Protected and Controlled. Islam and ‘Desecularisation from Above’ in Russia

Abstract

This essay examines two recent Russian public debates related to Islam: the building of new mosques in Moscow and the terrorist action against Charlie Hebdo. It is argued that these cases exemplify two contradictory attitudes towards Islamic religiosity: a strong protection of ‘traditional religions’, but also tightening control and the wish to keep non-Orthodox religiosity outside the public space. The opposition to new mosques reveals an attitude towards Islam as something alien, but the protection of religious sensitivities, including Islamic ones, finds much support. These two examples reflect the simultaneous projects of the desecularisation and secularisation of Russian society.

Notes

¹ ‘Putin podpisal zakon o poryadke provedeniya religioznykh tseremonii’, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 23 October 2014, available at: http://www.rg.ru/2014/10/23/zakon-site-anons.html, accessed 26 February 2015. ‘Novye zakonodatel’nye trebovaniya k deyatel’nosti religioznykh ob’’edinenii. Yuridicheskii analiz’, Sova-Center, 24 November 2014, available at: http://www.sova-center.ru/religion/publications/2014/11/d30715/, accessed 26 February 2015.

² See also Berger et al. (2008, pp. 10–3).

³ See also Evans and Northmore-Ball (2012).

⁴ ‘O svobode sovesti i o religioznykh ob’edineniyakh’, FZ no. 125, available at: http://base.garant.ru/171640/, accessed 25 October 2015.

⁵ Umma is the community of Muslims. It may be used to refer to a local community, for example, the people who go to the same mosque, or in the sense of the whole community of Muslims in the world.

⁶ ‘Federal’nyi spisok ekstremistskikh materialov doros do p.2964’, Sova Center, 12 August 2015, available at:

http://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/extremism/counter-extremism/2015/08/d32559/, accessed 14 August 2015.

⁷ ‘O protivodeistvii ekstremistskoi deyatel’nosti’, FZ no. 114, available at: http://base.garant.ru/12127578/, accessed 25 October 2015.

⁸ The Orenburg verdict attests to the accusations that such bans are often made according to political motives to suppress religious groups or individuals. The list of literature which was banned in the Lenin District Court corresponded to a collection of books confiscated from a local Muslim, Asylzhan Kel’mukhambetov, who was arrested for belonging to a banned organisation of the followers of Said Nursi. On the alleged ‘followers of Said Nursi’, see Ponomarev (2012). In my interviews I heard a similar claim, according to which local officials occasionally orchestrate such court cases and ban literature found in the possession of people they wish to convict of a crime (interviews with a Muslim activist, St Petersburg, 9 May 2014, and an Imam, St Petersburg, 27 October 2014).

⁹ Interestingly, several Orthodox leaders defended the rights of the Muslims on this issue. ‘“Ne mozhet byt!” RPTs Vyskazala svoe slovo v zashchitu khidzhaba’, Golos Islama, 2 February 2015, available at: http://golosislama.ru/news.php?id=26066, accessed 3 March 2015.

¹⁰ On the audience-centred approach, see Mitchell (2012).

¹¹ For example, a comment given on 15 November 2007 on the article, ‘V Moskve poyavilis’ islamskie kvartaly’, Komsomol’skaya Pravda, 15 November 2007, available at: http://www.kp.ru/daily/24002.4/81044, accessed 3 November 2013.

¹² For example, comments given on 23 September 2010 and on 24 September 2010 on Belanovskii (2010).

¹³ ‘Posle protesta zhitelei vlasti otkazalis’ stroit’ mechet’ v Mitine’, Komsomol’skaya Pravda, 20 September 2012, available at: http://www.kp.ru/daily/25953.4/2895064/, accessed 20 June 2015.

¹⁴ ‘Sergei Sobyanin: “V Moskve dostatochno mechetei dlya zhitelei goroda”’, Ekho Moskvy, 1 March 2013, available at: http://www.echo.msk.ru/news/1022182-echo.html, accessed 26 February 2015.

¹⁵ See for example, ‘Vlasti Moskvy ob’yavili o prekrashchenii stroitel’stva khrama v parke “Trofyanka” do resheniya suda’, Sova Center, 26 June 2015, available at: http://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/community-media/communities-conflicts/2015/06/d32287/, accessed 3 July 2015.

¹⁶ In 2012, the law changed in this respect. Now the building of such public constructions as mosques must be approved by the local governance (munitsipal sobranie), which previously provided only an advisory decision.

¹⁷ Previously, the mosque at the Iranian embassy in Moscow announced adhan aloud, but this practice was stopped after complaints by the surrounding residents. Occasionally, the argument seemed to be based on deliberate ‘ignorance’. For example, one representative of the Russian Orthodox Church insinuated that the noise problem caused by new mosques would be the same as in Jerusalem, where all people are woken up at 6am by the voice of the adhan (Lupal 2010).

¹⁸ ‘Moskva prirastet novoi mechet’yu’, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 15 September 2010, available at: http://www.ng.ru/ng_religii/2010-09-15/3_mechet.html, accessed 29 October 2015.

