THE ISLAMIC FACTOR IN THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

Ibrahim MARZIEV

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Ibrahim Marziev, Ph.D. (Hist.), deputy head, Department of Expert Appraisal, Administration of the RF Main State Expert Appraisal for the Republic of Ingushetia (Nazran, Russian Federation)

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The role of Islam in North Caucasian politics has long been a topic of discussion in the academic, political, and journalist community. The term “the fault line” used by Prof. Huntington to describe the clash of civilizations looks tempting in the North Caucasian context. Indeed, it is an area with a high level of social and political tension and ethnic conflicts (more or less natural in the homeland of nearly 100 nationalities) rooted in economic and political inequality, unjust distribution of land, and an unwillingness to show justice when dealing with these evils. In addition, there are attempts to add religious hues to the already burning ethnic issues.

Perestroika started Muslim renaissance in Russia; it was at that time that Islam moved into the sphere of politics. In 1990, Akhmad-qadi Akhtaev and the Kebedov brothers, among others (very popular as the leaders of “renovationist” Islam in Daghestan also known as Wahhabism), set up the Islamic Revival Party (IRP). Wahhabism is part of a wider movement called Salafism. We can paraphrase the formula “every Islamist is a Muslim, while not every Muslim is an Islamist” used by political scientist Igor Dobaev to say “every Wahhabi can be described as a Salafi, but not all Salafis are Wahhabis.”

The local Salafis concentrated on criticizing the Sufi Sheikhs for their complete loyalty to the secular state, which……………………..

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