Table Of Content’
Muslims in Putin s Russia
SimonaE.Merati
’
Muslims in Putin s
Russia
Discourse on Identity, Politics, and Security
SimonaE.Merati
StevenJ.GreenSchoolofInternationalandPublicAffairs
FloridaInternationalUniversity
Miami,Florida,USA
ISBN978-3-319-53519-7 ISBN978-3-319-53520-3(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-53520-3
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A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thisbookistheresultofseveralyearsofresearch,duringwhichIhavehad
numerous opportunitiesto present it to diverse audiences,both at public
eventsandinprivateconversations.Itisimpossibleheretomentioneach
instance or person, and I take this opportunity to thank all those who
offered me their comments, suggestions, and criticism for helping me
shape the final outcome. My special gratitude goes to Mohiaddin
Mesbahi at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, my mentor
sincegraduateschool,whohasencouragedmetopursuethisprojectand
helped me define its trajectory. His intellectual brilliance, scholarly rigor,
and insightful feedback have energized and sharpened my work. I am
grateful to Thomas Breslin, also at FIU, for entertaining with me an
enduring, most enlightening conversation about the dynamics of history
in Eurasia.
In Munich, I would like to thank Karsten Fischer in the Geschwister
Scholl Institute of Political Science at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
(LMU) and the participants to his Research Seminar in Political Theory
for their insightful comments on an earlier version of what is now
Chapter 4. I am also thankful for the engaging discussions I had with
the scholars in the Islamic Peace Ethics Workshop at the Institute for
Theology and Peace (ithf) in Hamburg. In particular, I would like to
thank Sybille Reinke de Buitrago, Oliver Leaman, Bianka Speidl, Turan
Kayaoglu, Seyed Hassan Eslami, Abdessamad Belhaj, Mohammad Mahdi
Mojahedi, Dirk Ansorge, and Robert Gleaves for sharing with me their
deep knowledge of Islam, theology, and philosophy, and for their com-
mentson mywork.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to Kathy Rowland who, during
long conversations over the years, as a cultural critic helped me decipher
thedeepinteractionsofculture,art,andreligioninmodern,multiconfes-
sionalsocieties.Equallygracefully,ErikaCornoactedasmySlavistsound-
ing board. I am also indebted to Elizabeth Bieler for reading and
commentingonseveraldraftchaptersandtoCatherineSanderforletting
mebenefit of hersharp editingskills.
I am very grateful to Anca Pusca, Anne Schult, and Sundar
Ananthapadmanabhan at Palgrave for guiding me through the whole
publishing process with enthusiasm, great professionalism, and grace.
I would also like to thank my anonymous reviewers for their valuable
feedback on both the general project and the single chapters.
Finally,Iamluckytohavehadthesteadyencouragementofmyfamily
andfriends:MariaLuisaandAttilioMerati,HeddaandAlbertoRebecchi,
Geeta Lalwani, Marina Bellino, Sara Bensi, and Cristiana Gatto. But, I
could have never accomplished this endeavor without the loving support
ofmyhusbandNinoandmydaughterAnna,whosepatienceIhavetested
to thelimit. This bookisdedicated tothem.
Note:TransliterationsfromCyrillicfollowtheModifiedLibraryofCongress
system.Ifnototherwisestated,alltranslationsaremine.
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
A Noteon Sourcesand Method 4
Muslims inRussia,Muslims ofRussia 7
The Empire, theChurch,and Islam 8
Russian Orientalism 10
Muslims ofRussiaand ImperialForeign Policy 12
Soviet Orientalism 13
Muslims inPost-Soviet Russia 14
Narratives ofNational Security andGeopolitics 16
Muslims ofRussiaViews ofIslam 18
2 TheIdentity of Muslimsof Russia 21
Geography of Identity 22
Identity and the ReligiousRenaissance 23
Berdyaevand the RussianIdea asIdentity Foundation 25
Religious Componentsin Contemporary Conceptualizations
of Russia’s Identity 30
Neo-Eurasianism 32
Muslims ofRussiaand Nationalism 37
3 Muslimsof RussiaCommunities 45
The SpecialCharacter ofIslam in theCaucasus 48
Muslims inan OrthodoxWorld 55
vii
viii CONTENTS
CriticalVoices 61
The RusskieMusul’mane Movement 63
4 Russia’s IslamicReligiousInstitutions andthe State 69
The RussianOrthodox Church 70
IslamicOrganizations 72
InterfaithDialogue: InstitutionalRelations 77
The RussianSecular State: ContemporaryInterpretation
of Catherine’s Model 81
The Functional InterpretationofReligion and ItsApplication
in Russia 86
The Necessityof aGovernance ofReligion inRussia 88
Conclusion 93
5 Islamand SecurityinRussia 99
Islam and Securityin Russia:Conventional Interpretations 101
Primakov’s FundamentalDifferentiationof Islamin Russia 106
Wahhabismand Russia’sContemporary Discourse onIslam 111
The (partial)De-securitizationof Russia’s“TraditionalIslam” 113
IslamicEducation and Russia’sSecurity 117
Religious Authoritiesand SecurityThreats 122
Islam as aCounter-Ideology toTerrorism 124
Conclusion 126
6 Islam,Terrorism, andRevolutionin Russia 127
Conceptual RootsofRussia’sVision ofTerrorism 131
State Policies andIslamic Terrorism 136
Russian Visions ofPolitical Islam 140
Political Islam, Revolution,andthe GeopoliticalOrder 144
The Fearofany Revolution 152
“All good patriots”: ElectiveAffinities ofUltra-nationalist
and IslamicGroups 156
Conclusion 160
7 TheRole of Islamin Russia’sGeopoliticalVision 163
Islam and RussianConceptualizations of Geopolitics 166
Russia,Islam, and InternationalSecurity 171
IslamicTerrorism and CivilizationalDialog 177
CONTENTS ix
Russia,Iran, and the(unexpected) Waysofthe “IslamicFactor” 181
Muslims ofRussiaas Envoysofthe State: TheCaseof Crimea 185
Conclusion 193
8 Conclusion 197
Suggestions for FurtherResearch 201
When Islam isNot aFactor 203
FinalConsiderations 203
References 207
Index 231
L A A A
IST OF BBREVIATIONS ND CRONYMS
ATTSSNG Antiterroristicheskii Tsentr gosudarstv-uchastnikov Sodruzhestva
Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv (Counterterrorism Center of the
CommonwealthofIndependentStates)
CCSBMNC Coordinating Center of Spiritual Boards of Muslims of North
Caucasus
CIS CommonwealthofIndependentStates
DUMC SpiritualAdministrationoftheMuslimsofUkraine
MID MinisterstvoInostrannykhDelRossiiskoiFederatsii(TheMinistry
ofForeignAffairsoftheRussianFederation)
RMC RussiaMufties(Muftis)Council
ROC RussianOrthodoxChurch
PCIR PresidentialCouncilforInterethnicRelations
TSDUM CentralSpiritualDirectorateoftheMuslimsofRussia
SAMEUS Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the European Part of
USSRandSiberia
WRPC WorldRussianPopularCouncil
xi
