CC BY
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Shamil Kashaf,
Scientific editor, post-graduate student of Russian
Academy of People's Economy and Government Service
IN THE VICE OF IDENTITY: ISLAMIC COMMUNITIES
IN THE RUSSIAN MUSLIM WORLD
Russia will be one of the biggest Muslim countries (in absolute figures) in the European area by 2030, as is shown by the demographic forecasts of experts of the American group "Pew Research Center." According to calculations of the authoritative sociological center, it is expected that the growth rates of the Muslim population of the Russian Federation will have the index of 0,6% annually for the next two decades, whereas the non-Muslim population of the country tends to diminish annually by the same figure, on average.
Factors of Growth of Muslim Umma in Russia
There are several factors contributing to the growth of the Muslim population in the Russian Federation. We shall single out five of them.
1. Traditions of Russian Muslim women to give birth to two and more children.
2. Great number of marriages of Muslim women and comparatively small number of divorces.
3. Low incidence of abortions.
4. Favorable reproductive age of Russian Muslims not more than thirty years).
5. Increasing naturalization of foreign Muslims on Russian territory, which contributes to favorable solution of demographic and economic problems.
The Number of Russian Muslims will Increase
due to Unification of the Crimea with Russia
Most Muslim communities in the Crimea are Hanbalites, which is traditional for most Muslims of the Russian Federation and some neighboring countries. Unification of the Crimea with Russia makes the country's Muslim umma a single whole, as it was prior to the disintegration of the U.S.S.R.
Taking into account the presence of certain problems concerning the national identity of the Crimean Tatars, the Russian political leadership had to turn to resources and possibilities of Islamic nongovernmental institutions and Muslim "people's diplomacy." The initiatives of respected representatives of the religious, political and intellectual elites of Russian Muslims are aimed at disclosing the potential and advantages of consolidation of society to be seen and felt by the "new citizens" of the Russian Federation in the person of Crimean Tatars and to work out jointly a position which would make their life worthy and prosperous.
The leaders of the Russian Muslim umma more and more frequently turn to historical reminiscences more than one hundred years old. The well-known Crimean Tatar enlightener Ismail Gasprinsky (1851-1914), who was highly respected by the Turkic community of Russia as one of the greatest Muslim reformers of the 19th century and regarded as the Father of the nation, called for cooperation between the
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Russian people and peoples of Muslim culture for mutual benefit almost 120 years ago.
The decision of the reunification of the Crimea with Russia adopted in 2014 was approved by most Russians (96%) and is today the turning point in the destiny of the Russian Muslim world.
The Islamic Element of the Russian Cultural Code
One of the main authors of the discourse of national identity, President V. Putin of the Russian Federation expresses the view that "Russian Muslims have always been united in their service to society and their state." Similarly, traditional, Islam which became an important factor of socio-political life and made an invaluable contribution to the spiritual and cultural development of Russian society, should acquire a positive image as a "spiritual component of all-Russian identity." This was said, among other things, by V. Putin in Ufa, where the 225th anniversary of the decree of Empress Catherine the Great to set up the Spiritual Assembly of Muslim Law was solemnly marked. During a meeting with Islamic leaders on October 22, 2013, he defined Islam as "an important element of the Russian cultural code and an inalienable organic part of Russian history."
These words are logically connected with the main trend of the modern political processes in Russia. It becomes evident that most political problems acquire social significance only when they are given religious meaning, and religious intentions become in-demand above all in the political area. Rapid socio-cultural and political shifts lead to the fact that under their influence the political aspect of national identity is ousted by the demographic, cultural, linguistic and religious ones.
However, President V. Putin has time and again confirmed his respectful attitude to religion as a whole and to traditional Islam, in particular, and more than once characterized the Russian Muslim umma as a significant factor in the socio-political life of the country. He did not support the creation of general Russian identity exclusively on the basis of ethnic and religious features. In his view, this method will not be productive in such big polyconfessional and multinational state as the Russian Federation. The necessary condition of the preservation of the country's unity, as the President maintains, is the formation of civil identity on the basis of common values, patriotism, civic responsibility and solidarity, respect for law, and involvement in the Motherland's destiny without losing connections with one's ethnic and religious roots.
Today, the drive for identity causes an active communicative activity of Muslims in the social area of Russia, which is a unique example of cooperation within the framework of the Russian-Muslim world, in answer to the establishment of such an order in which concepts of identity of the dominant groups are mainly reproduced.
List of literature
1. D. Aleksandrov, D. Amelina. Krymsko-Tatarskoye dvizheniye v Krymu: 20 let v poiskakh puti // Problemy natsionalnoi strategii. 2013, No 1 (16), pp. 74-95.
2. A. Bogomolov. Islamskaya identichnost v Ukraine. - Kiev, "Stilos" Publishers, 2006.
3. S. Vorontsov. Vzaimodeistviye politicheskikh i religioznykh system: pravovoi analiz. - Rostov-on-Don, 2013, p. 175.
4. Meeting with muftis of spiritual boards of Muslims of Russia // President of Russia: site URL.: http://president/rf/vystupleniya/19474
5. I. Gasprinsky. Russko-vostochnoye soglasheniye. Mysli, zametki i pozhelaniya Ismaila Gasprinskogo // Ismail bei Gasprinsky. Rossiya i Vostok. - Kazan, 1993, pp. 59-78.
6. Deklaratsiya o natsionalnom suverenitete krymsko-tatarskogo naroda // Avdet 1991, July 11.
7. Demografichesky ezhegodnik Rossii 2012. Statistichesky sbornik. - Moscow, Rosstat, 2012 - 535 pp.
8. P. Korobov. Islam - religiya korennykh rossiyan //Kommersant, 2011, February 18.
9. A. Melnikov. Zolotaya Orda i Imamat Shamilya kak osnova rossiiskoi gosudarstvennosti // NG-Religii 2010, July 7.
10. V. Putin. Vystupleniye na zasedanii kluba "Valdai" // Rossiiskaya gazeta, 2013, September 19.
11. Obrashcheniye Presidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii V. Putina. Official site: URL.: http://www.kremlin.ru/news/20603 March 18, 2014.
12. V. Tishkov. Polietnicheskoye obshchestvo i gosudarstvo: ponimaniye i upravleniye kulturnym raznoobraziyem. - Moscow. Ves Mir, 2013, pp. 144-194.
13. J.S. Midgal. State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Continue One Another. - New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
14. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. 2010. The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010-2030. Washington D.C., Pew Research Center, 2011, January.
Written specially for Bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World".
Yekaterina Rudakova,
Cand.Sc., political analyst, Nizhny Novgorod
State Linguistic University
EVOLUTION OF TRADITIONAL ISLAM
WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF RELIGIOUS SAFETY
OF THE VOLGA FEDERAL DISTRICT
The situation in international relations remains stable and controlled, according to the latest report of the Central Apparatus of the FSS1.
The necessary facilities have been created in parts of the district, so that Muslims and Orthodox Christians, as well as members of other faiths feel safe and secure, on one condition, mandatory for all, that is, if they do not break the law2.
