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Yu. Dzhabrailov,
Ph.D. (Politics), Research Associate, Regional Centre for Ethno Political Studies, Dagestan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences M. Abdullaev,
Ph.D. (Economics), Associate Professor, Dagestan State Institute Of National Economy N. Suleymanov
Senior Lecturer, Theological Institute of Dagestan Said Afandi
ISLAM IN THE SYSTEM OF POWER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS: REALITIES AND PROSPECTS.
Problems and prospects of the Muslim way of life in the North Caucasus
The problem of finding an optimal model of social relations was actualized in the adjustment period, considering the principles of transparency and democracy in connection with the religious revival, that has been often referred to as a religious renaissance. The atheistic principles were dominated in the ideological sphere during the Soviet period of Russian society, the change of ideological orientations has occurred in the post-Soviet period. Such changes have been particularly strong in the orientation of the Muslim population to restore religious institutions liquidated earlier, as well as in strengthening the role of Islam in almost all spheres of public life.
The interests of various ethnic and religious groups are consistent and mutual understanding between different religious and ideological groups is achieved during the confessional policy of the state. An effective system of relations between the state and religious associations allows neutralize the ideologues of religious and political extremism. The process of obtaining a sustainable model of state and
confessions relations in the Russian Federation still remains incomplete. Position of the government on the concept of state-confessional relations remains unclear until now. In 2001, two projects were proposed for consideration by the authorities almost simultaneously, but none of them was adopted at the state level.
The reason is the absence of a consolidated position of the society regarding the methods and mechanisms of relations between the state and religious associations. The need of joint efforts by the state and religious organizations to overcome the existing problems is emphasized in the scientific, a set of clear criteria for confessions are encouraged to develop to acquire the status of state-recognized. At the same time there is a position that denies the model state and confessions relations, which is issued as a policy of consolidation of the state and confessional interests.
One of the basic principles is the separation of areas of competence of secular and religious institutions, their non-interference in the internal affairs of each other in the framework of a secular state. But this does not mean that the state should refuse to cooperate with religious organizations, where the common interests coincide and overlap. It is clear that public policy is aimed at supporting the "Russian" of Islam. It is clear that public policy is aimed at supporting the so-called Russian Islam. The Russian president says in the "Ufa thesis" that the new socialization of Islam should be seen as the development of the traditional Muslim way of life, thinking, attitudes in accordance with the contemporary social reality.1
For the first time in the history of Russia the head of state announced the need to recreate the traditional Islamic theological school, recognized by the majority of Muslim scholars in the world. Perhaps the implementation of the political will of the head of state will not be quick and easy, but aimed at preserving Russian spiritual space,
strengthening of civil and patriotic feelings on the part of the Muslim population, harmonization of inter-religious and state and confessions relations within the power-Islamic dialogue.
Implementation of religious policy in this line should solve the problem of the politicization of Islam as an attempt to transfer part of the current spiritual and ideological issues in the political plane. The Muslim religion has always acted as an important regulator of social and political life in the North Caucasus region. There is no separation of the religious and secular life in Islam. In principle, any Muslim can share his knowledge, reaching a certain level of religious knowledge, if the population of the area accepts him as a religious leader.
Discussions between scholars (alims) on various issues of Islam are not unusual in such circumstances. But the post-Soviet period was characterized by the absence of constructive and mutually respectful tone of these discussions, because of the proliferation of unconventional flows to the region, with clear political overtones (Salafism, "Wahhabism"). Spiritual Administration ("Ulama Councils") represent the majority of Muslims as the traditional clergy of Russian regions. These official religious organizations advocate for the spread of Islamic ideals and values, but not for the destruction of the constitutional foundations of the state.
The formation of two types of relationships between the government and religious organizations can be seen in Chechnya and Dagestan. The dynamics of religious processes is typical to other entities in the region and makes possible the analysis of these relations.
So, the basic trend toward a cooperative model in Chechnya lies in the fact that the clergy is actively involved in the solution of many important social problems, it takes part in the meetings, together with government and municipal governments. Senior management of the republic attracted religious leaders and organizations to solve public
problems, creates the conditions for the involvement of religious communities in building civil society, to overcome the religious isolationism.
At the moment religion becomes a legitimate factor in social and political life of the Chechen Republic. Representatives of the government refer to the fundamental values of Islam, thus emphasizing their importance and commitment to them. If we start from the following obvious facts - the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion at the constitutional level in the Russian Federation, as well as the priority of religious forms of consciousness for the most people in the North Caucasus2, it becomes clear that it is extremely difficult to ensure the spiritual consolidation of the society and to solve urgent state problem without dialogue between the authorities and religious structures.
