Raphik Muhametshin, the Rector of the Russian Islamic University, has told to us about the history of Islam in Russia and modern tendencies of the Muslim community development.
- Is Islam in Russia already a part of the cultural code or is it a tradition that's only going to be institutionalized?
Islam in Russia is not only spiritual heritage but also cultural code, centuries-old tradition, and, of course, the world religion. It was a lifestyle, ideology, public education and political institution. Thus, Islam had many functions; therefore, one can say that Islam is a very important factor in the history of Muslim peoples in the territory of Russia, including Russia itself.
-What are the main stages of Islam’s penetration into the areas which later became the parts of Russia?
Islam, indeed, has been gradually spreading in the territory of Russia.
One can distinguish 4 directions here:
1) It is Derbent which became a Muslim city in 644 or, to be more exact, it became a Muslim fortress. In fact, it is the first significant factor which means that Islam has been gradually spreading across the territory of modern Russia. One should mention the fact that it was an Arab fortress where Arabs and a small army of the Caliphate lived. The wide spread of Islam in the South of Dagestan, in the North Caucasus began later. From about the XII century up to the XIX century Islam was spreading within the territory of the modern North Caucasus. The first stage can be called an Arab expansion in the territory of Russia.
2) The second direction can be associated with a large state which played a prominent role in that period of history that is the Khazar Khanate. It was a powerful state formation from all the perspectives: from economic, military and political points of view. Besides, by the way, there were Arab-Khazar wars during a long period of time. And that confrontation between Arabs and Khazars, to some extent, prevented Arabs from their penetration further to the North.
Nevertheless, Islam was spreading in the territory of the Khazar Khanate due to the missionary activity of Arabs and expansion of trade and economic relations. When Arab travelers arrived at the territory of the Khazar Khanate in the IX century, there had already existed Muslim temples in the cities of the Khazar Khanate, along with Orthodox, Jewish and, of course, pagan temples.
3) In the VI century a very interesting state formation appeared there. It was Great Bulgaria. They were Bulgarian tribes which had split off from the Turkic tribes and created their own state formation. According to the information given by some historians, there were the Muslim rulers and common people who were Muslims. Truly speaking, that state did not exist for a long time, it was dissolved very soon. One group of people left for the Danube where another ethnicity was formed (modern Bulgarians), the other one moved up the river Volga.
4) And, finally, the fourth and very significant direction – after the dissolution of Great Bulgaria some part of Bulgarians moved up the river Volga and reached the Middle Volga region where later Volga Bulgaria was formed. That direction was really significant because the first Muslim state appeared not only in the territory of Russia but also in the territory of the entire Eurasian area. Due to that fact it was of great importance. Thus, dissemination of Islam in the territory of Russia continued for a rather long period of time – beginning from the VII century up to the XIX century.
In fact, the process ended already in the XIX century. In the North Caucasus there was made a speech by Imam Shamil who advocated the idea to create a theocratic Islamic state. He encouraged Chechens and other mountain dwellers to convert to Islam. At that stage the process ended. Islam in the Middle Volga region is connected with the appearance of as-sahabahs, the companions of our Prophet Muhammad, in that territory. They, basically, paved the way of Islam dissemination in the territory of the Middle Volga region…
-What are the main similarities and differences between Islam in the Caucasus and Islam in the Volga Region?
It is true that there are two centres in Russia –the North Caucasus is a Shafi'i wing of Islam, the entire Central Russia is already a Hanafi wing. They had been formed for a rather long period of time. And they are considerably different in territory and traditions.
When in 922 Ibn Fadlan arrived at the Middle Volga region he was puzzled or even upset, to be more exact, by the fact that there had already been the Hanafi. When he heard how the adhan (call to prayer in arabic) was pronounced (the Hanafi one is a bit different from the Shafi’i one), he asked, “Why do you pronounce the adhan in such a way?” It is necessary to take it into account that Ibn Fadlan was a Shafi’i Muslim.
In that time the Shafi’i madhhab (religious and legal school) was widely spread. Basically, the traditions in the Middle Volga region did not change. They way of how they were spreading along the Volga River via missioners, trade and economic relations influenced the madhhab customs in the territory of Russia. They were rather stable that made them different.