¹⁹ ‘Aleksei Baikov: “Moskovskie musul’mane—ne samye obrazovannye predstaviteli islama”’, Argumenty i Fakty, 20 October 2010, available at: http://www.aif.ru/society/religion/21257, accessed 6 November 2015.

²⁰ ‘Islamskii “fleshmob”: k sobornoi mecheti Moskvy veruyushchikh sgonyali spetsial’no!’, Russkii Vestnik, 13 October 2011.

²¹ For example, a comment given on 22 September 2010 on Belanovskii (2010), available at: http://www.aif.ru/society/20636, accessed 26 September 2014. ‘Native Muslims’ (korennye zhiteli) was occasionally used as synonymous to Tatars or explicated as people with roots in Povolzhe and the Caucasus.

²² ‘Aleksei Baikov: “Moskovskie musul’mane—ne samye obrazovannye predstaviteli islama”’, Argumenty i Fakty, 20 October 2010, available at: http://www.aif.ru/society/religion/21257, accessed 6 November 2015.

²³ ‘Patriarkh Kirill: Islamisty aktivno verbuyut storonnikov v srede slavyanskoi molodezhi’, Regions.ru, 20 December 2013, available at: http://regions.ru/news/2491855/, accessed 8 August 2015.

²⁴ A reader’s comment on 6 August 2014 on Varlamov (2014).

²⁵ Islamophobia among liberals has been addressed by Sergei Abashin (2005).

²⁶ In the readers’ comments to Il’ya Varlamov’s article ‘Moskve nuzhno bol’she mechetei’, the expressions, ‘Moscow needs fewer Muslims’, ‘Moscow needs fewer migrants’ and ‘Moscow needs fewer Muslim migrants’ appeared several times (Varlamov 2014).

²⁷ A comment on Varlamov (2014).

²⁸ For example, a comment on Kots (2007), available at: http://www.kp.ru/daily/24002.4/81044?geoid=47&geoid=47#comment, accessed 20 July 2015.

²⁹ A comment on 2 March 2013 on Pyatnitskaya and Mironov (2013).

³⁰ For example, a comment on 23 September 2010 on Belanovskii (2010). ‘Rublevka’ is an unofficial name for an area West of Moscow. It is known as a residential area for billionaires.

³¹ A comment on 20 September 2012 on the article, ‘Posle protesta zhitelei vlasti otkazalis’ stroit’ mechet v Mitino’, Komsomol’skaya Pravda, 20 September 2012, available at: http://kompravda.eu/daily/25953.4/2895064/?cp=0, accessed 28 October 2014.

³² For example, a comment on 8 August 2014 on Nosik (2014).

³³ Several comments on 6 August 2014 on Varlamov (2014).

³⁴ A comment on 14 December 2010 on Kots (2007), available at: http://www.kp.ru/daily/24002.4/81044?geoid=47&geoid=47#comment, accessed 20 July 2015.

³⁵ These arguments recurred, for example, in the long discussion (636 comments) on the webpage of Komsomol’skaya Pravda, available at: http://www.kp.ru/daily/24002.4/81044?geoid=47&geoid=47#comment, accessed 20 July 2015.

³⁶ ‘Milonov trebuet zapretit’ Charlie Hebdo v Rossii: “Karikatury izdaniya—vopiyushchaya forma glumleniya nad traditsionnym tsennostyami”’, Moskovskii Komsomolets, 15 January 2015, available at:

http://www.mk.ru/print/article/1152407/, accessed 26 February 2015.

³⁷ ‘V Gisdume ne ponimayut, zachem Khodorkovskii “draznit” musul’man’, RiaNovosti, 8 January 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/society/20150108/1041831345.html?utm_source=smi2&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=rian_partners, accessed 26 February 2015.

³⁸ ‘CLARIFICATION given by Roskomnadzor regarding cartoons on religious themes’, Roskomnadzor, 20 January 2015, available at: http://eng.rkn.gov.ru/news/news39.htm, accessed 22 January 2015.

³⁹ ‘My ne Sharli’, Levada Centre, 29 January 2015, available at: http://www.levada.ru/29-01-2015/my-ne-sharli, accessed 13 August 2015.

⁴⁰ ‘Press-vypusk No. 2901: Religioznye chustva vs. svoboda slova’, VTsIOM, 13 August 2015, available at: http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=115347, accessed 13 August 2015.

⁴¹ A reader’s comment of 8 January 2015 on Vorsobin (2015).

⁴² For example, ‘D. G. Novikov o sobytiyakh vo Frantsii i o provokatsii Khodorkovskogo’ (see also the readers’ comments), 10 January 2015, available at: http://kprf.ru/party-live/cknews/138058.html, accessed 20 August 2015.

⁴³ For example, two comments on 12 January 2015 on Evstifeev (2015).

⁴⁴ For example, a reader’s comment on 11 January 2015 on Kuraev (2015b).

⁴⁵ For example, several comments on 11 January 2015 on the article, ‘V Gosdume ne ponimayut, zachem Khodorkovskii “draznit” musul’man’, Ria Novosti, 8 January 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/society/20150108/1041831345.html, accessed 18 July 2015.

⁴⁶ ‘Meriya ne razreshit musul’manam provesti miting v Moskve’, 17 January 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/moscow/20150117/1042996529.html, accessed 20 January 2015.