The range of opportunities for social and partnership activities between the institutions of government and religious organizations in the secular state is very wide - from joint use, protection and restoration of cult objects, the use of state television and radio broadcasting for the religious and enlightenment programs, to participation in the educational process, raising the level of social protection and material security of the poor. Recognition and support from government agencies will promote the effective management of the company, combines the religious and ethical values of the peoples of the Caucasus, civil and legal norms of the Russian state. This can lead to ethno-political stabilization in the regions of North Caucasus Federal District, as well as the most effective socialization of religious communities, will create more favorable conditions for attraction of religious communities and faithful people in building civil society, to overcome the religious isolationism.
The practice of state-confessional relations is often much broader than the theoretical provisions on the separation of religion and state. There are certain legal contradictions: it is difficult to differentiate a person (who is an adherent of a particular religion) on officer shall and citizen. The interpretation of a law depends on the personal preferences of officials. A separation model of state-confessional relations in the Republic of Dagestan does not imply a liberal standard of this model. The power-religious contacts are not systemic in nature and mostly confined to the sphere of counteraction to extremism.
According to experts, there is no effective system of relations between religious leaders and the authorities of the Republic of Dagestan, so to propagate traditional Islam among young people is not easy, and the numerous communities are politicized, Wahhabi religious expansion expands on the background of these difficulties3. At the same time, the process of political and legal decisions, regarding Islam in the social space of the republic, is not finally completed. Passivity of the state structures is the result of the social doctrine absence concerning relationship between government and traditional religions on the background of the constitutional provisions on the separation of religion and state.
Different understanding of legislation and state religious policy is observed under these conditions, from the claim that religion is a private matter of citizens, to increasing the social role of confessions in modern society. There are contradictions in the social space, and the official clergy is forced to play the role pressure groups to promote the interests of the faithful.
However, the process of social partnership in the sphere of state -confessional relations acquires clearer contours and bilateral nature, that does not allow return to the segregation model, and prevents the intervention of officials in the internal affairs of religious organizations.
Constructive communications between the authorities and the clergy promote inter-faith dialogue, reducing of radicalism among young people.
The official clergy considers the spread of Islamic norms and ideals in society as a priority, without corruption, social injustice, bribery, impudence, immorality, terrorism, extremism, murder, boorishness, cynicism, ignorance. Islamic clergy applies political, social and ideological potential for overcoming religious ignorance and building an Islamic society, but not disassembly of the constitutional order4.
The idea of the low cultural level of the North Caucasus' natives, as one of the reasons for ethnic conflicts in Russia, has been often expressed in the information environment. Islam provides the moral and legal consciousness of a person, as part of the culture of Russian peoples and ethnic groups. Therefore, religion is essential to the society as a means of educating the internal responsibility, spirituality, morality and tolerance.
An effective solution to ethnic and religious problems depends on the explanatory work of religious scholars and religious officials. In December 2014 the head of Dagestan noted the importance of the spiritual improvement of society, the formation of high moral principles of young people, during the meeting with the religious leaders of the North Caucasus and other Russian regions. He thanked for the consistent support and ensuring the safety and stability, emphasized the importance of teamwork, which would be a significant contribution to the strengthening of peace and inter-confessional consent.
The state is not interested in the existence of insoluble contradictions in the Muslim community. But the ambitions of certain religious leaders do not contribute to the consolidation of all religious communities in the Republic of Dagestan, although the dialogue
between the different currents of Islam has never been stopped completely. Authorities have made a significant contribution to the organization of conferences with the participation of well-known religious leaders, received recommendations on jihad and the applicability of the term "territory of peace and Islam" to Dagestan and other subjects of the North Caucasus.
Such conferences do not prevent the spread of religious and political extremism, but make a significant contribution to increasing awareness of young people and reducing threats to public safety. Declaration adopted by the religious forums on the most pressing issues, including the participation of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), prevent the spread of the ideas of religious and political extremism in society and contribute to the constructive development of the state - confessional relations.
The Republic of Dagestan can become an example for other regions in terms of the integration of the Muslim way of life in the modern Russian state. The invaluable experience of power-Islamic dialogue is accumulated in this framework, positions of the parties are coordinated, compromises teamwork are settled, including the overcoming of extremist and radical manifestations in society, while maintaining the principle of non-interference in each other jurisdiction.
Expert proposals for the socialization
of Muslim communities in modern Russia
L. Syukiyaynen highlights the legal culture of Islam, the Sharia, its positive potential from the standpoint of the state. Islamic law acts as an instrument of legitimization with respect to the positive legislation, having an authority in the eyes of Muslims. The fact that current legislation does not conflict with the values of the Sharia is extremely important for them5.
