CC BY
15
underground, nevertheless, may not be elevated to the level of "war" by its systemic format.
S. Slutsky. "Terroresticheskoe podpolye na vostoke Severnogo Kavkaza (Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia)", R-na-Donu, 2010, p. 94-120.
Kamaludin Gadjiyev,
publicist
NATIONALISM AND ISLAM IN THE CAUCASUS: IDEOLOGICAL MEASURING
Religion plays a rather significant role in formation of the nation and the national idea. The irony consists in the fact that the world religions due to their universality are summoned to eliminate ethnic, language, political and other differences among people and peoples. Nevertheless, there exists a certain connection between religion and national self-consciousness. Some authors think that it is possible to speak about ethnic religion. In definite situation a certain nation chooses ethnic religion, feeling its distinction from neighboring peoples and states.
For instance, Iran kept its identity in relation to surrounding it peoples and countries, for some time remaining attached to Zarathustrian faith, later conversed to Islam, having elaborated its own Shiite version. It is significant that in Ottoman Turkey Pan-Islamism came forward as a kind of device to serve the interests of realization of the founding directions of Pan-Turkism. As the Empire was weakening, the Pan-Islamist elements in ideology of the country were replaced by elements of Pan-Turkism.
There were cases, when conversion to different faiths could result in creation of two different nationalities. The division of formerly
united people into Croats and Serbs was determined primarily by conversion of one part of the people to Catholicism and to the Latin alphabet, while the other part of the people adopted Orthodoxy and the Cyril alphabet; and both of them kept their common Croatian-Serbian language.
It should be marked that Christianity and other faiths continued to play a rather significant role in this respect. One should not forget that almost half, if not a greater part of the population keeps a different belief. At the same time, there are cases, when members of one ethnic-language represent different religious trends. For instance, Udins, adhering to the Lezgin ethnic-language group, profess the monophysite trend of Christianity, a small part of Lezgins are Shiites, while most of Lezgins adhere to Sunni version of Islam. Adjarians are Muslims, while Georgians profess Orthodoxy. There are adepts of Christianity and Islam among Ossetians. For the period since the end of the XV century to the XIX century Abkhazia was under the rule of Turkey, and a part of the population was conversed to Islam. However, in the end of the XIX century many of them were conversed to Christianity. For the last decade, due to the whole complex of factors Islam set the fashion in the discussion on geopolitical perspectives of the region, mainly Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus, though. The main attention was devoted to the question whether Islam may become of a probable systemic factor for Azerbaijan and certain national republics of the North Caucasus.
The Caucasus, considered form the above point of view, is a part of the so-called "Muslim North", which, in its turn, is a part of the vast Muslim world, where the countries of the Near and Middle East play a key role. For many centuries, Islam was a significant factor of spiritual and social-cultural development of countries and peoples of the region, contributing to extension and consolidation of their trade-economic and political reciprocal ties. This circumstance justifies the conclusion that
the confessional borders of the Caucasus as a geopolitical space go to the South far from the borders of the Russian Federation, as well as of the South Caucasus in the direction to the Near and the Middle East. It is not a surprise that after the disintegration of the USSR the postSoviet Muslim peoples started to display rising sensitiveness to events and processes, going on in the Muslim world.
From the point of view of national security of the Russian Federation, of great importance is the fact that the Caucasus as a part of its southern "belly" represents a link of the so-called Islamic arch of instability, embracing the vast region of the Near East, Afghanistan, Kashmir and former Soviet republics of the Central Asia. This problem has been elucidated by the national and foreign science. It is worth briefly discussing its aspects, which may give additional information on the examined problem.
One can not deny the evident fact that Islam and nationalism in the Caucasus, like in the whole Muslim world, supplements and nourishes each other. It is significant that the rise of nationalism in the world goes on simultaneously and in close connection with the process of renaissance of Islam. The perception of life realities through the prism of religious beliefs has become a part of the world outlook of many peoples in the North Caucasus, of their culture, history and way of life. It is often rather difficult to clearly divide the religious and the national sides of their life. It becomes especially evident in politicized Islamic fundamentalism, which is the general definition of different religious-political trends, proposing their own specific ways, forms and means of solving problems, which confront the mankind under conditions of globalization and represent a significant threat to national security of Russia.
According to the existing data, at present the number of citizens professing Islam makes from 12 to 15 million people. It is not much
comparing with the scale of the world, but it accounts approximately for one tenth of the country's population Besides, after disintegration of the USSR the post-Soviet countries started to show greater sensitiveness and pliancy to the ideas, coming from the Muslim world. The trend to induce the Muslim republics into the orbit of economic, political and religious influence of the Islamic world was becoming more and more evident.
