Review of the monograph by V.Kh. Akaev "Sufism in the Context of Arab-Muslim Culture. Monograph. Grozny: State Unitary Enterprise "Book Publishing House", 2020. 523 pp."

Монографическое исследование В.Х. Акаева представляет собой самостоятельное авторское исследование, посвященное проблемам генезиса и эволюции суфизма в глобальном и региональном измерении. Отмечается, что суфизм, сформировавшись в лоне арабо-мусульманской культуры, как религиозно-мистический феномен проник в духовное пространство народов Северного Кавказа. Его отличительной чертой в рассматриваемом регионе стало то, что суфистские братства сумели встроиться в структуру традиционных этносоциальных институций ряда северокавказских народов. Однако деформация общественно-политической жизни Северного Кавказа в начале 1990-х гг. привела к активизации деятельности радикалистов и экстремистов в Чечне и Дагестане. В рецензируемой монографии осмыслен деструктивный потенциал религиозного радикализма, который активно продвигался идеологами ваххабизма, оперировавшими концептами шахидизма. Определены принципиальные расхождения ваххабизма и суфизма в интерпретации теологической доктрины ислама. Отдельного внимания заслуживает и авторское описание социально-политического портрета асоциальных акторов радикализма. Делается вывод о том, что наиболее эффективным инструментом профилактики религиозного радикализма является диалог культур, нацеленный на смягчение культурных конфликтов и обеспечивающий их активный обмен при сохранении культурно-исторической самобытности. The monographic study of V.Kh. Akaev is an independent author's research on the problems of genesis and the evolution of Sufism in the global and regional dimension. Having formed in the bosom of Arab-Muslim culture, Sufism as a religious-mystical phenomenon penetrated the spiritual space of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Its distinctive feature in the region under consideration was that Sufi fraternities managed to integrate into the structure of traditional ethnosocial institutions of a number of North Caucasian peoples. However, the deformation of the socio-political life of the North Caucasus in the early 1990s led to the activation of the activities of radicalists and extremists in Chechnya and Dagestan. The peer-reviewed monograph makes sense of the destructive potential of religious radicalism, which was actively promoted by Wahhabism ideologists who operated on the concepts of Shahidism. Fundamental differences between Wahhabism and Sufism in the interpretation of the theological doctrine of Islam were determined. The author's description of the socio-political portrait of asocial actors of radicalism deserves special attention. The research shows that the most effective tool for preventing religious radicalism is the dialogue of cultures aimed at mitigating cultural conflicts and ensuring their active exchange while preserving cultural and historical identity.

Veiling and Muslim Women in African History since the Ottoman Empire

In Africa, the culture of veiling by Muslim women is profound. While Muslim societies vary across Africa, several forms of textile and art feature in the use of veil. It is particularly important to state that veiling is historical as it had been embedded as a Muslim culture since the evolution and spread of Islam in Africa. It is also true that the Islamic integration of African cultures is very much alive and visible. The story of veiling became prominent and was influenced by Ottoman rule and cross-cultural intergroup relations through the Trans Saharan trade routes. This paper focuses on the history of veil as a spiritual, artistic, political and economic factors in the identity making of Muslim women in Africa. The historical method is adopted to interrogate the complexities associated with veiling as a Muslim culture using photographic representations, books and journals. Photographic representations of women’s dress in the Ottoman empire gives way to understand how the dress styles diffuse into African societies.

Dialogue of East and West on the Example of Arab-Muslim Сulture

The dialogue expresses the simultaneous coexistence of the past and the present, the preservation of continuity between them. The Arab-Muslim civilization, in its heyday, embodied the ideal of dialogue between East and West. The purpose of this study is to study the mechanisms of intercultural dialogue of the Eastern Renaissance era, analyze them for their application in the conditions of the modern globalized world. Islam played a key role in the formation and development of the Arab-Muslim civilization. Religion, along with philosophy and science, played the role of a connecting link in the spiritual and intellectual life of medieval Muslim society. Dialogue is possible when, in the collision of different cultural traditions, some new unifying knowledge is synthesized. The development of their own spiritual and religious movements as Sufism among the peoples of Central Asia conquered by the Arabs indicates that the Arab-Muslim culture was not limited to Islam. The peoples of the Arab Caliphate preserved and developed their distinctive cultural and religious traditions.

