Islam and war

Renat Bekkin and Ruslan Aisin - about how the war has split Russian Muslims

Sergey Medvedev: The war in Ukraine became a challenge for Russian Muslims. Many Muslim regions, such as Dagestan, suffer heavy losses. The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov declared Jihad to Ukraine . How do Islamic leaders and Russian Muslims relate to this war? How does world Islam relate to it? Our guest is Renat Beckin , an orientalist, a writer, and Ruslan Aisin , a political scientist from Tatarstan.

Video version of the program

Correspondent: almost immediately after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, on March 16, at a meeting in Vladikavkaz, the spiritual leaders of the Muslims of Russia supported Putin and made a decision "on the dead during the defense of the Fatherland and civilians during the Russian military operation in Ukraine to force the aggressor to the world." But not all mufti supported the military invasion, just many in Russia are afraid to publicly express their opinion. And not all Muslims perceive this war as jihad: human rights activists record many statements about the abduction of people, forced to go to war and threats to relatives of military personnel.

Not all mufti supported the military invasion, just many are afraid to publicly express their opinion

In the Islamic world, the invasion reaction is different. In Syria, the reaction of the government of Bashar Assad is defiantly pro -Russian, Iran also uses anti -Western rhetoric, but Saudi Arabia, for example, does not welcome the invasion, but is not going to help Ukraine either. Türkiye is trying to maintain relations with both countries, but the deliveries of Bayractar are about which side Erdogan is inclined to. Libya condemned Russian aggression. Among believers there is also a third position - neutrality: "This is not a war of Muslims."

Sergey Medvedev: Renat, how does the mufti treat this war? Were there any disagreements?

Renat Beckin: Mufti in one form or another expressed support. They simply had no other option, except to resign. They supported mobilization. I will quote the statement of the spiritual department of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan: "This decree on mobilization does not contradict such Muslim values as ensuring security, protecting the homeland, defending the general national and spiritual values of the peoples of Russia." And many mufti really operated on Islamic terminology, tried to find Sharia justification for such a decision.

Sergey Medvedev: And during the war in Chechnya there was the same unanimity?

Renat Beckin: No. Mufti Ravil Gainutdin , who is now led by one of the leading spiritual departments of Muslims, scored a lot of points among opponents of the war in Chechnya just his rather firm position against the war. He repeatedly performed, addressed President Yeltsin.

Sergey Medvedev: Ruslan, is there any disagreement among believers, among mullah?

Ruslan Aisin: Communicating with many Muslims in different regions of the Russian Federation, I am convinced that they are against war. In Islam there is no such clear institution as the church. This is, in fact, a remake brought from the Ottoman Empire and established by Catherine II to control Muslims. Among the huge number of Muslims, there is a belief that mufti are illegitimate, they cannot be the herald of their positions, so they are injected with this institution, especially in the Salafi environment. Muslims, of course, are opponents. In addition, this position is synchronized with the position of the national liberation movement of enslaved peoples; This began with the fall of the Kazan Khanate and further advanced to the east, to the south of the Russian Empire. And all this, too, has now stirred up, therefore both the Muslim component, and the national liberation rhetoric was wearing together.

Mufti are forced to talk about it, but with one degree or another. There are people like Talgat Tajuddin , who sits in Ufa and declared Russia a caliphate. Ravil Gainutdin always tried to distance himself from power, but sometimes showed a skew. Here they do not have a common position.

See the regions in the war also

Renat Beckin: Mufti is extremely convenient for the authorities in order to coordinate, control the activities of Muslims, their religious life. The problem is not that the mufti for the war or against the war, not that each mufti has some kind of ogepeushnik with a gun (of course, there are such people, but without pistols). There is a more effective lever for the current couples - this is financial control when all funds are entered through the Islamic culture, science and education fund. And when this pipe is blocked, the mufti will simply cease to exist. Our mufti want to visit international conferences, drive in beautiful machines, fly a business class, organize pathos events, have several apartments. It is very easy, blocking oxygen, to stop their activity, and this is a much more effective hook than some compromises and everything else.

There is an effective lever for the current couplings - this is financial control

Sergey Medvedev: Ramzan Kadydrov declared Jihad to Ukraine. I read the performances of the Chechen muftis: Salah Mezhiev says that this is a war for the Prophet and Islam, they say that the dead are martyrs for faith. How do Russian Muslims relate to such statements?

