Seeking a Place for Islam in Post-Soviet Russia

One of the main characteristics of the post-Soviet transformation was the religious resurgence. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the post-Soviet Islamic revival in the 1990s. The awakening of Islam and seeking the place for Muslims in the society significantly influenced the formation of today’s Russian Federation. The authors examine the factors that influenced the role of Islam in newly created post-Soviet Russia and the federal government’s response to its dynamics. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the Islamic revival after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The second chapter is focused on the Kremlin’s reaction to new radical movements that emerged during the Islamic awakening and the separatist sentiments in Russia’s Muslim regions. Using the qualitative research method, the authors drew a conclusion that Islamic radicalisation in post-Soviet Russia was caused by several external and internal factors. The political developments in the Russian Federation between the second half of the 1990s and the early 21st century were characterised by restrictions on religious freedom and consolidation of federalism.

Spirituality and Islam

Many Muslim societies have long histories of mystical, devotional, and esoteric traditions such as Sufism, which are today commonly referred to as “spiritual” traditions. Yet spirituality within Islamic traditions has an uncertain and marginalized status in many contemporary Muslim societies as a result of local, national, and global political struggles over Islam. In Indonesia, where Sufism has had a major historical influence for much of the twentieth century, there has been a strong trend toward scripturalist Islamic modernism. Yet along with Indonesia’s Islamic revival since the 1990s has come a revival of Sufism, particularly among the urban upper middle class. This chapter explores the Sufist revival as a manifestation of spirituality in Indonesia, examining the recent history of Sufism and the evolving relationship between Sufism and other ways of being Muslim, as well as surveying recent scholarship on the social and political contours of the embrace of Sufism by educated urbanites.

ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN KAZAKHSTAN: STATE POLICY

It is widely known that Islamic revival is behind numerous national security threats, religious tension and political challenges. This is confirmed by the fact that practically all terrorist acts are committed by extremist and terrorist groups, which reproduce and execute specific projects of Islamic revival, the Islamic Caliphate being one of the pertinent examples. Fully aware of the threats rooted in the radical and extremist ideas of Islamic revival, the state has no choice but an active and determined opposition. In the 2005-2020, Kazakhstan adopted several normative legal program documents and took certain organizational measures to improve the regulation of the religious situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Many of these laws and organizational measures, however, stirred up heated discussions: the opposition insisted that the state should secularize the society, securitize Islam, etc. Much has been said about the efficiency of opposition to radical and extremist models of Islamic revival. Together, this creates a varied and even contradictory background for the state policy related to Islamic revival and calls for closer attention to the situation unfolding among the Muslims of Kazakhstan. We are already in the third decade of the 21st century, an important stage at which the religious and political environment created by Islamic revival and the relations between the state and confessions should be assessed. In this article, we analyze the state policy in the context of Islamic revival and offer its conceptual analysis as a multifaceted phenomenon. A modernist trend, which often prevails, is developing along with the fundamentalist trend within the framework of the Islamic revival. Accordingly, the authors argue that state policy is not directed against the Islamic revival as such and does not aim for the securitization of Islam or the secularization of society; on the contrary, it seeks to preserve the historically formed recontextualized Islam, which is rooted in the fundamentals of Islam and is simultaneously consistent with modernization and national heritage. In the concluding part of the article the authors touch upon a scholarly discussion of whether state policy of opposing the extremist Islamic revival models is efficient and to which extent. Our discussion and conclusions are supported by sociological data on the religious situation in the Muslim community, obtained through comparison of the religiosity level and the extent of people’s respect for the country’s authorities.

MASYARAKAT ISLAM INDONESIA PADA ABAD MODERN DAN KONTEMPORER

The expression of the Indonesian Islamic Community is the response ofMuslims to the development of modernity, so that the big of the Islamic revival isdivided into three groups, namely Islamic revivalisme, Islamic reformisme and Islamicfundamentalisme. Revival Islam gave to several movement groups, including:patienting Islam, traditionalist Islam, orthodox Islam, Neo-revivalisme, andconservative Islam. While reformist Islam gave to several movements, such as:modernist Islam, liberal Islam, substantial Islam, and Neo-modernists. while,fundamentalist Islam gave to radical Islam, militant Islam and even terrorisme.Methodologically the understanding of Islam, the modern and contemporary Islamicthought movements, as stated by loualy sufi consists of two, namely groups that use andapply the classical Islamic system and groups that use the paradigm of modern Westernepistemology in total or with a process of integration between modern scholarship. Westwith the treasures of Islamic scholarship. Based on this, it is worth mentioning that thediversity of Indonesian Muslims as a national treasure must be knitted so that interreligiousharmony is created as a characteristic of the true character of the Indonesiannation.

