The Islamic Religious Movement in the Mari El Republic: Issues and Controversies

Abstract

The article reveals the complexity and contradictions in forming and developing the Islamic religious movement in Mari El Republic in 1990–2005. Having studied a wide range of sources, the author concludes that the process of formation and development of the Islamic movement in Mari El occurred during an ambiguous period for the whole of Russia, that the leaders of the Muslim organizations of the republic contributed both to integrating and disintegrating processes within the movement, and that controversies were mostly influenced by external factors.

Notes

^a. In the official 2010 Federation of Russia census, the Tatars comprised 38,357 in Mari El Republic, or 5.8 percent of the total population.

^b. A clue to the author not being an insider-believer within the Mari-El Muslim community is in his formulation that members of its clergy are “servers of the cult.” This Soviet legacy terminology would not be used by the community itself.

^1. Appeal of the elders of the Muslim communities of the city of Ioshkar-Ola. 2005, December (Current Archive of the Council under the Head of the Republic of Mari El for Interaction with Religious Associations).

^2. Letter from F.R. Salimgareev to the President of the Republic of Mari El of 11 January 2010 (Current Archive of the Council under the Head of the Republic of Mari El for Interaction with Religious Associations).

^3. Document dated 6 September 2006 (Current Archive of the Council under the Head of the Republic of Mari El for Interaction with Religious Associations).

^c. The complexity of the Sufi Naqshbandi movement makes generalizations about them as violence-advocating outsiders quite unfortunate, and perhaps dangerously overreactive. As a Sufi brotherhood long established in the North Caucasus, they have been part of the power structures, not the radical Muslims. Historically, some were allied with the Avar war hero imam Shamil and opposition to Russian Empire rule. However, they are not as known for belligerence like some other groups active today in the North Caucasus, such as the North Caucasus Emirate (divided into various jamaat), or the outlawed in Russia Hizb ut-Tahrir. Also potentially polarizing is the naming of followers of the Turkish Muslim philosopher Nursi as radical, although works by Nursi have been banned in Russia. For background, see Alexander Knysh, “Contextualizing the Sufi-Salafi Conflict (From the Northern Caucasus to Hadramawt,” Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, 2007, pp. 503–30.

English translation © Taylor & Francis, from the Russian text © 2012 “Filologiia i kul'tura.” “Islamskoe religioznoe dvizhenie v Respublike Marii El: Problemy i protivorechiia,” Filologiia i kul'tura, vol. 1, no. 27, 2012, pp. 220–25.Eduard Valer'evich Chemyshev, head of the secretariat for the deputy chairman of the Mari El Republic government, deputy chairman of the council under the head of Mari El Republic for interaction with religious associations, extramural doctoral candidate at the Mari State University Regional History Department.Translated by Stephan Lang.