RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL ELITES IN THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS: FORMATION, IDEOLOGICAL CONTRADICTIONS, AND PRACTICAL OPPOSITION
Keywords:
elites, religious and political elites, traditional Islam, the Northern Caucasus, Russia, Islamic revival, Sufism, Salafism, Wahhabism, conflicts, contradictions, formation of the clergy, neo-clergy.Abstract
This article highlights the main factors relating to the formation of the religious and political (Islamic) elites in the Northern Caucasus caused by Gorbachev’s perestroika, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reforms conducted in Russia, the creation of an ideological vacuum, and the birth of market relations. The sociocultural context that formed has given rise to an Islamic revival, the penetration of Salafi (Wahhabi) ideas into the region, and the formation of a neo-clergy that is not only claiming a leading role in the religious life of Muslims, but also active participation in politics, right down to preparing a state coup.
Today, the official and unofficial Muslim elites of the Northern Caucasus are in a state of confrontation; despite this, certain steps are nevertheless being taken to establish relations
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Different aspects of this problem were analyzed in some of our publications: V. Akaev, “Religious-Political Conflict in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria,” in: Political Islam and Conflicts in Russia and Central Asia, Utrikespoliskainstitutet, Stock-holm, 1999, pp. 47-58; idem, “Mufti Kadyrov: Person, Religious Figure, Politician,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 5,2000; idem, “Conflicts between Traditional and Non-traditional Islamic Trends: Reasons, Dynamics, and Ways to Overcome Them (based on North Caucasian documents),” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 2 (50), 2008; idem, “The Conflict between Traditional and Non-traditional Islam in the North Caucasus: Origins, Dynamics and the Means for its Resolution,” NUPI Working Paper, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo, 2008, 20 pp.; idem, Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union, ed. by G. Yemelianova, Routledge, London, New York, 2010, pp. 62-81, etc.
See: A. Malashenko, Islamskie orientiry Severnogo Kavkaza, Moscow Carnegie Center, Gendalf, Moscow, 2001, p. 59.
See: I. Ermakov, D. Mukulsky, Islam v Rossii i Sredney Azii, Lotos, Moscow, 1993, p. 176.
Z. Yandarbiev, Chechenia—bitva za svobodu, Lvov, 1996, p. 482.
K.M. Khanbabaev, “Etapy rasprostranenia vakhkhabizma v Dagestane,” in: A.M. Abdullaev, M.M. Omarov, Z.S. Aruk-hov, et al., Alimy i uchenye protiv vakhkhabizma: Sbornik, Dag Book Publishers State Unitary Enterprise: Makhachkala, 2001,p. 108.
K.M. Khanbabaev, op. cit., p. 105.
Sh. Pshikhachev, “Osnovnoi prichinoi napadeniia na Nalchik bylo to, chto … ono dolzhno bylo proizoiti pri liubykh obstoiatelstvakh, v liubom, dazhe samom idealnom obshchestve,” Severny Kavkaz (Nalchik), 15 November, 2005.
Ibidem.
Ibidem.
This Sufi sheikh, who enjoyed great respect in Daghestan, was killed at the end of August 2012 in his home during a
terrorist act organized by Aminat Kurbanova (Saprykina). The criminals were able to organize a double terrorist act, as the result of which 14 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the sheikh’s yard that day.
See: Dagestanskaia pravda, 16 March, 1994.
He was killed during a terrorist act carried out in August 1998 near the Juma mosque in Makhachkala.
See: L. Lavrova, Moe oruzhie—slovo, Interview with the mufti of Daghestan Sayidmuhammad Abubakarov, Rodina,
Special Issue, No. 1-2, 2000, p. 192.
Ibidem.
Z. Yandarbiev, Chei khalifat? Gabala, 2001, p. 74.
See: Ibidem.
See: K.M. Khanbabaev, op. cit., pp. 114-115; E.F. Kisriev, Islam i vlast v Dagestane, OGI, Moscow, 2004, pp. 148-149.
Quoted from: I.P. Dobaev, Islamsky radikalizm v mezhdunarodnoi politike, Rostov-on-Don, 2000, p. 182.
V.Kh. Akaev, Islam: sotsiokulturnaia realnost na Severnom Kavkaze, North Caucasian Scientific Center, Higher School Publishers, Rostov-on-Don, 2004, p. 159.
Ibid., p. 160.
V.Kh. Akaev, “Sufizm i vakhkhabizm na Severnom Kavkaze,” Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Applied and Urgent Ethnological Research Studies Series, No. 127, RAS, Moscow, 1999, p. 16.
V.Kh. Akaev, Islam: sotsiokulturnaia realnost na Severnom Kavkaze, p. 163.
R.A. Silantiev, Islam v sovremennoi Rossii, Encyclopedia, Algoritm, Moscow, 2008, p. 296.
A. Cherkesov, “Tango nad propastiu,” available at [http://www.polit.ru/article/2004/09/07/1999/].
See: V.Kh. Akaev, Sufism v kontekste arabo-musulmanskoi kultury, Dissertation for a doctor of philosophical science diploma, Rostov-on-Don, 2004, p. 337.
See: Ibid., p. 338.
K.M. Khanbabaev, op. cit., p. 117.
V.Kh. Akaev, Sheikh Kunta-haji: zhizn i uchenie, Grozny, 1994, 128 pp. In this book, the author gives a detailed description of the life, activity, arrest, and exile by the czarist authorities of Chechen sufi Kunta-haji Kishiev, follower of the Qadiriyya Tariqa, analyzes his religious and philosophical teaching, and notes his role in the spiritual life of the Chechens.
I. Tekushev, “Okhota na religioznykh deiateley, ili Strelba po traditsionnomu islamu,” in: Islam na Severnom Ka-vkaze: istoria i sovremennost, ed. by I. Tekushev, K. Shevchenko, Medium Orient, Prague, 2011, p. 143.
Ibid., p. 144.
Ibid., p. 145.
Severny Kavkaz, 15 November, 2005.
See: E.F. Kisriev, “Islam i natsionalnye otnosheniia na Severnom Kavkaze,” in: Islam v Rossii: Vzglyad iz regionov,Aspekt Press, Moscow, 2007, pp. 83-84.
Rossiiskaia gazeta, 4 April, 2012.
See: V.Kh. Akaev, “Chechensky kapkan dlia vakhkhabitov,” available at [http://newsland.com/news/detail/d/707172/].
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