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Ahmet Yarlykapov,
Ph. D. (Hist) (Institute of Ethnology
& Anthropology RAS)
ADAT, SHARIAH AND RUSSIAN LAW
IN THE MODERN NORTH CAUCASUS:
RESULTS AND PROSPECTS
From the late 1980s there has been growing interest in two traditional legal systems: common law (adat) and Shariah in the North Caucasus. Along with the well-known abortive experiments in the introduction of Shariah law - the Kadar zone in Daghestan, "Chechen Republic of Ichkeria" and "Imarat Kavkaz" - there are examples of the gradual and successful expansion of the sphere of using Muslim and common law in various jamaats: from young people's (Salaphite) to Sufi ones. Attempts to broaden the sphere of using common law have been especially successful in Daghestan.
At the same time it should be admitted that the forecasts concerning the spreading of Shariah law over the entire North Caucasus are too far-fetched. There are too few specialists well-versed in Shariah law in the region, and therefore it is used in a narrow sphere.
Shariah law is broadly used in the court practices in Daghestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia.
In the period between the two Chechen wars the authorities of "Ichkeria" discredited Shariah law, when they publicly shot people in
the central square of the capital Grozny. The present-day authorities in Daghestan and Chechnya are rather cautious with regard to using Shariah law in everyday life.
In some Daghestani and Chechen villages and settlements there are units of the so-called Shariah guard (young men of 20 to 30 years of age) which are in charge of maintaining public law and order. Along with Shariah tribunals, Muslims of the North Caucasus have Russian so-called people's and public arbitration courts, and their chairmen are often members of rural and district administrations.
Despite the fact that supporters of the introduction of Shariah law and representatives of the Muslim religious elite wish to restrict, if not altogether ban, the use of Russian and traditional (adat) law, most believers do not have a clear understanding of the limits and distinguishing features of adat and Shariah. The modern legal situation in the North Caucasus (especially in its western part) has a secular character, which can be explained by the successes of Soviet modernization in the region. Nevertheless, Shariah and traditional law rival with each other in this part of the Russian Caucasus. Shariah can become a real competitor of secular law in the North-West Caucasus. This is shown by the experience of the 20-year-long revival of Islam in this part of the region. Re-Islamization of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Adygea began when young people started to set up well-knit and strong youth Islamic jamaats. They became islands of the gradual revival of traditions of Muslim law where the Shariah standards were introduced. It should be noted that these youth jamaats had more literate, more knowledgeable people who introduced and used Shariah legal standards. But it should also be admitted that most Muslims regarded these norms as something alien and preferred to turn to secular law. Suffice it to mention that quite a few Muslims in
Kabardino-Balkaria actively oppose the practice of wearing head scurf by girls and praying five times a day.
Ultimately, the marginal position of young Islamic intellectuals has led them to the ranks of religious extremists, and many of them became active supporters of armed jihad.
On the whole, an analysis of the situation in the North-West Caucasus shows that Shariah and common law are not serious rivals of secular law.
Sharia law will compete with secular law with relative success in the North-East Caucasus largely due to departure of the state from various spheres of life of North Caucasian society. For example, the indefinite legal status of pastures and ploughed plots of land in most North Caucasian republics, and unlawful seizure of land for building houses are a serious challenge to local administrations. In connection with increasing migration from the mountains to valleys in Daghestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria, the number of land conflicts will be growing, and their solution, in the conditions of the absence of clear-cut laws regulating land relations, will be based on Shariah and traditional Islamic mediation. The wider use of Shariah and adat can also be explained by systemic problems which are not tackled by the Russian state in the region, namely, total corruption and graft of the legal system, insufficiency and inadequate quality of government services, ineffective activity of the state authorities, and the absence of clear-cut nationalities and religious policy combined with glaring islamophobia.
Another factor, which should be taken into account, is the growing attractiveness of "traditional" legal and Shariah practices and their wider use by criminal groupings for their purposes. These groupings have accumulated a wealth of experience in using general instability and attractive ideas and slogans for achieving their aims.
That was the case of de facto independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, as well as modern Daghestan and Ingushetia. Criminal rivalry and dishonest competition are often disguised by the slogans of jihad and struggle against the infidels and hypocrites, according to the generally accepted norms of Shariah.
It is evident that the role of Shariah as an ideological factor of the radical Islamic groupings will be growing in the North Caucasus. At the same time, terrorization of the peaceful civil population under the pretext of establishing the Shariah rule by the extremists led many groups of the population to disillusionment, loss of trust in Muslim law, and the conclusion that complete turning to Shariah will inevitably result in the worsening of their situation. This concerns, above all, the secular intelligentsia (doctors, teachers, college and university instructors, cultural workers, and others), as well as representatives of small-size and medium-size business. In other words, the extremists' turn to Shariah only undermines the prestige of Muslim law among many sections of North Caucasian society.
Judging by the present situation and its prospects for the future, the republics of North-West Caucasus will hardly have Shariah as a serious and in dependent actor in the legal sphere, in contrast to the North-East Caucasus. It will be restricted by secular law and traditional law used by nationalists. The particle use of standards and practices of Muslim law will remain the lot of marginal groups: few jamaats of young people and settlers from republics of the North-East Caucasus. On the one hand, it creates a favorable situation for the preservation of the secular character of law and society, and on the other, it marginalizes Islamic young people who feel their alienation from society. This circumstance may contribute to greater closeness of Muslim young people in their jamaats and their further radicalization.
References
V. Bobrovnikov. Musulmane Severnogo Kavkaza: obychai, pravo, nasiliye. Ocherki po istorii i etnografii prava Nagornogo Dagestana [Muslims of the North Caucasus: Customs, Law, Violence. Essays on History and Ethnography of Law on Mountain Daghestan]. Moscow. Vostochnaya literatura Publishers.
"Islam v multikulturnom mire: Musulmanskiye dvizheniya i mekhanizmy vosproizvodstva ideologii Islama v soveremennom informatsionnom prostranstve, " — Kazan, 2014, pp. 367—377.
Jamilya Aliyeva,
External doctorate student (Daghestan Scientific Center RAS, Makhachkala) SPECIFIC FEATURES OF POLITICIZATION OF ISLAM IN MODERN DAGHESTAN
The process of politicization of Islam in Russia coincided with Muslim revival in the world. Politicization of religion does not show that the population becomes more religious. It testifies to religion becoming more energetic to penetrate politics, ideology, and government spheres.
Followers of Islam live in many parts of the Russian Federation, and their number is growing with every passing year. According to expert estimates, there are from 12 to 20 Muslims in Russia (8 to 12 percent of the country's population). By 1930 their number may exceed 30 million. As pointed out by many experts and researchers, the reasons for politicization of Islam in Russia are the same as in the rest of the world, however, this process has certain specificities in this country.
Re-Islamization in the Republic of Daghestan began in the 1990s. Islamic revival was expressed, first of all, in the growing number of mosques, which are the basis of the spreading of Islam.
