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that the radicals, sometimes contrary to their will, become hostages of a big geopolitical game in Eurasia.
"Odnako," Moscow, 2014, February -March, pp. 134-144.
Sh. Kashaf,
Leading expert at Russian Academy
of Government Service, Moscow
D. Mukhetdinov,
Ph. D. (Political sciences). Rector
of Nizhny Novgorod Islamic University
RECOGNITION OF IDENTITY: DISCOURSE
OF THE ELITE AND POLITICAL CLASS
OF MUSLIM COMMUNITY OF RUSSIA
(Continuation)
In this context more attention should be paid to certain aspects of the visit of the President of Tatarstan R. Minnikhanov to Saudi Arabia in March 2013. He discussed the prospects of a Saudi-Russian meeting of top managers of the two world banks - the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Bank of Development.
At the start of his visit to Saudi Arabia President Minnikhanov made umra, or "small hajj" to Mecca1.
For three years, from 2010 to 2012, the name of the head of the Chechen Republic, R. Kadyrov, was included in the "Top-500" of the "Politics" section of the international rating of world leaders. He has established "firm order in Chechnya and put under strict control all institutions of power in the republic"2.
In December 2012 and in August 2013 one of these authors carried out a sociological surveillance of Islamic figures whose communities are members of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the European part of Russia. Its aim was to reveal the most authoritative,
respected and influential Muslim figures of the Russian umma. Apart from R. Minnikhanov and R. Kadyrov, among them were Sheikh R. Gainuddin, Chairman of the Council of muftis of Russia, D. Poncheyev, Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of St. Petersburg and North-Western region of Russia, and some other persons.
The reasons for inclusion of the most influential persons of the Muslim world, who are associated with religious, intellectual, political and other elites, in the world rating may differ. We suggest to consider the results of their work in adopting key decisions in various spheres at the federal, regional or municipal levels, which exert a positive influence on citizens - members of the Muslim community, and on the entire development of Russian Muslim society as the bearer of Muslim identity on Russian territory.
In studying the phenomenon of the Muslim community we adhere to a broader political approach to an Islamic component, making it possible to identify the Muslim (Islamic) community as a complex phenomenon with a multitude of phenomenological characteristics in the most diverse spheres: economic structure and socio-territorial organization, communication lines, reproduction channels, etc.
Our concept claims general significance, yet it bears an imprint of a person, his views, instructions, methods of presenting and solving problems, etc. In the Muslim community the central person is Prophet Mohammed, who traversed a path from an Arab preacher, who had brought monotheism to the polytheistic city of Mecca, to the head of the Islamic state and the founder and leader of the world movement. The doctrine of Islam proclaimed by Mohammed, which, according to the American researcher of world religions R. Right, "was a flexible compromise between Judaism, Christianity and Arab heathenry," was
energetically propagandized by his followers during a comparatively short period of time.
The well-known Iranian theologian and scholar of the history of religions M. Beheshti wrote about the factors which determined the success of Islam all over the world: "The Islamic movement was all-embracing from the ideological point of view. It was able to give firm, realistic, useful and practical answers to all questions. And it was headed by the man possessing deep faith, indomitable spirit, endurance and readiness to ministration. He was the leader who gave himself wholly to the movement at each stage of its history, who shared all difficulties with other participants in it, and who was not like leaders preferring to stay aside and give direction to others. In addition to this, everything took place in the conditions of a socio-political vacuum."3
The concept of the Muslim world soon turned from the ideology of a microcommunity into the ideology of a macrosocial group, which could present its own socio-political phenomenon to entire humanity.
Synthesizing the characteristics of Islam, simultaneously founded as a religious charismatic community of salvation and as a political community4 basing itself on the definition of the Muslim community of Russia as an independent religious-political unit, and also proceeding from an analysis of the political activity of Muslim leaders and Islamic predilections of well-known political leaders of Russian regions showing that the politicization of Islam in Russia has already taken place, in our view, it is possible to use the concept of political community conformably to Muslim community.
The heuristic significance of the concept of "political community" is expressed in the desire to fix the variety of manifestations of politics in the modern world, including in our country, where the community of Russian Muslims is one of the significant parts of the political entity. An attempt to analyze
the Muslim community as the category of political perception opens up a research vector of the interpretation of the political class of the Muslim community of Russia.
As shown in several latest works on the problems of the formation of political identity in post-Soviet Russia, these processes are characterized by the growing activity of the regional political class.
Symbolic power can be deduced from other types of power. Politicians have an access to public discourse inasmuch as they have political power, and scholars - inasmuch as they have the resources of knowledge. There are also specific social groups which formulate definitions of mental models. In the conditions of post-secular society they receive greater opportunities for control over social developments, common socio-cultural knowledge, common sense, views on various problems, and basic ideological standards and values organizing and guiding social perceptions of the public as a whole.
A broad concept of the "elite" including the exclusive social management carried on by a small group gives grounds to refer to the present symbolic elites not only politicians, but also journalists, teachers, lawyers, and religious figures - all who have an access to public discourse, or business managers who indirectly control this access (for instance, as the owners of mass-media empires).