It is worth recalling that Islam is represented by dozens of different schools and directions - from the conservative (for instance, wahhabism in Saudi Arabia) to the modernist (Ismailites, headed by Aga Khan IV) trends. The radical movements of Islam are united in the group of "Islamic fundamentalism". Two main trends of Islam are represented in the Caucasus - Shiites and Sunni, as well as some other trends - from moderate traditionalists to extremists.
Although Islam represents by itself a super-national religious system, it is used rather often just as a founding component of national ideology or nationalism, if not the national self-consciousness. One can not help mentioning another side of this phenomenon, i.e. the evident fragmentation. The perception of life realities through the prism of religious beliefs has become a part of the world outlook of many peoples, a part of their culture, history and way of life. Quite often it is difficult to divide clearly the religious and the national features of their life.
Like in the Islamic world as a whole, the attempts were made in the south of the post-Soviet space to achieve synthesis of Islam and nationalism to apply them for purely political aims. It should be mentioned that for the historical period, particularly in times of crises and crucial moments, the adepts of Islam often turned to the sources, to the fundamental principles and traditions of their faith. As fundamentalists, in terms of the sense of this notion, there should be
considered followers of the ideology, which is appealing to its original basic or fundamental foundations. This notion rightfully would be applied to all secular and religious trends of thinking, which come forward for purity of principles and values, for return to the historical sources. It is possible to say that fundamentalism, interpreted in this way, is the characteristic feature of all societies for the whole epoch, particularly for the periods of great social, social-cultural and political transformations.
The so-called political Islam or Islamism became one of its most significant displays. It is used as a general name to indicate different social-political trends, which regard Islam as a pivot of their ideology or as their own ideology. Political Islam is characterized by fundamental merger of internal and foreign policy, which, in its turn, is based on merger of state and religion. Its adepts consider shariat as a source of power. In terms of Shiite interpretation of Islam, the religious-political sphere should play the dominant role in society, while the other spheres are submitted to it at the level of theory.
As a whole, due to a complex of reasons, which have been in detail analyzed by national and foreign science, political Islam gained in scope for the second half of the XX century. The lack of a clearly elaborated system of Muslim education and of its own Islamic theological school in the region contributed to it considerably. From this point of view, a rather significant role in this respect was played by a fall of trust to ideals of communism and Soviet ideology. The tendency to the rebirth of interest to values, principles and doctrines of Islam became evident against this background. The most significant result and indication of this phenomenon became the appearance of many Muslim and religiously oriented organizations, unions and associations, which set themselves both political and purely religious, charitable, educational and other matters as an object of their activities.
It is not worth discussing and analyzing them, since they have been in detail elucidated by national political scientists and publicists. Besides, many such organizations were rapidly created and further rapidly disappeared from public-political arena, having not been able to transform in an influential force.
Islam is being used as a means of achievement of specific political objectives, determined by specific interests of the political struggle both in a separate Muslim country and at the regional and global level. In this sense, Islam should be regarded not so much as a religion but as a complicated religious-political doctrinal system.
Originally, the phenomenon of political Islam or Islamism as a significant political-religious force, able to have an important impact on the world realities, came to the proscenium in the course of Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. Of great significance for politicization of Islam was the fact that ayatollah Khomeiny and his fellow-fighters transformed Islam into the state ideology.
Many Muslim countries took steps to extend and to consolidate positions of Islam in the whole world, often applying it for advancement of their national interests. Some of them allocate big sums of money to propagate Islam, to carry out religious-educational and charitable activities. The countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, the UAE and others, display the greatest efficiency in this sphere. Iran and Turkey started to display a rather great activity in this direction since the 1980s. Possessing big financial resources, they create throughout the world the supporting agencies for propagation, free educational institutions, build TV and radio stations, extend missionary activities, in great number of free copies they publish religious literature in the languages accessible for the readers etc.
Political Islam in its fundamental version became a kind of ideological platform of the forces, which come forward for the ideas of
separatism and pushing Russia out of the whole Caucasian region. Wahhabies selected the national republics of the North Caucasus, first of all Dagestan and Chechnya, as well as Azerbaijan. They nurtured the plans of creating a certain Caucasian caliphate. But the official religious structures of Azerbaijan, headed by Allakhshukyur Pasha-zade, stick to their Soviet tradition and fulfill completely the will of the present regime. The official powers of the republic in the North Caucasus also wage active struggle against wahhabism.
The legislative acts, forbidding activities of wahhaby organizations were adopted in some republics. In terms of religion they aimed at setting off their interpretation of "pure Islam" against other Islamic trends, primarily against Sufi tarikats, disseminated in the North Caucasus. Thus, their activities resulted mainly in instigation of conflicts and animosity among Muslims. The spread of wahhabism in the region provoked the internal religious and inter-ethnic division.
