This blog will hardly speak about Vladimir Putin's friendship with Narendra Modi. But the issue of Islam in Russia is a thought provoking subject by itself.
The history of Islam and Russia encompasses periods of conflict between the Muslim minority and the Orthodox majority, as well as periods of collaboration and mutual support.
Robert Crews's study of Muslims living under the Tsar indicates that "the mass of Muslims" was loyal to that regime after Catherine.
After the Russian Empire fell, the Soviet Union introduced a policy of state atheism, which impeded the practice of Islam and other religions and led to the execution and suppression of various Muslim leaders.
There may be a 'Religious Dimension' in 2024 of Russia’s ‘Turn to the East’. Well, everyone knows, historically, Russia has always been, in part, if not a Muslim state, at least a Muslim-influenced society.
Wikipedia says, although Islam is a minority religion in Russia, this super power has the largest Muslim population in Europe.
According to the US Department of State in 2017, Muslims in Russia numbered 14 million or roughly 10% of the total population.
One of the Grand Muftis of Russia, sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin, estimated the Muslim population of Russia at 25 million in 2018.
In 2003, Vladimit Putin became the first head of state of a non-Muslim majority country to be invited to give a speech at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit. Not even three years into his presidency, Putin was trying to improve Russia’s image in the Islamic world after the wars in the North Caucasus and the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Two years later, Russia became an observer member of the OIC.
Of course it may be relevant here to speak out that in 2019, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also became the first Indian minister to address the OIC. And what a speech that was -- by India's one of the best known parliamentarian debaters and public orators.
Back to Russia-Islamic ties; Moscow's "integration into the OIC" came at a time of increasing tensions between it and the US, particularly because of the invasion of Iraq, and also with Saudi Arabia’s desire to rethink its relationship with the US.
Writing for a Catholic website, UCAN, Vladimir Pachkov SJ, La Civiltà Cattolica says:
"Indeed, China has become Russia’s main trading partner. However, despite their strategic partnership, Russia and China are merely two neighboring states. It is very unlikely that relations will develop to such an extent that they will give rise to a common cultural and political space...
This is because Chinese civilization is very different from Russian civilization and there is no significant Chinese diaspora in Russia comparable to the Chinese presence in Southeast Asia, despite the fact that in the easternmost part of Russia and in Siberia Chinese influence is not insignificant."
A delegation from the Russian Federation meets the secretary general of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), Taha (source: russiaoic.mid.ru)/ - UCAN
However, he says, "there is another aspect of this Russian “turn to the East,” this partial integration with Asia: it involves Russia and the Muslim world. And here things look very different".
At the beginning of his presidency, Putin tried to integrate Russia into the West – or at least to establish close relations with the West – but this attempt was largely unsuccessful.
"With the war in Georgia in 2008 and then with the Ukrainian crisis, from 2013-14 relations with the West for all practical purposes collapsed. We envisage no realistic possibility of their revival for now, so different are the interests of the two sides. On the other hand, we see that Muslim countries, especially Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, are moving away from their alliances with the U.S. and developing an independent policy," runs the UCAN article.
The Muslim community in Russia continues to grow, having reached 25 million, according to the grand mufti of Russia, Sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin.
Gaynetdin told 'Anadolu news agency' that the Muslim community in Russia is indigenous and continues to grow in acceptance with Russia’s other faiths.
United Ummah: “We do not divide Muslims into Shias and Sunnis, for us they are all members of the United Muslim Ummah [community],” Gaynetdin said.
When guests from the Middle East visit Russia, they say ties within the Russian Ummah were exemplary, the Mufti explained. No pope: “Islam is a very democratic religion, we do not have one hierarchy like in Christianity.” - said a report by aljazeera.com.
The dream of a moderate Islam and an Islamic enlightenment, carried forward by Muslims themselves, has remained largely a dream to this day, with few exceptions. It has not yet died out, but liberal Muslims – who allow themselves to be recognized as such – remain isolated, and very often must be protected because they are threatened by their co-religionists.
The real dividing line in Islam does not seem to be between fighters for a liberal Islam and fighters for human rights in the Western sense, but between traditional conservative Islam and radical Islam, as preached by Ibn Taymiyya, Abd al-Wahhab and Sayyid al-Qutb.
In some Muslim societies this line of demarcation is very clear and the struggle between these two forms of present-day Islam is very often brutal, as in the North Caucasus, especially among the Chechens.
This small people became famous because of the war with Russia in the 1990s. At that time it was considered a “Russian problem.” With the war in Syria, in which Chechens fought on the side of the Islamic caliphate, and with the emergence of a Chechen diaspora in Europe (mainly in Austria, Germany and France), the internal conflict in Chechnya acquired supra-regional significance, according to an article in laciviltacattolica.com.
Therefore, everything that happens in Chechnya is also of great importance for the countries with a Chechen diaspora: this is clearly demonstrated by the crisis that erupted after the beheading of a teacher in France, near Paris, on October 16, 2020, by an 18-year-old Chechen.
ends
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