From 18 to 20 February, the residents of the Khabarovsk region learnt about the history of the Muslims in the Far East. They also took part in the presentation of the book ‘Muslims in the Far East of Russia: History and Modernity’, which was published last year by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Far East as part of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia with the support of the Presidential Grants Fund. The event was attended by Akhmad Garifullin, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Far East, and Alexey Starostin, Scientific Director, member of the Expert Council under the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs of Russia, Associate Professor of the Department of Theology at the Ural State Mining University.
Within the framework of one of the meetings held in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Vasil Shaikhraziyev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Chairman of the National Council of the World Congress of Tatars, was the guest of honor.
During the presentation, Alexey Starostin told the audience that the book ‘Muslims in the Far East of Russia: History and Modernity’ focused on the historical past and modern state of the Muslim community in the Far Eastern Federal District.
‘The book is a work that, for the first time in historiography, has attempted to summarize information on the development of Islam in this vast area occupying one third of the country and to analyze the contribution of peoples traditionally practicing Islam to the development of the Russian Far East on the basis of a wide range sources. The book is based on the analysis of the population census from 1897 to 2010, statistical data, over 150 interviews, documents from 13 regional archives, most of which are being researched for the first time,’ Alexey Starostin told.
According to the specialist, no experts had previously tackled such a topic. This is why the team of authors preparing the book set themselves the task to demonstrate that the peoples traditionally practicing Islam, along with other residents of the Russian Empire took an active part in building the state.
Apart from the presentation of the book, Alexey Starostin presented a series of documentaries entitled ‘Muslims in the Far East of Russia: History and Modernity’, two of which were released in 2021. As part of the meeting, the third film of the series ‘Along the Amur River’, about the Muslims of the Khabarovsk region, was presented for the first time. The film tells about the past and present day of Muslims of the region, the voluntary resettlement of peasants, the arrival of people of various nationalities for establishing Komsomolsk-on-Amur and building the Baikal-Amur Mainline. A special emphasis in the film was placed on interviews and recollections of both current public and religious leaders and those who have already passed away.
On 19 February, the presentation of the publication and the documentary was held at the Yuzhny Prayer House in Khabarovsk. On 20 February, the presentation took place at the residence of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Far East, which was attended by Vitaly Ovchinnikov, Head of the Department for Cooperation with Religious Associations of the Main Department of Internal Policy of the Khabarovsk region, and representatives of the Muslim community.
It should also be noted that as part of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria, Alexey Starostin together with the team of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Far East have prepared a historical presentation entitled ‘Islam and Muslims – an Integral Part of the Formation and Development of Russian Society and Statehood’, the first copies of which were printed the day before in Khabarovsk. According to Starostin, the main idea of the project is to reveal the main milestones in the history of Islam in Russia and in the Far East.