nature, activities and
development prospects of Islamist movements in the countries where radical Islam manifests the socio-political activity. The subject of the research is the processes generating radical doctrines, goals and objectives of radical organizations, their relations with the official authorities and society. The research is also focused on the mutual influence of the West, Russia and other world politics actors, on the one hand and Islamic movements on the other; the emergence of religious-political organizations, their rivalry and impact on the Moslem society, the relationship between fundamentalist and traditional trends.
The problematics of the phenomenon of the radical Islam, according to the researcher, is extremely diverse. Up to now there is no well-established terminology to define it: such terms as Islamism, political Islam, Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic terrorism, jihadism, Wahhabism, Salafism, revivalism etc. are in use. They all express a characteristic component of the contemporary global political process - the widespread, often very aggressive movements, aimed at power grab in accordance with the project of creating the worldwide Islamic Caliphate. The political Islam has for the first time in Modern Times declared itself during the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979. Accelerated Europeanization of economic and cultural life in this country, carried out by the Shah's government, met with public resistance resting upon Islamic religious principles, which in a short time brought to power the spiritual and religious leaders of the Iranian society. The events of the Iranian Islamic revolution caused a surge of religious activity in the Islamic countries with a notable Moslem ethnic component. The events of September 11, 2001, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York crumbled as the result of the terrorist attacks, became a turning point in the history of Islam. Official authorities accused Islamic terrorists, led by al-Qaeda, of the hijacking and the attack on the building, other experts argued that this was a grand provocation organized by the secret services of the USA and Israel. The name "al-Qaeda" from that time has become a household word for all extremist Islamic groups.
Regardless of their ideological content, it has become a symbol of the Islamic extremism. The talks about the danger posed by radical Islamic organizations, embodied in al-Qaeda, arose all over the world, the major American and European publications devoted their front pages to this subject. In a number of countries in the center of the Islamic world nationally-oriented regimes that had existed for decades collapsed under pressure of the local Salafi forces, and Islamist groups, movements, associations, inspired by various doctrines, mostly Salafi got loose. So, seemingly prosperous Iraq and Libya eventually collapsed, Syria and Yemen became a scene of fierce fighting between Shiites and Sunnis, Egypt has experienced several shifts of power and became unsafe for tourists, who sometimes become victims of extremists.
The apotheosis of the Islamic radicalism is the Islamic State which stormed into the world political life and became the center of attraction for many hundreds of thousands of supporters of the idea of restoring the global Islamic Caliphate. In a few months, the Islamic State (ISIL) advanced to the role of the leader of all Islamist movements. It quickly became the center of attraction for many Moslems of Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asian countries. The Mujahideen from the US, France and Tatarstan, Dagestan and the UK, Germany and Tyumen region, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, not to mention Islamic countries folded there.
The loss of the central unifying idea, which at the time was construction of the society of economic and social equality contributed to the growth of sympathy for the radical schools of Islam; the collapse of the Soviet Union demonstrated inefficiency of the socio-cultural project focused solely on the achievement of financial results. The lack of uplifting human imperatives has led to the fact that the Islamist doctrines have come to the forefront. They feature the active idea, but in the form of unconditional acceptance of Islam by all citizens of Russia and the CIS countries and establishment of an Islamic theocratic state. And, in the absence of a nationwide solidaristic idea, they proved to be topical.
The advantage of this doctrine as compared with the hoarding ideology was that it appealed to the soul of man, appealed to the "ideational representation of the world", which the Russian-American thinker P.A. Sorokin distinguished as one of the types of cultural mentality. Carriers of ideationalism strive to bring their souls closer to God, and to save not only their own souls, but those of others people. That is, according to the classification given by P. Sorokin, the active ideationalism, which is demonstrated by the deeds of great religious reformers. In the case of the latest Islamic movements, such as ISIL, Taliban, al-Qaeda, the individual groups in Libya spiritual and material needs and goals are balanced, but the material needs are clearly subordinate to the ideational, i.e., spiritual ones. Because of this, radical Islamists, including fundamentalists "in oneself" or "for oneself", tend to the eternal, imperishable values. Their philosophy of Being is the eternal, unchanging existence of society and political relations represented a thousand times since the time of the prophet Muhammad. The true apostles of the purity of Islam who declared themselves fighters for the faith, consider the external values of the material world only from the point of view of their usefulness for attaining the eternal, global purposes, primarily creation of the Caliphate where all Moslems of the world and all areas where there is at least one true believer would be unified. Being ideationalists from this point of view, the Sunni radicals represented by their leaders (the brightest among them are Ayman al-Zawahiri, the late Osama bin Laden, etc.) are, on the whole, indifferent to any values, illusory and vain, in their opinion, and in some cases even hostile to them as the causes of erosion of the soul and violation of "revolutionary resistance" and harmony of beliefs. In this radical society, material success and wealth cannot become the predominant value, they can be perceived only as a necessary condition for achieving a high, transcendent goal. Devotion to the religion, absolutist ethics, piety and knowledge of the Sharia law, the hadiths — that is, according to the belief of the Salafis, the ideal of a true Moslem. But in particular it consists in protection and
reconquering the commandments set the by Allah and conveyed by the Prophet, accomplishing not only the five basic principles (pillars) of Islam, but also the sixthone: to wage the military Jihad.