Kajian Elemen Arsitektur Cina, Studi Kasus: Masjid Babah Alun, Jakarta

Bangsa Tionghoa yang datang dan menetap di Indonesia sudah memiliki sejarah yang panjang. Orang Tionghoa sudah mengenal Indonesia sejak abad ke 5 M, dan selama beberapa abad jumlahnya terus bertambah. Dari dulu hingga sekarang, orang-orang Tionghoa sudah memiliki andil dalam perkembangan bangsa Indonesia, dari segi budaya, seni, agama, dan lain-lain. Bentuk perwujudan Sino-Javanese Muslim Culture salah satunya dapat terlihat pada beberapa arsitektur masjid. Bentuk akulturasi budaya serta arsitektur tradisional Cina dengan Nusantara dalam bentuk bangunan salah satunya adalah bangunan Masjid Babah Alun. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi elemen-elemen arsitektur tradisional Cina pada bangunan Masjid Babah Alun di Cilandak sehingga dapat diketahui elemen arsitektur dan budaya yang mempengaruhinya. Untuk mengindentifikasi elemen-elemen tersebut penelitian ini menggunakan teori arsitektur, arsitektur Islam dan arsitektur Cina sehingga menghasilkan perbandingan elemen- elemen dan hasil analisanya. Dari karakteristik arsitektur Masjid Babah Alun yang dijadikan obyek penelitian dapat diketahui bahwa 4 dari 7 elemen arsitektur serta ditambah 6 point nilai filosofis dari penggunaan elemen arsitektur Cina yang menyimpulkan bahwa Masjid Babah Alun termasuk bangunan yang mengaplikasikan arsitektur Cina.

HERMENEUTIKA AL-QUR`AN AMINA WADUD MUHSIN

Al-Qur'an has an important position in Islamic studies, beyond its function as a guidance, Holy Qur'an also functioned to be a differentiator. In interpreting hermeneutics, this is a form of interpretation method which in its operation is used to derive conclusions about the meaning of a text or verse. According to Amina Wadud, there is no truly objective method of interpreting the Qur'an. Each commentator sets several subjective choices. In Islamic studies, there are several approaches offered by intellectuals to get the moral message of Islam as a religion that has a gender perspective. Here the author attempt to discuss several examples of Amina Wadud's interpretation with her hermeneutical model regarding the issue of women's rights and roles. The aim is to evaluate the extent to which the position of women in Muslim culture has truly reflected the meaning of Islam regarding women in society. In addition, the specific goal is to demonstrate the ability to adapt the worldview of the Qur'an to women's issues according to the modern context. The author argues that the ultimate purpose of the theory is to build a harmony among of Islamic teaching: law, ethics, and theology, each of which has to support one another.

Running Performance during the Holy Month of Ramadan in Elite Professional Adult Soccer Players in Russia

Religious fasting in the Holy Month of Ramadan is an important element of the Muslim culture during which no eating or drinking is permitted from dawn till dusk. A considerable number of Muslim soccer players abide by these restrictions, which may cause a negative impact on key running performance parameters during competitive matches. Alterations to diet and water intake during the Holy Month of Ramadan may affect various running performance parameters in elite Muslim professional adult soccer players. This study was conducted with two groups of soccer players from the Russian Premier League (RPL): The Exposure Group (EG) consisted of 13 Muslims age 24.0 ± 2.8 years abiding by religious fasting and the Control Group (CG) included 13 non-Muslim age 26.0 ± 4.4 years. Using the Instat system, the running performance of each player was controlled in both groups during matches from the RPL before and in the third week of Ramadan (a total of two matches for every player). None of the measured parameters demonstrated significant changes in any match. In conclusion, restrictions in diet and liquid intake during the Holy Month of Ramadan had no negative influence on the running performance of elite Muslim professional adult soccer players during daytime matches.

