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Mukhtar Yahyaev,
Ph. D. (Philosophy) Professor, Daghestan State University ISLAM IN THE POLITICAL AND SOCIO-CULTURAL PROCESSES IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS
The North Caucasus is characterized by the largest ethno-cultural diversity and a very high religiousness of the population in comparison with other Russian regions. The revival of Islam in the region was reflected in the quantitative growth of practicing Muslims, in the restoration of the old and construction of new places of worship, in the expansion of the system of religious education and enlightenment, and in growing approval of Islamic rituals in everyday life of the North Caucasian people. An indicator of the increasing role of Islam is its growing influence on economic, political, and socio-cultural processes in the North Caucasus, besides spiritual and moral ones.
However, the rapid Islamization of life of the peoples of the North Caucasus has a number of features in its consequences, the main one being a split of the Muslim ummah into two opposing, even hostile, camps: supporters of traditional Islam and fundamentalist Islam. Ideological competition and struggle for the minds and souls of believers underlie this conflict. And so, there is a question about the possibility of resolving differences between the rival trends of Islam: how to neutralize or overcome the conflict, hostility and confrontation with the existence of various fundamental doctrines and ideological competition. One side should agree to resolve these conflicts and confrontations, but nothing like this is expected in the North Caucasus in the near future. The place and role of Islam, split into two opposite trends, are problematic in the socio-cultural processes in the North Caucasus. The main issue there is the evaluation of the integration of both Islamic religion in general and the two major trends of Islam. Which Islam, and to what extent, is able to ensure internal unity and
consolidation of diverse social and ethnoconfessional formations around its values in the North Caucasus today?
This issue is discussed in the local expert community. Directly opposite views are voiced in debates going on in theological circles. The ethnic and cultural diversity is a specific feature of the region, which should be taken into consideration in order to adapt Islam to local realities, and to analyze the place and role of Islam in the political and socio-cultural processes. Researchers should not ignore syncretism of Islam and ethnographic specificities of tribal communities, historically developed in the North Caucasus. Islamic faith had entrenched itself among the North Caucasian peoples, having undergone a great impact of pre-Islamic beliefs, customs and traditions of the local inhabitants. Their distinctive features can be found in the Islamic practice of every nation in the North Caucasus. This diversity of local variations of Islam (and not just confrontation between the two basic trends) promotes the formation of parochial ethnic identity.
A variety of views about the role of Islam as a factor of integration of society does not mean the denial of the potential of Muslim religion to unite North Caucasian society. On the contrary, today the problem of integrating the growing role of Islam is updated in search for a new identity. However, the claims of Islam to the role of the unifier of diverse ethnoconfessional formations in the North Caucasus run into the problem of division or split of Islam into traditional Islam and unconventional Islam for the region.
Nowadays, traditional Islam is a system of values which is the most adapted to the local conditions, if we analyze the possibilities of traditional Islam and fundamentalist Islam. On the one hand, the former exerts the dominant influence on the broad strata of the population of the North Caucasus, and on the other, it provides support from the
republican authorities and ethnic elites, which are either associated with the government or opposed to them.
It is traditional Islam today that offers a social program, which covers the current socio-economic and political situation. In other words, traditional Islam in the region approves and supports the existing socio-political order, the republican and regional governments, and the political orientation of officials of the local government. It claims to be the official ideological value and the dominant role in the educational and cultural subsystems of society in terms of spiritual orientation.
Orientation of traditional Islam to socio-cultural autonomy and diversity of local cultures is an important point in these integration processes for the peaceful coexistence of the ethnic entities living in the North Caucasus, and, to some extent, on peaceful coexistence of religious trends in Islam. It also stands for friendly, good-neighborly relations between the Russian people and other peoples that surround the North Caucasus. Geopolitically, traditional Islam is oriented to the integration of the North Caucasus republics in Russian civilization on the grounds of a broader political and cultural autonomy than it was during the Soviet period.
Thus, traditional Islam can be a factor of stabilization of the political situation in the North Caucasus as a whole, and a stabilizing system of values for the North Caucasian population. But the question arises: why has not traditional Islam become such a factor earlier?
First, to date, traditional Islam has not won ideological, social and cultural domination in the region because of the permanent crisis of the system in the entire North Caucasus society, which is also part of the crisis of Russian society. This crisis is still the breeding ground for the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam. That is, the economic,
social and political crisis has not only given birth to, but continues to support the split of Islam into these warring or opposing trends.
