Translated material
Moderation in tomorrow
Russian Muslims are looking for a “middle way”
Russian and foreign Muslims are trying to determine the reasons pushing their young co-religionists onto the path of radicalism, and to find an adequate response to this challenge. Almost a seventh of the Russian population (about 20 million people) professes Islam. And “it would be wrong to say that among them there are no radicals who do not act at all according to the Muslim principle “The end justifies the means.” “Alas, there is,” admitted the Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia Ravil Gainutdin at the opening of the conference “Humanistic Values and Muslim Youth of Russia.” “One of our main tasks today is to develop forms and methods of educational work with young people in order to return them to the straight path of moderation.”The international conference, which opened under the auspices of the Council of Muftis, was attended by representatives of the World Organization for the Rapprochement of Islamic Schools from Iran, the Libyan Association of Islamic Call and the Kuwaiti Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The organizers consider it important that Kuwait participate as a state that officially promotes religious moderation.
It was moderation that Ravil Gainutdin called on the youth to do. He also spoke about the humanistic values of Islam, which, in his opinion, have been neglected in recent decades. “It is much easier for some of our brothers to conduct fruitless debates about the collapsed caliphate and curse Western liberal culture without offering anything in return,” said the head of the Mufti Council. In his opinion, the value system of liberalism in the conditions of a “consumer society” is also undergoing a serious substitution of concepts. “Humanistic values in Islam are not a denial of universal human rights and freedoms, but a set of moral standards of behavior obligatory for Muslims. This is our peaceful civilizational alternative to the pseudo-liberal interpretation of human rights and freedoms.”
Ravil Gainutdin named several reasons why Islamic youth often lean towards a far from peaceful alternative and go, as they say in the North Caucasus, “into the forest.” In his opinion, this phenomenon “has no source in Islam,” and its reasons are “completely earthly,” while religion not only does not sanction, but also prohibits extremism. Among the earthly reasons, the head of the Council of Muftis named the severity of the economic situation, especially in the Caucasian regions, unemployment, corruption, social lack of demand, increased nationalism and xenophobia, and the unjustifiably negative image of Muslims in a number of media. Radicalization, in his opinion, is also facilitated by “the biased attitude towards Muslims of certain authorities.” Speaking in this regard about the reasons for people’s anger, Ravil Gainutdin turned to the example of the investigation into the murder of a nine-year-old Tajik girl in St. Petersburg, but did not touch on the much more painful topic of last year’s attack in Nalchik. Although this attack, according to many observers, was largely due to the inappropriate behavior of the local police towards the community of believers. The sheikh named among the negative factors the practice of obstructing the construction of mosques - according to him, as a result, believers gather in apartments or private houses, where radical ideas are often preached.
Supporters of moderate Islam see a way out of the situation in the development of an Islamic education system in Russia, which could educate a new generation of educated clergy who enjoy the trust of believers and preach humanistic values. In addition, interfaith peace and equality are important: in particular, the Council of Muftis believes that the basics of all four “traditional” religions of Russia - Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism - should be taught in secular schools.