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resistance and increase financial instability. That is why legal regulation of Islamic banking in Russia should become one of the key questions which must be solved by legislative authorities.
The author of the abstract - V. Schensnovich.
2017.01.007. O. SENIUTKINA. MOSQUES OF THE VOLGA REGION IN SOCIAL PROCESSES IN MODERN RUSSIA // "Religioznye missii na obschestvennoy arene: Rossiyskiy I zarubezhnyy opyt. IE RAS", Moscow, 2016, P. 255-260.
Keywords: mosques of the Volga region, multi-confessionality, traditional Islam, Imam, Ummah.
O. Seniutkina,
Dr. Sc. (History), Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University named after N. Dobrolyubov
Nowadays, in the fast-changing Russian and international reality the Moslems including the Volga ones have to think more deeply about the role of mosques as centers of mahalla life and more efficient use of the potential of Moslem communities. Of course, mosques should continue to be the centers of uniting of the Moslems offering prayers to the Almighty. They must be, as before, the places of communication and convergence of coreligionists. The original function of the mosque and its social purpose were purely internal to the emerging Ummah. That is, the mosque performed the tasks that it was to perform according to the norms of the Islamic doctrine: the tasks of the Moslems' prayer place. But from the very beginning of their history, mosques were not only prayer but also public buildings with a variety of functions.
The mosque in the beginning of its history at the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the righteous caliphs was not separated from state activities: even the religious buildings were constructed wall to wall with the residence of the Governor, it
was in the mosque that the treasury was kept, the decrees were declared, rulers and governors addressed the people with political speeches. Until 10-11 centuries trials had been hold in the mosques. Before the advent of the maktabs and madrassas classes were held in mosques. If we turn to the Moslem of middle ages, we shall see that the social functions of the mosque were already changing at that stage of development of the Moslem society.
In medieval Western Europe there was coming up the separation of the secular and the religious spheres of society. In relation to the history of the Islamic world, this did not happen. But there is a certain stereotype that for it, such separation is not typical: the whole history of the Islamic civilization consists of social movements according to the Quran. This is not quite true and sounds too categorical. Still, historically, the life of any society had been developing in such a way that the process of separation of the secular and the religious principles were inevitably becoming more active — and this was characteristic of the Moslem community too. For the Ummah that was also the case, but not on the same scale as for the West.
If we talk about mosques, they were gradually left by the Cadi (judges), elements of any cultural activities in mosques ceased to exist, there appeared special people — imams: the rulers did no more act as leaders in charge of the prayer, etc. These processes were rooted in the life of the society: from creating of the multi-ethno-confessional composition of the population of the Arab Caliphate to the globalization processes of modernity. Social role of mosques was changing in the specific conditions of life of the Islamic civilization.
The Russian society, in contrast to the West, is a society for which Islam is an integral part of the Russian culture. Russian Islam was gaining foothold in the framework of the Imperial civilization. And, in particular, this is confirmed by the situation in the Volga region. The mosques of the Volga region in the modern history period were increasingly manifesting themselves
as the defenders of public policy. And in the context of politicization of the Russian society in the early 20 century the Moslems did not take the radical way, trying to find compromises in relations with the authorities.
The more secularism was gaining foothold in the life of society, particularly in the Soviet period of history, the more the Tatars of the Volga region were moving away from the traditional religion. Although in the understanding of the Tartars, bearers of Islamic values, the religion remained and remains the most important part of their past culture. A certain gap between the disbelieving Tatars and the Tatars-Moslems is clearly felt today. But the gap is not so wide if we talk about the Volga Tatars, since the beginning of its manifestation refers only to the last century. In the conditions of modern life, when the processes of not only secularization but desecularization too are going in parallel, the role of mosques can and should increase, although not every Tatar is on the path of Islam.
Contemporary social processes in Russia functionally change the role of mosques in the society. First of all, one should speak of the migration processes affecting the ethnic composition of the mahalla of the Volga region. A Moslem community, traditionally Tatar by composition, has to make extra efforts to bring people of other ethnic culture into its membership, moreover, representatives of other states. As for religious beliefs of the migrants, these people represent different trends and directions in Islam, which also complicates the tasks of spiritual leaders of the Volga region.
Imams today are still more often talking about the need for a serious dialogue not only with authorities but also with public organizations, representatives of other confessions, with the academic community. Imams feel an increasing need to look for opportunities of communication with migrants, and this raises the issue of the language of sermons. In addition to the Arabic language, the language of Islam as a world religion, it is necessary to speak the native language of the listener. In the
mosques of the Volga region sermons are delivered in Russian, Tatar languages.
Lately there has been a debate over the concept of "traditional Islam". Some participants believe it useless to apply this word combination to and to argue about it. In this case they refer to a certain conservatism of the religious denotations: once the Moslems did not use such a thing earlier, there is no need of it today. But then the question arises, how to maintain contact of the Moslems with the greater part of society, which, not being versed in the matters of Moslem faith, are totally confused: what is meant by traditional Islam, a notion which keeps appearing in the media. Even in the Ummah there is no unified view about how to eliminate those "faults" that exist in it. These are the mosques of the Volga region, as is evidenced by all their rich history, that are the traditional centers of Islam, the "state" Islam. And the imams working in them have always strived to maintain the tradition. And the most important thing in this Moslem tradition is to accept the Only God in your heart, and everything else that is at first unclear to the Moslem whose ancestors were forced to interrupt the connection between generations, can be learned gradually.
The most important task for the contemporary Moslems and their leaders is the formation by the efforts of the whole of the Russian Ummah of their own identical tradition not deviating from the basic principles of the doctrine, but consistent with the accumulated experience of their predecessors-Moslems. The ancestors of the Volga Tatars-Moslems, being law-abiding and peaceful people of Russia, did not contradict the Quran and the Sunnah in their activities. In their worldview and actions Quranic and historical traditions have intertwined. In the mosques of the Volga the imams proclaimed the ideas that came from the Prophet Muhammad. The adherence to the religion and lifestyle of their ancestors saved and protected the people even in the most difficult and tragic moments of their history. Incitements to violence have never sounded in the mosques on
the banks of the Volga, on the contrary, all the rhetoric was aimed at the establishment of peace, sobriety, good neighborliness and mutual aid. The potential of traditional Islam is great and it must be used for the benefit of people.
Despite centuries of tradition, changes in the living conditions in Russia and in the world in general (the rise of extremism in the first place) not only require that mosques were more active in keeping the traditional style of activity, but also call for some innovations. The Russian Moslem elite pays attention to necessity of innovation in the current conditions. Not only imams and chairmen of the Spiritual Directorate of Moslems, but also ordinary believers join the discussion of problematic issues of Moslem life. For all those who want to argue what should be the function of the mosques today vast opportunities are afforded by the Internet forums. Today, the mosque requires close interaction in the course of social practices with all the emerging civil society. The mosque is designed to solve the tasks which the society has never put before it earlier. It is necessary, the author concludes,
- to develop the culture of all congregations (Tatar, Azeri, Tajik, Uzbek, etc.);
- to carry out social service on a large scale;
- to create conditions for deployment of a more active dialogue
- with all members of the society at least at the level of the region, confessing
- different religions or being purely secular people;
- to strive in every way to prevent any tendencies of the parishioners leaning for extremism, and, especially, the recruitment of Moslem parishioners for terrorist groups.
The author of the abstract -V. Schensnovich.