Ruslan Aisin: with great skepticism are those Muslims who are in the mental religious opposition to Moscow and to all of its branches in the form of Ramzan Kadyrov, Mufti and other administrative structures. Firstly, according to the Islamic Theological Tradition, Ramzan Kadyrov could not declare Jihad: he is not an imam, Primate for Muslims. It is a pure authority. Secondly, to die for the non-Smail state-this is contrary to the norms of Sharia. Thirdly, Kadyrov calls on to kill in a war, which, even according to Sharia standards, cannot be considered sacred for Muslims. But Ramzan Kadyrov is mainly an authority for Chechens, and not for the whole Caucasus. The Caucasus has a very difficult attitude towards him, since it is known that Kadyrov wanted to crush most of the Caucasus, so he is not perceived by all Muslims as an absolute and unconditional authority.

An interesting moment occurred with the main state (this is an Islamic Sharia judge in the spiritual department of Muslims). The mufti of Tatarstan supported both mobilization and war, and at the same time in his telegram channel, this main Sharia judge put a video in Arabic, where their mentor (and they are Sufi) says that Muslims-Russian should avoid mobilization. This is such a pass and ours and yours. It is clear that few people know the Arabic language in Russia, but it was a very important passage, because some Muslims still try to maintain relations with that world, including Turkey, because the Tatarstan mufti is those who have come out of the spiritual orders of Turkey. Everything is very difficult.

Ruslan Aisin

And Kadyrov has nothing to lose, he can declare jihad. I remind you that the same Talgat Tajuddin in 2001, waving a saber at one of the rallies, announced the US jihad. Well, everyone perceives him as such a Zhirinovsky Islamic clerical mass, few people are seriously treated.

Sergey Medvedev: sad anniversary: December 11, 1994 - the beginning of the first Russian war in Chechnya. And looking at the war in Ukraine, we recall that before Buchi and Mariupol were Samashki, new Atagi and the whole method of the actions of the Russian army, which is now and again before us. As in Syria - Aleppo was before Mariupol.

Ruslan, Chechen War, Ukrainian War - these are colonial wars. From the point of view of decolonization, how are Muslims of Tatarstan perceive this war?

Ruslan Aisin: If you remember, Tatarstan until the last defended the principles of federalism, believing that federalism is what will limit the centralization and total of the Moscow government. In general, the idea of decolonization, the idea of returning to a certain system of statehood of Tatarstan and other republics was officially mounted. And even in the updated Putin constitution, it is written that in the republic the idea of statehood did not leave the public discourse of the Tatar political elite. She was in the form of a republic, then federalism. Now all these topics are prohibited, but they are still implicitly present.

Kadyrov calls to kill in a war, which, according to Sharia standards, cannot be considered sacred for Muslims

When the war in Chechnya began, the Tatarstan leadership, then led by Shaimiev, actively opposed the war. There were humanitarian missions, Tatarstan in every possible way acted as an intermediary between the Chechen Republic Ichkeria and Moscow. And then, when the Ukrainian war has already begun, of course, everyone was quiet - this is understandable, the system of administrative pressure reached its peak, but still the Tatar intelligentsia and the thoughtful class unequivocally perceive this war as colonial, conducting direct parallels with what happened to us in the 16th century, and what happened later when the rest of the Khanate of the Golden Horde were conquered. And therefore, the topic of studying decolonization has now activated, which some time ago was just peripheral. All are now united in the fact that Moscow continues that very colonial imperial policy. I think that as power weakens in the center, this topic will become dominant in the national republics, because the appeal is purely only to “stop the war” does not give the effect. Everyone understands that Moscow will continue, so decolonization is necessary not only political, but also a decolonization of consciousness.

Sergey Medvedev: How strong in Tatarstan are pro -Russian, Pro -Putin sentiments?

Renat Beckin: Until 2017, among those whom I knew in Tatarstan, there really were many supporters of Putin and his actions both in Russia and beyond, including in Syria. But everything changed 2017, the abolition of teaching the Tatar language as a mandatory one. The regime has come on the most sick corn. I myself watched as many of those who wrote bravura propaganda slogans in social networks, just once changed their point of view overnight. This is what happened a little later in Ingushetia when a question arose with the border. When power steps on a sore point, not everyone is reassessing, but for the majority.

