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MUSLIMS IN UKRAINE: IS THERE FREEDOM OF FAITH?
Nikolai KIRIUSHKO
Nikolai Kiriushko, Chief research associate, Institute of Political, Ethnic and National Research, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine)
Since the early 1990s, the number of Muslims in Ukraine has been increasing by leaps and bounds: the traditionally Islamic peoples are regaining their faith; the demographic and migration processes are being intensified; and the Crimean Tartars are flocking back to their historical homeland, while a certain number of ethnic Ukrainians and Russians embrace Islam every year. In the wake of the Soviet Union’s disintegration, religious life in Ukraine has been following a more or less normal course within the democratic standards of the freedom of faith. In 2004, there were 445 legally registered Muslim communities in the country with charters and rules of their own and 22 non-registered communities (operating strictly within the Ukrainian laws), the corresponding figures for the Crimean Autonomous Republic being 349 and 20. There are seven Islamic educational establishments with 276 students, 90 Sunday schools, and 5 periodicals. They employ 433 clerics, 20 of whom are foreign citizens. It should be said that the Muslim communities have160 mosques and prayer houses at their disposal, 44 of them belong to Muslims, 18 are used by them, and 98 were adjusted for religious purposes. Ten out of 160 buildings are architectural monuments (the Ibn Fadlan, An-Nour and Ar-Rakhma mosques being the best known among them). Fifty-four mosques date to 1992-2003; twenty-three mosques have not yet been completed. The Muslims are guided by the Spiritual Administration of the Crimean Muslims, the Spiritual Center of the Muslims of Ukraine, and the Spiritual Administration of the Ukrainian Muslims. There is also the possibility of new organizational structures appearing.
Until recently the Ukrainian academic community betrayed no interest in the state of affairs among this important, large and highly dynamic religious group, or in its social orientations. Nobody knew how many Muslims lived in Ukraine. In the absence of state support such…………….
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