-Islam and Volga Bulgaria. Had Bulgarians had to deal with Islam before the famous Baghdad Embassy?
As far as Volga Bulgaria is concerned, it goes without saying they had trade and economic relations with the Muslim regions. An interesting fact is that in 921 the ruler of Volga Bulgaria, Almiş, wrote a letter to the very Caliph, Al-Muqtadir. He addressed to the Caliphate. It cannot be accidental because he did not write, for instance, to the European states. He addressed exactly to the ruler of the Caliphate – to the centre of the Islamic civilization.
It clearly shows that trade and economic relations and spiritual connection had been improved via missioners and merchants. It can be easily explained because the waterway at that moment was the safest and cheapest one. There were dense woods all around – that’s why it was complicated for caravans to move in the territory of the Middle Volga region. Besides, it was dangerous and hardly possible to travel across the Eurasian area.
Therefore, Volga Bulgaria had links with Muslim countries. When Ibn Fadlan came there in 922, he paid attention to the fact there had already been madrasas and not even mosques but cathedral mosques. Basically, by Ibn Fadlan’s arrival Volga Bulgaria had been ready to adopt Islam as a state religion. In that case the process itself was less troublesome. Almiş declared himself to be the ruler of the Muslim state and took a Muslim name Abd-Allah. Thus, Volga Bulgaria became a Muslim state.
-What are the consequences (dividends) of the adoption of Sunni Islam and Islam of the Hanafi School by the Khan Almiş?
As far as the adoption of the Hanafi madhhab is concerned, I think there hardly were any political or any other dividends. It was only connected with trade and economic and spiritual relations primarily with the Hanafi centres. It is Middle Asia. Middle Asia had always been an important Hanafi centre.
Muslims from the Middle Volga region kept in touch even in the XIX century – they studied together in Bukhara and Samarkand. By the way, Muslims of the Middle Volga region went even to the North Caucasus in the XVIII century, but there were probably some other motives. They were interested in the North Caucasus not from the madhhab point of view, but mostly from the perspective of Sufism and Sufi traditions. And it is not coincidental that nowadays our customs are closely connected with the North Caucasus and we have the same spiritual masters. For instance, they are Zaynulla Rasulev and a Tatar theologian, Zakir Kamalov, who lived in Chistopol. Thus, we had special spiritual ties with the Caucasus.
Madhhab traditions were mostly connected with Middle Asia. I think, nobody was looking for dividends while madhhab dissemination.
Anyway, the ruler of Volga Bulgaria had some other views on that issue. He believed that if they converted to the Shafi’i madhab, they, probably, would be provided with the financial or any other help. As a result, it did not work since Volga Bulgaria was very far from the Islamic civilization and there had not been any territorial penetration into the Caliphate. Still, canonically they recognized the Caliphate, anyway. That’s why there were not any dividends from the Hanafi madhhab.
-Can we say that some contours of soft and tolerant Islam, which was established in the Republic of Tatarstan, began to form in 922?
If we speak about the Hanafi madhhab, undoubtedly, yes, we can. We perceive it as a liberal one not in terms of a possibility to pass Sharia Laws by but in terms of religious tolerance. I mean that the Hanafi madhhab was formed in the multi-confessional and multi-national environment. Therefore, the Hanafi madhhab was based on tools of co-existence among representatives of different confessions and religions. From this point of view, when we speak about the Hanafi madhhab, it suggests the idea of co-existence in the multi-confessional environment.
And Abu-Hanifa, the founder of the Hanafi madhhab, tried to work situationally with his pupils. Other madhhabs, like, for example, the Imam Malik’s one, who was the founder of the Maliki madhhab, meant strict following the Quran and Hadith. Abu-Hanifa tried to develop his own methodology that is comparative and constructive analysis which could help to use Sharia Laws under these or those circumstances. He made his pupils see a situation from different points of view.