Of course, the level of support for the regime in Tatarstan is much lower after history with the language, especially since many say: "We are fighting for federalism in Ukraine, for the Russian language to have a certain status in Ukraine. But what is happening in our Tatarstan?!" If the inhabitants of Moscow do not yet understand this situation, then the inhabitants of Tatarstan see everything perfectly and feel it in their own skin. This federalism for export, of course, causes indignation and indignation, since people actually live in an authoritarian pseudo -federal state.

See also the wife of Dagestan's mufti asked about a delay for mobilized

Sergey Medvedev: How much was Tatarstan suffered from the war?

Renat Beckin: The IDEL . Real website leads sufficiently detailed statistics, and the numbers are quite high - these are hundreds of who died both from Tatarstan and from Bashkortostan. It is believed that national minorities are specially sent there to die more, but this is rather a common problem: these are poverty, these are regions in which people are just going to make money. But in general, the Tatars are still more pragmatic, this is a nation of merchants, so the principle of "my hut from the edge" is quite common.

Sergey Medvedev: Ruslan, if you look at different groups of Muslims in Russia (Muslims of the Volga region, Muslims of the Caucasus, Muslims in large Russian cities), where the highest loyalty and where is the highest volatility?

Decolonization is necessary not only political, but also decolonization of consciousness

Ruslan Aisin: Urbanized Muslims are more independent in their judgments. In large cities, both access to education and the communication environment allow you to develop an independent position. There is support mainly in rural areas where everyone is watching central television channels. In the North Caucasus, there is the same - there is a part that believes the muftiya: mainly representatives of the Sufi direction. The more cosmopolitan Salafi movement of the Muslims of the Caucasus or was depressed earlier to Turkey, to Ukraine, dispersed, or they try not to climb into this system. There is also such a direction as the Madhalites - outwardly Salafi, radical, but at the same time they support the authorities of any regions. This is such a specially created system. In Kazan, in Moscow, in St. Petersburg, I think that is precisely such resistance.

Sergey Medvedev: Renat, if you look at this war through the eyes of people from the Islamic world, then this is probably seen as a confrontation between Russia and the USA. Accordingly, the Islamic world and many third countries will be willy-nilly to support or at least observe neutrality in this confrontation with America.

Renat Beckin

Renat Beckin: And Russian propaganda just emphasizes that we are talking about confrontation with a large devil, with the United States. In all the performances of the Russian muftis in support of the war, the same thought sounded in different formulations: we are fighting gearopa to prevent us from non-traditional values, and gay brothers do not impose. This message is also exported: Russia is fighting with the United States not just for the territory, for resources, but for values, that is, this is a war of ideologies, a spiritual war. In addition, many Arabs simply do not know what Ukraine is, believing that this is some kind of territory of Russia, which announced independence, made the Russian genocide, so Putin decided to punish them.

Ruslan Aisin: But there are difficulties for Moscow, because she unleashed the Syrian war. And many passionate Muslims, including the monarchs of the Persian Gulf against the Russian-Asadian Union. Assad became an evil for the Arabs of this large region. But this works, it is all awesome: rotting Europe, gay brumas. At the same time, most of the Muslims of the countries of Maghrib are looking for the best share in the same Europe. If the counter -propaganda worked more harmoniously, I think that nothing would have left of Russian influence.

Sergey Medvedev: Russia has been fighting with the Islamic world for 40 years: in the 80s it was Afghanistan, in the 90s-Chechnya, the 21st century is Syria. Russia supports India in conflict with Pakistan, supplying her weapons.

Putin launched an avalanche that accelerated historical processes

Ruslan Aisin: Yes. Russia unequivocally took the pro -Chinese position in relation to Uyghurs, and Uyghurs are pain. Palestine's question is also very complicated. But there is another important detail: I think, the Kremlin specially developed the concept that supposedly the collective West wants to arrange the so -called new Khazaria in Ukraine. This is a mythical education. In Muslim circles, and very famous people in a conversation with me said: "You do not understand anything. They want to establish a Khazar Kaganate, a Jewish rule there." Well, you know how Muslims react to Israel. They do not share Zionism and Judaism. This is very serious!

Sergey Medvedev: Putin launched an avalanche that accelerated historical processes that would take decades. Now they occupy years and months, and one of them is the process of decolonization. There is a colonial war of Russia in Ukraine, but it launches the decolonization process in Russia itself. This applies to the Muslims of Russia, this applies to Tatarstan, the Caucasus and many regions of the country.