The religious situation in the region was marked by the growing trend to braking up of official Islamic organizations, to intensification of their politicization, to aggravation of internal confessional contradictions, for instance, between Sunnites and Shiites, fundamentalists and modernists, wahhabies and tarikatists.
The struggle against this dangerous phenomenon is complicated by the lack of unity among traditional tarikatists. For instance, by the present time, there has been created the Council of Muftis of Russia, including muftis of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, the Asian and the European parts of Russia, of the Volga Basin, of Siberia. R. Gainutdin was elected as the Chairman of the Council of Muftis. But it would be an exaggeration to assert that the Council has become the center, which was able to unite all Muslim communities of Russia. Two-three and even several muftiyats appeared in some republic, causing tension and contradictions, disputes and constant conflicts among them. Only in
Tatarstan, thanks to M.Shaimiyev's efforts, by the legislative act it was decided that only one Spiritual Department should exist. At present, there exist seven Spiritual Departments of Muslims in the following republics of the North Caucasus: Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Cherkessia and the Stavropol krai, as well as Adygeya and the Krasnodar krai. At the same time, numerous muftiyats of the country have agreed to unite only on the confessional basis, which means existence of self-dependent departments.
It is significant to take into account the existence of differences in traditional Islam itself, which is professed in the region. For instance, the situation in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan is marked by the prevalence of Sunni Islam of Shafiit mazhab in the form of Sufi orders (tarikats) - Nakshbendiya and Kadiriya, which, in turn, consist of myurid or vird brotherhoods. The relations among some of them are characterized by tension and even by hostility. Khanifit mazhab of Sunni prevails in the central and the western parts of the North Caucasus.
Islam is often considered as a certain integral spiritual component of ethnic cultures of local peoples. And what is more, it is the factor able to unite the Caucasus almost in the political entity. However, the prevailing confessional pluralism in the Caucasus shows itself the groundlessness of similar claims. It is significant that the radical leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the period of both Chechen wars did not, at least publicly and officially, give support to mudjaheds of the North Caucasus. The rapprochement of Shiite-Islamic Iran with Gregorian Armenia in counter balance of the Alliance between Shiite Azerbaijan and Sunni Turkey means a reappraisal of the confessional factor in the relations among the states in the contemporary world. At the same time, the Christian West thanks to the
hydrocarbon resources pays greater interest to Muslim Azerbaijan than to Christian Armenia and Georgia, which are less rich in terms of natural resources.
In this respect it is significant that for the period of the Russian-Chechen war the official position of the governments of most countries of the Muslim world, despite all talks about Muslim solidarity, were not characterized by any pro-Chechen trends. The separatist movements in the Caucasus, especially adepts of independence of Chechnya, enjoyed public support from the radical circles opposing the rulers of these countries. It is symptomatic that OIC, created in May 1972, carried out its activities at the inter-government level and, being the mouthpiece of Muslim propaganda all over the world, sets up its aim as promotion of development of economic, political and cultural cooperation of Muslim states. One should not appraise the activities of this organization in a definite way, since it unites the countries, which differ in criteria of the political regime, foreign policy orientation, involvement or non-involvement in inter-state and internal conflicts etc. Its leadership in the person of foreign minister of Iran Kharrazi declared that the Chechen conflict is an absolutely internal Russian constant which should exclude any external interference. The experts of OIC did not see in this crisis any religious aspect, leaving aside violation of international law norms. As far as other Muslim international organizations are concerned, their input in solving conflicting problems should be put on a modest air, since the OIC member-states are divided by great differences in many cardinal contemporary problems.
In the context of these facts, the author would like to warn about certain comments and semi-scientific views, which regard Islam, especially Islamic radicalism, as an almost systemic factor capable to determine political realities in the Caucasus. Almost all aspects of life of most Caucasian peoples were subject to secularization and
modernization by the present time. They had a great impact on not only social, economic and political structures but also on the way of life, the system of values, orientations and aims, undermined or completely destructed traditional institutions for regulation of daily life of the people. By the end of the XX century, the multilateral ties, integrally transpiercing economic, cultural, educational, spiritual, political and other aspects of life, became a stable and needed element of life in all republics and regions of Russia, an element, which could not be denied or ignored in order to prevent any damage to the vital interests of all peoples. The great majority of the peoples in the North Caucasus irrevocably mastered the most important aspects and attributes of the all-Russian way of life and integrated in it.
At the same time, the prevailing in Russia so-called Khanafit mazkhab (interpretation of Islam) is characterized by greater temperance and tolerance comparing with other three mazkhabs. It should be recalled that the consolidation process of the latter took a very long period of time. While in some parts of the South and the North-East Caucasus it was adopted already in VIII-IX centuries, the process of its adoption by some peoples of the North Caucasus terminated only in the XVII-XVIII centuries.