RELIGIOUS TOURISM: AN INSIGHT INTO THE ISLAMIC TOURISM OF TABLIGHI JAMAAT

Islam is not merely the set of religious rituals or beliefs but a complete way of life. There is not even a single matter, no matter how peculiar, awkward or dull it may seem, about which Islam does not deals or directs. In all behind every act, including tourism, there is sole purpose seeking the pleasure of God-Almighty Allah, by following His commandments. Islam encourages travel or tourism and hospitable behavior, and unlike west connects it with the most sublime and honorable values and morals. It is in this backdrop, the focus of the present study is ‘Tablighi Jamaat’- an Islamic revival movement, founded by Maulana Ilyas in Mewat region near Delhi-India, around 1920’s. This movement has come to establish its presence surprisingly in and over one hundred and fifty countries throughout the world with a large number of adherents in between 100 to 150 million. This is principally, because of its unique ‘travel and tourism’ approach, which it has adopted as a daw’ah (invitation towards Islam) methodology. Consequently and interestingly, because of this fact ‘the travel and tourism approach,’ the movement has also been named as ‘travelers in faith’. This paper is primarily based on secondary sources and the main objective of the paper is to provide an insight into the religious tourism of Tablighi Jama’at.

FEMALE RELIGIOSITY IN POST-SECULAR SOCIETY: ISLAM IN KAZAKHSTAN

Today, religious renaissance across the post-Soviet space has moved into the center of academic attention mainly because post-Soviet countries have found themselves at the crest of religious awareness in the form of revived traditional religions. In Kazakhstan, this process has taken the form of Islamic revival, the religion of the autochthonous population, which lived in the territory of the contemporary state. According to many authors, the family is the main religious socialization institution: mothers as its main agents play the key role in raising the younger generation. This means that female religiosity requires close attention and detailed studies. With this aim in view, we carried out an online opinion poll among women 18 years and older in all regions of Kazakhstan to identify the interconnection between religious practices and involvement in religious life, on the one hand, and confessional self-identity, on the other, as well as the role of demographic statistical data (age, in particular) in shaping religious consciousness. We paid a lot of attention to the correlation between the degree of religiosity and the presence of Islamic dogmas in everyday life. Our studies brought us to a conclusion that the faithful generally tend to overestimate the extent of their religiosity. This means that the majority of our respondents can be described as conventional believers whose knowledge of the main Islamic dogmas is weak and who do not observe religious practices. Religious holidays and fasting are the two most frequently observed practices; praying and religious clothes are the two frequently avoided practices. Their performance requires a lot of time and the need to change appearance and lifestyle.

Mediated Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqshabandiyah in the Digital Era: An Ethnographic Overview

This article examines how Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqshabandiyah (TQN) utilizes online media to strengthen its existence. As an integral part of the Islamic revival in Indonesia, Sufi orders (tarekat) are facing remarkable challenges and opportunities in maintaining their existence in the digital era. Nevertheless, previous studies observed Sufi orders as a traditional community that would be exterminated by the pace of modernization and globalization. This article argues that Sufi orders may survive in the internet of things era, contrary to preceding discourses. Based on ethnography research, both online and offline, the authors found out that the vitality of the Sufi order can adapt, develop, and innovate using online media. TQN's use of online media through various platforms proves Sufi order’s adaptive efforts to the internet-based era. TQN’s online media provide informations on Islamic and Sufism teachings, news, schedule of activities, and fundraising. Even though TQN members’ being active in cyber-Islamic environments, they resist online asceticism thus leverage the vertical-personal obedience, conservative authorities, and sacred rituals. These practices done by TQN members illuminate its identity as an authentic online sufism. Premises shown in this paper may enrich the scope of study within the relationship of Sufi orders and Islamic-cyber environment, especially in Indonesian context.

A school at mosque in the structure of muslim religious education: status and evaluation

The Islamic revival naturally raised the issue of Muslim education in the post-Soviet space. The growth and strengthening of the ideology of radical Islamism in the public consciousness, the designation of the dominance of adherence to religious precepts in everyday life as opposed to secular laws, destructive actions under the slogan of protecting the "purity" of the faith necessitated the dissemination of religious knowledge that would not threaten the secular foundations of the Russian state. Therefore, the development of Muslim religious education in the territories of the historical spread of Islam acquired special significance, for it was intended to give those wishing to receive religious education such knowledge that would not preach inter-religious intolerance and would not spread radical ideas in Russian society. Empirical data indicate that the surveyed population positively assesses the quality of education in the mosque school, arguing that they receive good knowledge of the basics of Islam, have the opportunity to learn how to read the sacred text, as well as certain ritual actions that are quite significant for the respondents in their everyday life. As a secular education, religious education also has disadvantages, and to improve the state of Islamic education, according to the interviewed experts, it is necessary to hold national conferences, round tables, which will discuss issues of teacher training, to organize training courses of teachers of maktabs, ensure a school at the mosque unified educational and methodical literature.

The Sunni Islamic Revival

Over the past century, waves of Sunni reformers from the Middle East to South Asia to central Asia have called for a return to Islam’s foundations by invoking well-established concepts in Islamic thought such as tajdid (renewal) and islah (reform). Yet, far from constituting a straightforward return to a well-established playbook, the revivalist movements of the 20th century have emerged at the intersection of longer Islamic theological and legal traditions, the ideological challenges of secular nationalism, and radical shifts in the nature of religious authority enabled by the linked spread of print and literacy. This chapter provides an overview of these movements, beginning in the late 19th century with the efforts of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad ‘Abduh, and Muhammad Rashid Rida and then moving forward to varied revivalist trends, national and transnational, in the modern Middle East.