Naturally, the symbolic elite of Russian Muslims today is embodied not only by political elites in the regions with a predominantly Muslim population and the religious elites of the clergy, but also a broad section of modern, well-educated and successful people capable to form the image of Muslims and identificationally connected with the Russian nation in the cultural, scientific, educational and economic media - through charity activity, literature, journalism, and other spheres. R. Gainutdin speaks about them as of the "new generation of the Muslim intellectual elite which will influence self-
consciousness and positioning of Russian Muslims in their relation with the entire Russian society, and also among Muslims themselves."5
Indicative in this respect is the history of the spiritual and civic formation of a group of young Muslim intellectuals originated from the Lower Volga area, who became known for their profound knowledge of Islamic religion and socially-useful activity in the mid-1990s. The formation of their Muslim identity was accompanied with constant self-improvement stimulated by the conscious need to follow the Koran commandments and receive a higher secular and religious education, including in Arab countries. Their spiritual tutors at the level of the religious elites of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod did not leave these young people without attention even during their studies at foreign Islamic centers. After graduation these certificated experts on Islam knowing several Oriental and European languages have returned to the Russian umma and became quite authoritative and well-known personages - religious, scholarly and public figures, and real actors of the intellectual Muslim elite in the Russian Muslim area.
A group of up to 15 Tatar and Russian Muslims formed in Nizhni Novgorod and its region with support of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the European part of Russia has been able to realize themselves successfully within the framework of several projects of the Muslim media-holding under the name "Medina" Publishers6.
The development of Russia's biggest Islamic communication holding has been based on the sincere desire of its financial sponsors and creative workers to publish qualitative literature on Islam with due account of traditional theology and within the framework of the Khanafite mazkhab traditional for Russia. This is not simply bookpublishing business, but primarily distribution of knowledge and enlightenment activity with a view to propagating tolerant Islam, but not radical schools of enmity toward other nations and confessions7.
In 2000-2004 the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Nizhny Novgorod and region began to publish its own periodicals in the Russian and Tatar languages and founded the site "Islam in Nizhny Novgorod," which became its official Internet-representative and an information agency telling the audience about the life and activities of the local Muslims.8
In 2004-2008 the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Nizhny Novgorod and region began to publish the monthly newspaper "Medina al-Islam,"9 whose role is very important for the Russian Muslim umma at the beginning of the 21st century.
In 2007 the Islamic media-holding began to produce Internetcontent for the information-analytical portal "Islam in the Russian Federation."10 The portal's task is to inform audiences about the political positions of Russian Muslims and Russian society on the entire range of problems connected with Islamic faith, Muslim way of life, and political developments in the Muslim world11
In 2008-2011 more branches of the "Medina" were opened in several cities of Russia (Kazan, Ufa, St. Petersburg), more Internet projects appeared, a series of encyclopedic dictionaries on Islam in the Russian Federation continued to come off the press. Some periodic publications were distributed free of charge thanks to assistance of the Charity Foundation named after Imam Abu-Hanifa and the Foundation of support of Islamic culture, science and education.
The editorial teams of the mass media, the Internet and printed projects increase their publishing and printing capacities in Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow. By now the total number of the titles of the "Medina" media-holding's editions has reached five hundred. They include books, study aids and periodicals.
Notes
The President of Tatarstan visited Mecca // Kazan: official site of the Kazan Mayor's office. 2013. March 16. URL.: http://www.kzn.ru/news/38802-president-tatarstana-posetil-mekku
The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2012. URL.: http:// themuslim500. com/download
Beheshti M. Mir nakanune Islama [The World on the Eve of Islam]. St. Petersburg, 2011, pp. 151-152.
Haynes J. Religion in Global Politics. L., N.Y., 1998, p. 127. 5 Statement of Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin at the 2nd All-Russia Muslim Conference on "Muslims of Russia and Civil Society" // Islam Minbare. 2013, No 6-7.
URL: http://www.idmedina.ru
Concept of "Medina" Publishers. URL: http://www.idmedina.ru/about/concept URL: http://www.islamnn.ru URL: http://www.idmedina.ru/medina URL: http://www.islamrf.ru URL: http://www.idmedina.ru/partners
(to be concluded in the next issue) "Elitologiya Rossii: sovremennoye sostoyaniye i perspektiovy razvitiya." Vol. 2, Rostov-on-Don, 2013, pp. 179-192.
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G. Matishov,
academician, SSC RAS
THE SOUTH OF RUSSIA: UNEVEN
DEVELOPMENT AND GROWING TENSION
The South of Russia has many faces and is characterized by a host of diverse problems facing its people and society. Security and stability in the South of Russia is one of the key objectives of the Russian leadership. The socio-political and economic problems, threats and risks in the southern macro-region are a subject of scientific research for two reasons: first, because of its great significance for national security in the southern region, especially on the eve of the 28