B. Bobrovnikov concludes that adat, Shariah and Russian regulations are not always compatible. There are contradictions between them in the field of criminal law, the right to personal status (family and hereditary) and land relations, as well as litigation. He claims that the political manipulation of the Shariah in the absence of a clear religious policy is much more dangerous to Russian statehood6. Problems of Muslim garments according to the canons of Islam, the organization of halal food, Islamic banking, the absence or insufficient number of mosques are reasons to manipulate the consciousness of the youth. All of these issues are in the bosom of the Russian legislation does not contradict it and must find a solution.
Since there are differences between the rules of Sharia and the Russian legislation, it is necessary to find the most appropriate solution in the framework of a secular state on all controversial issues (eg, collecting a commission of experts from both fiqh and Russian law).
Mutilation as a punishment was not applied practically in Dagestan, but replaced by fines according to adat, and then - corrective labor under Russian law with the accession to the Russian Empire.
The norms of Islamic law for crimes against morality (hudud) are not applied in almost all modern Islamic countries. Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, is a secular state and its legal system is mixed: there are rules of customary law (adat) and / or Islamic law only in the field of family and marriage, inheritance, land ownership, along with the legal norms, established by classic European models.
Today, the government tries to realize all the provisions on freedom of religion identified in the Russian legal field. Russian Muslims have to understand that the problem of socialization of their communities into a single Russian civil society can be solved in this way.
Thus, it becomes possible to prevent a broad wave of political manipulation of sharia and the use of its mobilization potential against the Russian state, but on the contrary, to turn into a factor that strengthens it. Therefore it is necessary to consider the compatibility of the historical religious traditions of the North Caucasian peoples with modern Russian realities.
E. Suslova believes, that the problem of controllability of processes in the religious environment is achieved by respecting the rights of individuals. Any Russian citizen (regardless of affiliation to one or another confession or not belonging to any) should feel that the state protects his interest, and to feel that Russia is his homeland7.
B. Avyutsky suggests that a comprehensive solution to the problem for both Chechnya and the entire North Caucasus region can be found through the postmodern geopolitics linking local situations with global processes. Russian tradition can be adapted to local conditions, that is already happening in Dagestan and parts of Karachay-Cherkessia and avoid a categorical refusal to the basic principles of the Russian civilization8.
Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor A. Magomedov considers it necessary to take some meta-structure within which secular and religious culture will get along without conflict. Human personality becomes internally richer and the social, political behavior more flexible by adopting a new model that will significantly weaken the destabilizing climate in Dagestan society6.
References
1 Speech by the President of the Russian Federation at the meeting with the muftis of Russian Muslim, 22 October 2013 in Ufa [electronic resource]. Access: http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/19474.
Z. Abdulagatov. Severokavkazskiy musulmanin: mezhdu zakonami gosudarstva i normami islama. [Muslim of North Caucasus: between laws of the state and rules of Islam.] // Dagestan sociological compilation. Makhachkala, 2013. p. 25. Half of the young people of Dagestan want their republic develops according the Islamic sultanate [electronic resource]. Access: http://www.comrelig.ru/index. php?option=com_ content & task = view & id = 206 & Itemid = 30. Islamic themes in secular and Islamic media of Dagestan. Part 3 [Electronic resource]. Access: http://dargo.ru/publ/3-1-0-8
L. Syukiyaynen. Musulmane i gosudarstvo. [Muslims and the state] // Russia and the Moslem world. 1997. № 6. p. 22.
B. Bobrovnikov. Musulmanskie traditsii pravo I obschestvo na rossiyskom Kavkaze [Muslim traditions, law and society in the Russian Caucasus] // Bulletin of the Russian nation. 2014. № 4. pp. 75-76.
E. Suslova. Tolerantnost i religioznost sovremennogo obschestva. Problemy i paradoksy. [Tolerance and religion in modern society. Problems and paradoxes] [Electronic resource]. Access: http://www.rusoir.ru/news/23-09-2005-4.html V. Avyutsky. Severnyy Kavkaz kak vnutrennee zarubezhe Rossii. [The North Caucasus as "internal abroad" of Russia] // Central Asia and Caucasus. 2002. № 5. p. 77.
A. Magomedov. Maximumalno korotko o raznom. [Maximum Briefs]. -Makhachkala: Epoch, 2012. p. 144.
"VestnikRossiyskoy natsi", Moscow., 2015, N 4, pp. 141-151.
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N. Kozyrev,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, D. Sidorov,
Ph.D. (Politics), Diplomatic Academy, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation
SCO: NEW CONTOURS OF EURASIAN INTEGRATION
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization became larger and more significant structure in the emerging multipolar world after the
admission of new members to the organization at the SCO summit in Ufa on July 9-10, 2015. Its activity is not limited to the Central Asian region, but goes beyond it, covering the Middle East and South Asia.