The Imam Shafi uses methodology both of Abu-Hanif, which was very rational, and of the Imam Malik. The Hanafi madhhab is very flexible from the perspective of building relations under the conditions of multi-confessional society. One can never say that there are many opportunities to pass fundamental Islam and Sharia Laws by. There are not any in the Hanafi madhhab.
-Is there a phenomenon of Russian Islam? What are the peculiarities of this phenomenon which make it a separate subtype?
Generally speaking, one can distinguish the phenomenon of Russian Islam. What does it comprise? If we look into the entire history of Islam development in the territory of modern Russia, especially after the XVI century, we will find out that there were Muslim states. They are Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde although the latter was not a Muslim one in the beginning. It became a Muslim state under the reign of Khan Uzbeg. Besides, they are various Tatar, Kazan, Siberian, Astrakhan and Crimean Khanates which were Muslim states as well. They were located rather far from the Muslim civilization.
That’s why a lot of factors were to be taken into account. First of all, they had to look for forms of survival and establishment of relations with representatives of different confessions, which required intellectual capacity from Russian Muslims and Islam itself. In that case, Russian Muslims always were flexible. For instance, they understood that after the 16th century they became the part of the Russian state. It was an Orthodox state which pursued a strict confessional policy – that’s why they had to survive. But it was only one problem. They also had to preserve somehow their self-identity that meant they could rely only on themselves. For this reason they began looking for their intellectual capacity and internal resources of Islam itself.
That search took much time. The first results were only in the middle of the XIX century. For example, there appeared new types of Muslim educational institutions. It was complicated to find a job with a classical Muslim education. In that regard, there emerged an idea to create Jadid Muslim educational centres in order to let Russian Muslims adapt to the realities of the Russian Empire. It was done. Jadid madrasas worked everywhere. They trained the Muslim intelligentsia which was very important.
Before the revolution the Jadid system of education was a confessional one, but 80% of subjects were secular. It was the reason why Jadid madrasas did not train theologians. They trained the Muslim intelligentsia that is a highlight of it. Why? Because having enough opportunities for it, Muslims had created the first Muslim party “Ittifaq al-Muslimin” by the first Russian revolution in 1905-1907. Besides, they began to publish newspapers and magazines almost in all the cities of the Russian Empire.
Since there were enough patrons, it required not only financial support but also human and intellectual resources. Both newspapers and magazines were published at a very high professional level.
When there appeared opportunities to create fractions in the State Duma, there was established a brilliant Muslim fraction which means Russian Muslims had political identity. And the phenomenon “Russian Islam” is not a search for an enemy and attempt to sort things out but a search for own internal resources and attempt to use them for the further development.
On the whole, they completed it perfectly. It really can be called the Russian phenomenon.
It is hard to find this type of Islam in the whole world. There always were clarifications of situations, confrontation and religious wars everywhere. We did not have them. Yes, there was a rather strict confessional policy but anyway, there was no confrontation between Tatars and Russians. It also shows the phenomenon of Russian Islam.
There was also a period of “survival” which lasted for 2 centuries till the end of the XVIII century. It ended with the recognition of Islam and creation of the Orenburg Muslim Assembly under the reign of Catherine the Great.
After the revolution in 1905 Muslims were allowed to realize themselves in other fields. For instance, Islam could realize itself only in the field of the Muslim education till the beginning of the 20th century and that was all. There were no other fields.
Kayum Nasyri and other scholars published calendars instead of periodicals. Those calendars compensated the lack of mass-media, to some extent. The beginning of the XX century was marked by opportunities to prove oneself on the political scene, creating political parties and establishing the Muslim fraction in the State Duma. However, one should admit the fact that there hardly was any political return because Russia remained an empire and the State Duma a body which made decisions.
But still, it was a political platform. The identity of Russian Muslims began to take shapes. From that point of view, Islam started broadening its horizons. But after the revolution in 1917 we can see that there emerged another processes. In 10 years, in 1927, the Soviet government looked out for Islam and decided how to behave in the “Muslim question”. After all, the closure of mosques did not begin right away. Nevertheless, atheism came gradually into force already at the end of 1920-s and only at the end of 1990-s Islam step by step returned into the social and political and spiritual life…
To be continued…
Raphik Muhametshin