| The newspaper "Vremya Novostey" publishes excerpts from the materials of the next issue of the journal "Domestic Notes", dedicated to the problems of Islam that are relevant in our country. What are the specifics of Russian Islam? What threats does Islam pose? What unites and what divides Islamic civilization? Russian and foreign experts answer these and other questions.
In the magazine, the reader will find articles by researchers working in the Muslim regions of our country, a description and analysis of various Islamic institutions - education, financial and legal systems, and will become acquainted with the main religious, ideological and political trends in Islam. A selection of texts by Muslim authors allows you to get acquainted with various positions from the first mouth, and a number of interviews provide the point of view of representatives of the Islamic community and the state.
As always, the reader of OZ has the opportunity to gain a deep, comprehensive and entertaining insight into one of the key problems of our time.
The state must return to the sphere of confessional relations
Russian Federation Minister for National Policy Vladimir ZORIN told about their features to Otechestvennye Zapiski correspondent Natalya ABAKUMOVA:
— Recently in Russia the authority of all, not just Islamic, religious associations has increased significantly. According to various sociological centers, believers today make up from 43 to 57% of the Russian population. If in 1992 there were 4,846 religious organizations, then in 2001 there were already 20,215. The number of registered confessions over the decade increased from 23 to 69. Islam is the second religion in the country by the number of believers after Orthodoxy. Muslims in Russia today, according to expert estimates of domestic scientists, number from 12 to 15 million people, which is approximately 8-10% of the population. In 2000 there were already more than 7 thousand mosques (in 1991 there were 870). The problem of the Islamic factor in the country is very relevant. Firstly, Muslims play a leading role in many areas of the economy and culture. Secondly, developments in the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia are of great importance. Finally, there is a threat of extremism and terrorism entering our country under the banner of Islam. And here the joint work of many ministries, departments of Russia and the world community is important. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs help in the interaction between the spiritual administrations of Russian Muslims and Muslim leaders in other countries. We need to more actively participate in OSCE events to combat extremism. The strengthening of our contacts with the Organization of Islamic States (OIS) should be assessed very positively.
There was a time when the state interfered in everything. Thank God we survived this. Now in the sphere of confessional relations, approximately the same thing is happening as at the dawn of the market: the state has left, leaving everything as it is in the hope that it will form itself. No, it does not form on its own. I am a supporter of active interaction between the state and religious associations. The dominant feature of this interaction is the unification of joint efforts in order to stabilize the situation in society, protect peace and civil harmony, and solve social problems.
When the question arises about forms of countering various kinds of extremism, including under religious flags, this can only be done together with our faiths, comparing positions and conducting discussions.
The Muslim community itself is divided, and at the federal level we have to work with 46 associations. The most authoritative of them are the Caucasian, Moscow and Ufa spiritual administrations. But between them there are some, I would say, frictions and contradictions, partly objective, but more often subjective. The leaders of these spiritual departments are members of the public council of leaders of our faiths under the president. You have to be flexible in working with them, but they are not essentially antagonists. What about the heads of other spiritual departments? I think that a permanent coordinating council of Russian muftis should be created, which would unite all current movements that are based on traditional Islam. Branches of various foreign religious and charitable organizations are multiplying in Russia. Foreign missionaries often actively spread radical and politicized movements of Islam, including Wahhabism, especially in the North Caucasus. An analysis of the activities of foreign extremist centers showed that they are trying to involve Russian Muslims in political life and contrast their interests with the interests of the state. And they even initiate secession from the Russian Federation in regions with a predominant Muslim population in order to create new states focused primarily on rapprochement with the countries of the Islamic world. Executive authorities do not always build relationships with foreign missionaries correctly, and sometimes they simply avoid new problems. The church, of course, is separated from the state, but society is not indifferent to what ideas are being developed in the country. Because sometimes local religious associations of Muslims in Russia become financially dependent on such organizations and become conduits for the ideas of those who pay. The problem of spiritual education is very acute. The state should provide support for secondary and higher religious education so that Russians do not go to study in Islamic countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, using grants allocated by the kingdom. In addition, it is necessary to develop unified educational standards for all religious educational institutions in Russia and at the same time create conditions for studying the traditions and customs of the peoples inhabiting this region.
We have no religious conflicts. Even the attempt of the Chechen separatists to give a religious coloring, the character of a religious war to the confrontation with the federal center, failed.
Interviewed by Natalya ABAKUMOVA
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