Suchergebnisse

This article highlights the main factors relating to the formation of the religious and political (Islamic) elites in the Northern Caucasus caused by Gorbachev's perestroika, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reforms conducted in Russia, the creation of an ideological vacuum, and the birth of market relations. The sociocultural context that formed has given rise to an Islamic revival, the penetration of Salafi (Wahhabi) ideas into the region, and the formation of a neo-clergy that is not only claiming a leading role in the religious life of Muslims, but also active participation in politics, right down to preparing a state coup. Today, the official and unofficial Muslim elites of the Northern Caucasus are in a state of confrontation; despite this, certain steps are nevertheless being taken to establish relations.

On 23 January, 2012, Nezavisimaia gazeta carried an article by Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin entitled "Russia: The National Question," which took the Russian public by surprise. Indeed, this was the first time in his twelve years on the political Olympus that the Russian leader had turned to the national question. The article invited very contradictory opinions and sent waves in all directions. The presidential candidate (he was elected president a couple of months later) tried to analyze various aspects of national relations in Russia-a fact which in itself deserves the close attention of the expert community. And it was with this aim that I too took up the pen. I live in the Chechen Republic, the most complicated and conflict-prone constituency of the Russian Federation (part of the North Caucasian Federal District, which also includes the Stavropol Territory and all of the North Caucasian republics, with the exception of Adigey, which belongs to the Southern Federal District).

The specifics of the Islamic renaissance in the Chechen Republic today are related to the increased activity of Muslims and the spread in non-traditional religious trends, as well as to several political and cultural factors that have had an impact on shaping the sociocultural characteristics of Chechen society over the course of history. The extremely complicated religious and political situation in the Chechen Republic today is defined by Islamic traditions, the sociocultural characteristics of the Chechen ethnicity, and the contradictory influence of the new religious trends. It is worth noting that the Islamic trends that became clearly designated right before the collapse of the Soviet Union have added dynamism to the spiritual and religious-political situation not only in the republic itself, but also throughout Russia as a whole. The religious renaissance in Chechnia in the pre-Soviet period was accompanied by an increased interest in Islamic values and the Muslims' desire to improve the conditions for public worship. In order to satisfy the need for religious knowledge, mosques had to be built, Islamic educational institutions established, and the corresponding literature and periodicals published. On the eve of the Soviet Union's collapse, the Islamic renaissance in the Chechen-Ingush A.S.S.R. found no obstacles in its path, particularly since the participants in this process were not politically active nor did they call for religious fundamentalism or replacement of the communist slogans with provisions of Shari'a law. The negative aspects of the Islamic renaissance appeared some time later when Islamic parties and movements emerged bearing slogans of integrism. They refused to recognize public power and called for creating a theocratic state and full Islamization of secular society. The holders of these ideas, the followers of Wahhabism (Wahhabis), became active after the collapse of the Soviet Union: they began creating organizational structures and press organs, lobbying their interests in the power structures, and gaining access to television. The Wahhabis considered their most important task to be achieving spiritual and political domination in society; these attempts exaggerated the religious contradictions within Muslim society and also gave rise to a conflict between secular and religious values. Such moods were expressed most virulently and manifested in extreme forms in Daghestan, Chechnia, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria. Many religious-political and sociocultural phenomena relating to the Islamic renaissance can be analyzed using the example of the Chechen Republic based on historical facts.

The religious situation in the Northern Caucasus, a conflict-prone territory of the Russian Federation, is becoming noticeably politicized due to the overall difficult, often contradictory, socioeconomic and political-cultural transformations in the country. This situation can be called the rebirth of Islam, or revivalism, to use Western terminology. Islamic revivalism in the Northern Caucasus is a specific phenomenon whereby regional traditional Islam receives a revivalist boost in the form of its free development. During the years when the Soviet ideological system prevailed, this gave rise to certain problems. However, Islamic revivalism also has another special feature related to the penetration of radical and extremist trends that are not traditional for this region. These include the Salaf'ite trends, among which an important place is occupied by so-called Wahhabism. The main purpose of this article is to look at how relations between traditional Islam in the Northern Caucasus and the non-traditional Islamic religious trends are developing. In order to do this, we need to look at the special features of local traditional Islam, the reasons for the appearance and spread of Wahhabism, the contradictions and conflicts between them, the interrelations between Chechen teyps and wirds, and the ways to overcome religious extremism.