Islam appeared in the Caucasus in time when the peoples had already a rather developed system of faiths, values, aims and habits, united by the notion of adats, which had deeper historic roots. Sufism occupied the dominant position in Caucasian Islam, having accommodated to the local conditions and having integrated in itself many elements of adapt. Myuridism in the Caucasus represented a trend of Sufism, emerged on the basis of ancient cults, some researchers think. Caucasian Islam is characterized by the close inter-connection of pagan and Bible beliefs. Russian Islam, depending on the regions, includes a number of essential elements of local national traditions,
which have not much in common with Islam itself. In the Caucasus quite often the question is not so much the renaissance of Islamic principles of worship as the restoration of norms of life and daily behavior, composing the basics of traditional adapt common to many peoples of the region.
Therefore it is necessary with great care to evaluate the rate of religious awakening of people, since often the question is the religiousness in daily life and at the level of common sense. Most mountainous peoples are Muslims in the same sense as the Russians, living in Krasnodar krai and Stavropol krai, are Orthodox. Nobody would think that the latter, under conditions of coming renaissance of Orthodoxy, would stick to the principles of Sermon on the Mount or would change the existing political structures by certain Christian theocracy.
The same may be said about the peoples of the Caucasus, professing Islam. For instance, in spite of the constitutional provision on the secular characteristic of the state, Islam makes an essential, if not the main, element of the state ideology in Azerbaijan. The green stripe on the state flag of the republic symbolizes it. The president of Azerbaijan and servicemen of its army swear allegiance to Koran. The religious Muslim feasts Kurban-bairam and Uraza-bairam are declared to be the holydays.
The religious fundamentalism quite often serves as a surrogate of ideology and mythology of ethnic-national, cultural, confessional or of some other self-identification. The appeals of certain forces in opposition and not only of these organizations to Islamic values are determined, inter alia, by their wish to attract to themselves the attention of public opinion, as well as of financial foundations and structures of Muslim countries. Not infrequently the Islamic rhetoric
serves to disguise the purely imperious longings of various claimants for posts in the power structures.
The apology of the Caucasian tradition, including its confessional aspect, is presented as an alternative primarily to "pure Islam", which is perceived as an alien, different ethnic and cultural element. The traditional culture is engaged in fight on two fronts in the North Caucasus. On the boundary line between the XX and the XXI centuries, as its main enemy was considered not the innovation from the West but the fast penetration of different Islamic faith from the East. The term "different faith" is used not by accident, since salafiya (wahhabism) is considered by the local clergy and the majority of community, sharing the same view, as apostasy.
Thus, the rise of interest of some groups of the population in Islam should not be regarded as a determined trend to reformation of the way of life and of daily life based on the Islamic norms, while Islam itself should not be considered as a systemic factor from the point of view for formation of the state and political structure. And what is more, it is illegitimate to extrapolate the situation of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran or the impact of Islam on political life in Muslim countries, such as Sudan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and others, to the Muslim republics of the former USSR.
The analysis of the actual situation shows that the renaissance and wide dissemination of religious beliefs are marked by formal and attributive features. The initial euphoria concerning total return of people to the bosom of mosque gradually changes for a sensible appraisal of the secular realities of the contemporary world. In other words, the hostility of certain Muslim circles to the West is determined not so much by the fact that in western countries they worship different Gods as because they reject the claims of the West, especially of the USA, for the dominant position in the world. In this respect, Islam and
Islamic world may become allies of Russia and other countries, which come forward against hegemony in the world of one country or a group of countries.
Summing up, it is possible to make the following conclusions. The whole point is that the discussion on Islam is unjustified, if particularly it concerns political Islam as an allegedly systemic factor, which is able to determine the political realities in the Caucasus, to change the characteristic and the vectors of its social and economic development. Islam is hardly able in the region to become the basis of sustainable national and political unions primarily due to its discordance. The ethnic-national, territorial, tribal, clannish, language, political, social-economic and other contradictions and conflicts among the peoples, living in the region, often are more potent than their common confessional aims and values. In many cases religious fundamentalism serves as a surrogate of ideology and mythology of ethnic-national, cultural, confessional or other self-identification. Islamic rhetoric quite often disguises the insurmountable claims, which various aspirants have on the posts in the power structures.
"Kavkazsky uzel v geopoliticheskih prioritetah Rossii",
M, 2010, p. 278-294.
N. Fedulova,
candidate of historic sciences (IWEIR of the RAS) THE CASPIAN REGION AS A ZONE GIVING RISE TO CONFLITS: A THREAT TO RUSSIA
The Caspian area is a zone giving rise to conflicts near the borders of Russia. The significance of the Caspian region in terms of geopolitics continues to grow owing to very great reserves of