However, traditional Islam also reveals the destabilizing potential in an effort to become the leading system of ideological values and spiritual and moral guidance, which is evident in the politicization of traditional Islam and in its aspiration to Islamize the whole of society. Paradoxically, the strengthening of the position of traditional Islam does not diminish, but intensifies the tension and conflict potential in North Caucasus society.
Traditional Islam has never become a consolidating factor for all Muslims, not to mention North Caucasian society, despite an increase in the number of believers, mosques, religious organizations, promotion of religious values, and distribution of religious literature. On the contrary, disagreements have increased among the Muslim clergy and among the secular population. The split in religious denomination has been added to the split along ethnic lines.
Many analysts, who previously welcomed the Islamic revival, now admit that the Islamic renaissance has not become a factor of political stability and socio-cultural integration of North Caucasus society, but, on the contrary, turned into a factor of growing tension and conflict.
Fundamentalist Islam is opposed to the ideological integration of Muslims, declaring some Muslims misguided, others apostate, still others hypocrites, and proclaims itself as the only true religion, pure and free from all historical stratifications, which should be the religion of all Muslims, including, of course, the entire population of the North Caucasus.
In terms of social orientation fundamentalist Islam is based on the egalitarian social ideals of early Islam that had attracted many supporters, especially among the poor. The political objective of
fundamentalist Islam is the formation of the clerical state in which political power is combined with the religious authority in the hands of Muslim leaders.
In the sphere of cultural life it is oriented to the dominance of Islamic religion and cultural stereotypes of Islam. Such predominance of religious values concerns not only secular culture, but also the traditional ethnic culture and national art of the peoples of the North Caucasus as a whole. Naturally, these claims apply to the field of upbringing and education.
The extremes of fundamentalism provoke social conflicts and contradictions even more, which are the results of market reforms. To a certain extent, they are also a result of unwise actions of the central government and national authorities in the North Caucasus. Today, the political influence of fundamentalism is incomparable with the number of its adherents because of its ideological and financial capacity. It is clear that fundamentalism is growing in the region, while traditional Islam is gradually losing ground. Polls conducted by many researchers in recent years attest to this.
The popularity of fundamentalism is rooted in social protest within a significant part of the local population (mostly the poor segments of society living in the extremist environment), and also in the prolonged socio-economic and moral crisis of North Caucasian society. A certain part of believers accepts Salafism and Wahhabism as a form of expression of social protest against the difficult financial situation, rampant corruption, crime, unemployment and other negative phenomena. But the question arises: is the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism an acceptable alternative to traditional Islam in the region? Obviously not, because this ideology does not provide any satisfactory solutions to acute social, economic, political, spiritual and moral problems, but only aggravates tension and conflicts in society.
Moreover, this ideology is practically incompatible with ethnic and cultural identity of the peoples of the North Caucasus, which has been and remains serious obstacle to the integration of the region into a unified Islamic socio-political entity. There is no need to say more about the inhumane, destructive methods and tools, which are chosen by the supporters of fundamentalist Islam for the implementation of their ideas.
Thus, to the question whether Islam unites North Caucasus society today we can give a negative rather than positive answer. It only formally unites our peoples, framing ethnic pluralism in the region externally. Islam is often used as a political factor in the hands of the national authorities, as well as in the hands of the legal and illegal opposition in the region. It is played out as a political card between the central and local authorities, a political card of separatism, and used as an ideological cover for political terrorism.
Why cannot Islam realize its cultural integrating function in the region today? The main reason lies in the features of modern society to which Islam is adapted. Islam is split into trends, competing or conflicting with one another, adapting to the environment in terms of reforms and generating conflicts and contradictions, which are superimposed on ethnic pluralism and mosaic, combined with religious pluralism of North Caucasian society. And it is practically impossible to combine these tendencies in order to find common ground in the region. As a result, Islam is presented as a factor of conservation of multi-ethnic disunity rather than the cultural cohesion of ethnic groups at a higher ideological level.
Islam has both an integrative-constructive and destructive-disintegration potential. Which of them will be implemented in reality? It depends on the specific historical situation, the social environment, the policy of the national authorities, the policy pursued by the Muslim
clergy, by their interaction, as well as the policy of the federal government, local authorities, and their relationships. There are many reasons to use the Islamic factor one way or another.
References
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"Islamovedenie ", Makhachkala, 2014, No 1, pp. 86-90.