In Russia of the Modern Times Islam, as a significant political factor, has begun to assert itself since 1991, after the elimination of Soviet power and the relevant socio-cultural insights. Most sharply it manifested in Chechnya. The resulting vacuum was quickly filled by religious dogmas, including Islam. In the North Caucasus there emerged and intensified the movement of the radical Islam. And in the states of Central Asia, where the party of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, etc. asserted themselves, the activity of Islamists, in some cases, put the political leadership of these countries to the brink of survival. The powerful influence of the Taliban in Afghanistan has spread to Pakistan and become a real danger for the existence of the former Soviet republics -Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan.
The impact of Islamic radical movements on society, the nature of inter-state and inter-confessional relations in previous times also occupied one of the main places in Russian and foreign Islamic studies. No less interest for researchers is the understanding of the endogenous features of the Islamic religious tradition: theological ideas about the nature of power, interrelation of public and legal institutions. The current surge of politicization of Islam, its emergence as a direct factor in political life resulted in a wave of publications in Russia and abroad. Political aspects, the effects of the radical statements of Moslems - that is what occupies the minds of Russian and foreign analysts.
In the new study of the Institute of Africa the radical Islam is considered from the position of the civilizational approach, primarily, as a socio-political phenomenon. The areas of Islamic religious (ideological and practical) activity, which oppose themselves not only to public and interstate status quo, but to the current interstate and intercivilizational order are regarded as radical ones. And here the question arises: should we consider
radical the brands in Islam in any country (no matter how extremist they may have shown themselves in the international arena, such as Wahhabism), if they have acquired the official status? However, it is clear that the origins of radicalism and aggressiveness of that same Wahhabism should be sought in the Saudi state, in those historical political and religious circumstances that led to the emergence of Wahhabism in its current form and without examining its role in the Saudi Kingdom one can hardly hope to understand the mechanism of action and significance of this phenomenon in the countries of Asia and Africa. A religious component in such a study is necessary, as well as politological analysis. However, both methods fit into a broader and deeper civilizational approach, which a priori implies them as elements of scientific analysis.
Radicalism is not confined to purely political or social phenomena. This phenomenon in itself is an expression of the nature of Islam, its desire to preserve and establish itself as the striking element of all-embracing, universal civilization. Having no equivalent technological means, the extremists resort to the use of force to offset the weakness of their values, norms and technical backwardness especially in opposition to the doctrines of alien civilizations. At the same time, the authors of the study proceed from the idea of the multiplicity of radical brands and their incarnations. They struggle fiercely for leadership, for the right to represent themselves as spokesmen of the thoughts and sentiments of the entire Ummah as more than others observing the spirit and letter of the laws of Allah.
Each volume of the monograph is divided into two parts. The first part includes general theoretical works: a synthesis of research into the nature of the radical Islam, its historical roots, philosophical, legal, religious studies, reflection in the economy. The analysis of works of the classics of the Islamic thought and doctrinal works of Moslem lawyers and theologians, which contain an excuse or justification for extremist activities will also be included. These basic texts will make the theoretical basis for
understanding the concrete manifestations of the Islamic radicalism presented in the second part of the monograph. The second part includes regional blocks of articles, consolidated by the idea of the common history and socio-cultural past and present of the peoples inhabiting the region where the Islamic movements will be seen through the example of a particular region of the world. First there will be presented analytical articles examining the historical, cultural and social preconditions of the spread of Islam, the degree of its penetration, and influence on public and political life of the region.
The sequence of the studied regions is determined by their role and value in the Moslem world in general, the severity of the fight of radical forces against the state. The first volume, containing the analysis of the political Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, has already been published1. The choice of this region as the content of the first volume predetermined the intensity of crisis events where the primary role is played by Islamist groups. This volume will be followed by the second one dedicated to the situation in the North Caucasus and the CIS republics - Azerbaijan and Georgia. Articles on all the republics have already been collected, and the editorial board has begun to edit the materials. The contents of the third volume will probably be the Islamic State, advanced to the first place as a factor of geo-civilization meaning and now playing a leading role in the global Islamic movement. The fourth volume will be given, apparently, to the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Part of the materials is supplied by the authors. Next, the "African" volume will follow, dealing with the studies of the influence of Islam on African societies and states, contributing to the transformation of the relations of the Islamized Africa with the Western world and the Ummah in general. The sections dedicated to Islamist tendencies in Russia, Western and Central Europe will follow in the descending order of socio-political opposition and weakening of the influence of radical groups.
The regional blocks will be based on the chapters dedicated to individual countries, which most fully express the specificity of radical thought and practice of the modern Islamism. In the country article, in addition to scientific analysis, the author is to give information about the existing radical Islamic organizations to specify their goals and objectives, to describe their connections with religious and secular associations, not only within the country, but also abroad. The ultimate goal will be achieved, writes A. Savateev, if the author presents a forecast of the evolution of the studied radical structures.
References
1. [Islamic radical movements on the political map of the modern world: the countries of North and North-East Africa] / Edited by A.D. Savateev, E.F. Kisriev. - Moscow: Lenand, 2015.
The author of the abstract V. Schensnovich
2016.10.004. L. ALMAZOVA. REVIEW OF THE MOSLEM IDEOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS IN THE VOLGA-URAL REGION (20-21 CENTURIES) // "Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities Research RAS", Elista, 2014, No. 2, P. 40-46.
Keywords: Islam, neotraditionalists, reformers, modernists, the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad.
L. Almazova,
Ph. D., Associate Professor,
Kazan Federal University (Volga Region)
L. Almazova examines the process of modernization of Islam at the late 19 - early 20 century. The researcher notes that collision of the two worlds - the booming West and the "frozen in its medieval dreams" East - was marked for the Moslem cultural area by epoch-making changes in the field of world perception, particularly in the capitals of Islamic countries, among the
