This talk today is devoted to the status and perspectives of Islam in modern Russia. Islam’s history on the landmass now called Russia goes back centuries, even further than Christianity, and I would like to highlight one major fact from this, in my opinion the most significant.

That is that not only the Caucasus or the Turkic regions, but almost all of Russia’s historic territories, is a “Dar ul Islam”. In 1313 Khan Uzbek declared the sharia as state law over the Territory of the Golden Horde, which included the territories of modern Russia. And as we know, any land that was a Dar ul Islam cannot be treated the same, by Muslims, as other territories.

There is great potential for Islam in Russia which we can link to three main factors:

1. 1)   From the 140 million Russian citizens, 20 million of them historically belong to the Islamic Umma.

2. 2)   Geopolitically, Russia is interested in unity with the Islamic world as a deterrent to American Hegemony. Russian relations with Muslim countries are in active development, and a few years ago, Russia became a supervisor for the Islamic Conference Organisation.

3. 3)   Since the fall of communism, more and more indigenous Russians, dissatisfied with democracy, and not believing in Christianity as a social alternative, have turned towards Islam as the only salvation for Russia, and today, thousands of Russians are adopting Islam. IN 2004, the National Organization of Russian Muslims was formed in order to unite these Muslims.

However, in spite of these facts, the modern status of Islam in Russia is poor for a country with such potential.

1)  The Muslims do not have representatives in the media and among the political class.

2)  In general, Russian society is suspicious towards the Muslims and in most cases, practicing Muslims are under pressure from the social sphere, with law enforcement bodies considering any Islamic activity as a potential threat. Many Islamic books have been prohibited, including the Sira of the Prophet , s.a.s and many Muslims have emigrated under fear of being arrested.

3)  This Islamophobia is hindering relations between Russia and the Islamic World.

It looks strange because Russia’s leaders, especially Putin, have declared that they are friends of Islam, and even that Russia is part of the Islamic World. The question is, what is the reason for the contradiction between these declarations and the real policies of the State beaurocracy and the mass media?

Some of the reasons are to be found inside the political government of Russia, and others inside the Muslim community itself. From one side we are seeing the wish of Vladimir Putin to restore the political sovereignty and power of Russia, from the other side there is total corruption among the State-party beaurocracy which is blocking all projects for the development of Russia.

We also see the policies of liberal economists, making Russia – the richest country in the world in resources – the hostage of bankruptcy of the global financial system. All these political classes instinctively feel the threat of Islam.

And what about the Muslims themselves?

                                          The Islamic Umma in Russia

We should note that the weakness of the Umma in Russia in many ways can be explained by ideological misunderstandings among Russian Muslims, because during the time of the Soviets, traditional Islamic teaching was destroyed. Thousands of ulema were killed or thrown out of the country, leading to the current situation where there are almost no real authoritative people whom the Muslims can gather themselves around.

The spiritual departments of Muslims, the main Islamic structures in Russia, are not ideological, but are in essence bureaucratic institutes. The self-declared Muslim publicity calls to political Islam, but a political Islam as a unification of Muslims and shi’as, Sufis and salafis, which is of course a false unity.

They spread the modernist ideology of Al-Azhar and the likes, as well as a general disorientation among Muslims. They are responsible for the growing influence of the shi’a, willingly giving them a platform.

As for the actual ideological tendencies between Muslims and so-called Muslims in Russia, there are four main directions.

The first is pro-governmental  and apolitical salafism, which is in strong conflict with the second direction, salafist-jihadists, who are calling for the separation of the Muslim regions of Volga and the Caucasus from Russia. The other two directions are with the correct Muslims, and the shi’a, who represent a post-Islamic religion. These four groups are waging an ideological war, in which one side is yet to triumph.

And finally we have to mention the geopolitical dimension among the Muslims. The Muslims have two main positions towards Russia. The first is that Russia is a state hostile to Islam, where Muslims have no prospects, and therefore Muslim lands must be separated from it. That is the position of the armed separatists, popular among the radical youth.

The second position is that there must be a strong Muslim community inside of Russia in order to support this great power as a potentially important partner of the Islamic Umma. However, the majority of Muslims who hold such a position understand Islam as a religion of the ethnic minority in opposition to the main body of Russians, who make up 80% of Russia.

The only Islamic organization representing another position is the National Organization of Russian Muslims. We declare that in Russia there must be a strong community of Russian Muslims that do not oppose themselves to the Russian nation state. Because in Russia the best way to leave the nation state in the past is to let it first become established.

The perspectives of Islam in Russia

In my opinion, this goal can be realized under the following conditions:

1)   The creation and development of the Islamic communities, that is preparing educated leaders, imams and ulema who can lead the Muslim community through difficult political conditions.

2)  Creating the correct political position of leading Islamic structures towards the nation state requires leaders who understand the interests of the main population.

3)   After this, the restructured national Islamic society will break the informal blockade and counteract the discrimination of the Muslims. It will become a body that provides loyalty to the nation, and in return the government will secure the rights of Muslims and their interests.

But we can suppose that until the policy towards the Muslims by the Government is made by the political class, connected with the bureaucrats and capitalists, this policy will inherit the genetic islamophobia of past three epochs: byzantists, communists and liberals. But we can say that the result of this policy will be the fault of the attempts of Vladimir Putin to restore Russia as a great power.

The Muslims of Russia, armed with the teachings of Shaykh Abdalqadir As-Sufi, can and must suggest to Russia the solutions to both these problems. First is the abolition of this butophoric democracy and the establishment of the system of personal rule without the middle-man of political bureaucracy. In this case, the Islamic community can establish direct contact with this personal ruler and even become his main support.

It also needs to refuse the suicidal liberal financial policy, and restore the golden rouble, and remove usury for the economy of real wealth. There is nobody better equipped than the Muslims to help the sovereign ruler of Russia to realise this.

And finally, there is what Rais Abu bakr calls the creation of a new Nomos.

In my opinion the creation of such a Nomos should mean the moving of the Russian geopolitical centre into Siberia, and focusing Russian geopolitical activity on the Pacific and central-Asian regions. In this case the Tatar Islamic lands will be in the same centre of Russia, around its new capital. This will change the geopolitical status of the Muslims inside Russia.

The Muslims need lobbies – competent leaders, analysts and journalists able to convey to Russian society that the Muslims are an important and integral part of the future of Russia. On ground level there must be an environment that spawns and moulds men into successful proponents of Islam.

This will be possible if the Muslims of Russia hear the message of Sheikh Abdalqadir as-Sufi, who says the following:

“If we rescue Jama’at as a centred civic entity, we can soon extend to the larger polity.

The Muslims – diametrically opposed to the Shi’a religionists – do not give their Zakat to the Mullahs. We have our Amirs TAKE it via their Collectors.

The worshipping Jama’at is a civic entity sustained by mutual help, given sadaqa and counsel. Education and teaching the Deen must be our shared responsibility and pleasure”.

Only if we follow those recommendations will we be able to establish the ground for the more large-scale policy.