Post by Islamic Revival on Jun 28, 2005 2:47:38 GMT -5
Russian Muslims: Growing Confidence
Arab News, 28 June 2005
Russia has the highest percentage of Muslims of any European country; the official figure is about 23 million — 15 percent of the population — and numbers are growing. It is an old community, indeed there is intense debate in the country as to whether it predates Christianity. The existence of one of the world’s oldest mosques in Dagestan suggests that it does. The counter argument, that Dagestan was not part of Russia till the 19th century and that when Islam swept into Russia from the Caucasus over a thousand years ago, Christianity and Judaism were already there, is a narrow and somewhat “imperialist” and racist viewpoint of what constitutes Russia — as if to say that only the history of ethnic Russians counts. It is equivalent to saying that in Spain, only the history of the Castilians matters, or in the UK, only that of the English. Whatever the debate about which faith in Russia is the oldest, what is not open to argument is that Islam suffered appallingly in the Russian past. Most people tend to think of the militant atheism of the Communist episode but throughout much of the Czarist period persecution was worse. The Tatars and Bashkirs, were the first to feel the effects when, 450 years ago, the Volga-Ural region was captured and incorporated into Russia.
Mosques were destroyed wholesale or converted to churches, Muslims were forcibly baptized. By the mid-18th century, there was hardly a mosque left standing in Kazan, once a flourishing center of Muslim civilization. Today Kazan is capital of the autonomous Russia republic of Tataristan. Last week saw the opening there, in the presence of 5,000 international guests, of a new mosque — a replica of one destroyed by Ivan the Terrible’s invading army in 1552; it is also the largest mosque not only in Russia but in Europe. As such, the Kul Sharif Mosque can be said to be a symbol of a new Kazan that looks back without fear to its ancient roots but also, perhaps more importantly, of a growing confidence on the part of Russia’s Muslims. That confidence was also in evidence last week in the call from Muslims in Russia’s third largest city, Nizhnii Novgorod, for the country’s vice president always to be a Muslim. It is a demand that will not go down well among right-wing Russian nationalists. On the other hand, President Putin, keen to build bridges with Muslim states and extend Russian influence and trade, has actively courted the Muslim world; the Kremlin has even talked occasionally of Russia at some point becoming a member of the OIC.
That policy bore initial fruit two years ago when Russia was given observer status at the OIC and President Putin was invited to its summit in Malaysia. Speaking there, he said that the millions of Muslims in Russia are “an integral part of the Russian people”, “an asset”, part of Russia’s “wealth”. If he genuinely believes that, then he should give serious consideration to the call from Nizhnii Novgorod. Muslims have a long, but painful history in Russia. To give them an honored place at the center of political power would say that everything has changed. That would change Muslim attitudes to Russia.
Arab News, 28 June 2005
Russia has the highest percentage of Muslims of any European country; the official figure is about 23 million — 15 percent of the population — and numbers are growing. It is an old community, indeed there is intense debate in the country as to whether it predates Christianity. The existence of one of the world’s oldest mosques in Dagestan suggests that it does. The counter argument, that Dagestan was not part of Russia till the 19th century and that when Islam swept into Russia from the Caucasus over a thousand years ago, Christianity and Judaism were already there, is a narrow and somewhat “imperialist” and racist viewpoint of what constitutes Russia — as if to say that only the history of ethnic Russians counts. It is equivalent to saying that in Spain, only the history of the Castilians matters, or in the UK, only that of the English. Whatever the debate about which faith in Russia is the oldest, what is not open to argument is that Islam suffered appallingly in the Russian past. Most people tend to think of the militant atheism of the Communist episode but throughout much of the Czarist period persecution was worse. The Tatars and Bashkirs, were the first to feel the effects when, 450 years ago, the Volga-Ural region was captured and incorporated into Russia.
Mosques were destroyed wholesale or converted to churches, Muslims were forcibly baptized. By the mid-18th century, there was hardly a mosque left standing in Kazan, once a flourishing center of Muslim civilization. Today Kazan is capital of the autonomous Russia republic of Tataristan. Last week saw the opening there, in the presence of 5,000 international guests, of a new mosque — a replica of one destroyed by Ivan the Terrible’s invading army in 1552; it is also the largest mosque not only in Russia but in Europe. As such, the Kul Sharif Mosque can be said to be a symbol of a new Kazan that looks back without fear to its ancient roots but also, perhaps more importantly, of a growing confidence on the part of Russia’s Muslims. That confidence was also in evidence last week in the call from Muslims in Russia’s third largest city, Nizhnii Novgorod, for the country’s vice president always to be a Muslim. It is a demand that will not go down well among right-wing Russian nationalists. On the other hand, President Putin, keen to build bridges with Muslim states and extend Russian influence and trade, has actively courted the Muslim world; the Kremlin has even talked occasionally of Russia at some point becoming a member of the OIC.
That policy bore initial fruit two years ago when Russia was given observer status at the OIC and President Putin was invited to its summit in Malaysia. Speaking there, he said that the millions of Muslims in Russia are “an integral part of the Russian people”, “an asset”, part of Russia’s “wealth”. If he genuinely believes that, then he should give serious consideration to the call from Nizhnii Novgorod. Muslims have a long, but painful history in Russia. To give them an honored place at the center of political power would say that everything has changed. That would change Muslim attitudes to Russia.