Synthesis of Arab-Muslim Culture in Persia and Northern India: Historical Background

The article is devoted to the analysis of the process of the Persian language and culture de-velopment in the Middle Ages and the modern period, its continuity from the Sassanid era to the Samanid and Safavid eras and the synthesis of Arab-Muslim culture in Persia and India. The author turns to the origins of the New Persian language, examines the influence of Iranian culture on the cultural development of neighboring people and demonstrates that the Farsi language influenced the emergence in the Delhi Sultanate of a new Urdu language with a predominance of Persian-Arabic vocabulary. The synthesis of the Arab-Muslim culture of Iran, the mutual influence of the Arab-Islamic and local cultures, clearly manifested in the development of architecture, are considered. Chronologically, the article covers the period of the Middle Ages and the modern period. The re-search is based on the methodological principles of historicism and objectivity, as well as on the his-torical-comparative, historical-genetic, historical-typological methods and civilizational approach. The author concludes that the Iranian cultural influence in the Middle Ages and in the modern peri-od extended to all the eastern lands of Islam – from the Seljuk state to India. The Muslim society was multifaceted, yet subject to the strict rules of Islam. Classical Muslim thought and culture were characterized by a high adaptive capacity. At the end of the twentieth century, the Iranians declared the Persian language an important factor of cultural integration and the foundation of the national mentality. The Farsi language was proclaimed “the second language of Islam”, and the knowledge and study of classical poetry and philosophy of Sufism was recognized as an important means of consolidating the Muslims of the region. This cultural policy contributed to overcoming the interna-tional isolation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and expanding the scope of regional cooperation.

Problems of interpreting the main types of hadith in terms of their correct understanding

The methodology for analysing the veracity and accuracy of the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad involves a set of specific procedures and activities. The science of hadith helps to clearly assess each individual expression attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in terms of its veracity. The task of hadith scholars is to determine the truth of hadith. Only after examining the biographies of the people mentioned in the Isnad (chain of transmissions) to convince them of their positive moral and intellectual qualities it is possible to judge the authenticity of a particular hadith. The purpose of the study was to conduct a systematic analysis of the stages of hadith study based on Sheikh Abdullah Harare's theology and to draw attention to the complexity of the science of hadith. This study provides traditional insights into the hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad as an important source of Islamic religion and Muslim culture in general. All the Prophet's activities are covered by the Sunnah, which was, remains and will remain one of the main sources of Muslim law, secondary solely to the Holy Koran.

The Poetics of Tajik Cinema

This study aims to examine the poetics of the representation of Muslim culture, and, more generally, the worldview portrayed in a number of prominent Tajik films of both the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, and thus to determine the trends affecting the development of Tajik cinema in the early twenty-first century. With examples from selected films, cultural practices, and theatrical forms and traditions, the author distinguishes the salient features of the cinema of Tajikistan, including social normativity, spiritual escapism, the edifying nature of the films, and the thematic restriction meant to preserve traditional Muslim values.

Musicking and Islamic Law as a Problem of Methodology

The issue of music and Islamic law is considered in the aspect of the methodology due to the proper Arabic language picture of the world and mechanisms of theoretical thinking classical Arab-Muslim culture. The author clarifies that the procedure of inference in Islamic law did not concern music or musicians, but the actions of a person playing/listening music. On the grounds that legal power was epistemic, concentrated in the hands of private lawyers, there was no single center in Arab-Muslim culture from which the legislative decision regarding musicking/listening would extend to the entire Islamic world. The situation is different in the Russian Empire and the post-Soviet states, where, despite the external similarity with classical Islam, the attitude of a lawyer and a person who plays/listens music, for reasons of a cultural and historical nature, is built according to a hierarchical system of values and requires separate study without mechanically equating one historical phenomenon with another. It is shown that the contrarian dichotomy ‘permitted — forbidden — neutral’ appeared in modern science as a result of the universalist approach, did not take place in the legal field of the Arab-Muslim culture, which developed its own system of evaluating actions. The lawyer made a judgment, or ‘branch’, based on the basis-‘root’, which served as the textually fixed Koran and Sunnah, as well as the procedures of unanimous judgment and co-measurement, while the judgments themselves on the same fact could be contrastingly opposite, depending on the characteristics of the legal schools.