Islam in Russia
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Islam is the second largest religion in Russia, and is the religion of many ethnic minorities, as well as of many Slavic converts. Most of the ethnic Muslims are from the Middle Volga and Caucasus region. Russian Muslims, according to various estimates, make 15–30% of the total population. [1][2][3][4][5] Another approach to measure the number of Islam adherents in Russia is based on self-identification data of a specific ethnic group. The following table provides an overview of the number of Muslim-majority ethnic groups in Russia and what percentage of the population they make up, based on the 2002 Russian Census:
| Ethnic Group | Population(2002) | % Population | Predominant religion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tajiks | 120,136 | 0.08% | Islam |
| Tats | 2,303 | 0.00% | Islam |
| Tatars | 5,554,601 | 3.83% | Islam |
| Bashkirs | 1,673,389 | 1.15% | Islam |
| Kazakhs | 653,962 | 0.45% | Islam |
| Azerbaijani | 621,840 | 0.43% | Islam |
| Kumyks | 422,409 | 0.29% | Islam |
| Karachays | 192,182 | 0.13% | Islam |
| Uzbeks | 122,916 | 0.08% | Islam |
| Balkars | 108426 | 0.07% | Islam |
| Turks | 95,672 | 0.06% | Islam |
| Nogais | 90,666 | 0.06% | Islam |
| Circassians | 60,517 | 0.04% | Islam |
| Turkmens | 33,053 | 0.02% | Islam |
| Kirghiz | 31,808 | 0.02% | Islam |
| Crimean Tatars | 4,131 | 0.00% | Islam |
| Chechens | 1,360,253 | 0.94% | Islam |
| Avars | 814,473 | 0.56% | Islam |
| Kabardians | 519,958 | 0.36% | Islam |
| Dargins | 510,156 | 0.35% | Islam |
| Ingush | 413,016 | 0.28% | Islam |
| Lezgins | 411,535 | 0.28% | Islam |
| Laks | 156,545 | 0.11% | Islam |
| Tabasarans | 131,785 | 0.09% | Islam |
| Adyghe | 128,528 | 0.09% | Islam |
| Abazas | 37,942 | 0.03% | Islam |
| Rutuls | 29,929 | 0.02% | Islam |
| Aguls | 28,297 | 0.02% | Islam |
| Tsakhurs | 10,366 | 0.01% | Islam |
| Total | 14,340,794 | 9.85% | Islam |
It is impossible to provide accurate statistics of real "practicing" adherents of Islam or any other religion in Russia because there is no country-wide census or statistics done on this matter by the federal government or any other governmental organization.
The largest Islamic community present resides in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. A large number of Muslim communities are concentrated among the minority nationalities residing between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea: the Adyghes, Balkars, Nogais, Chechens, Circassians, Ingush, Kabardin, Karachay, and numerous Dagestani nationalities. In the middle of the Volga Basin are large populations of Tatars and Bashkirs, most of whom are Muslims. Many Muslims also reside in Perm Krai and Ulyanovsk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Tyumen, and the Leningrad Oblasts (mostly ethnic Tatars). It is also projected that by the year 2050 half of the population of Russia would be Muslims due to the immigration of Muslims from the Caucasus and Central Asia.[6]
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[edit] History of Islam in Russia
The first Muslims within current Russian territory were the Dagestani people (region of Derbent) after the Arab conquests in the 8th century. The first Muslim state in Russia was Volga Bulgaria (922). The Tatars inherited the religion from that state. Later the most of European and Caucasian Turkic peoples also became followers of Islam. Islam in Russia has had a long presence, extending at least as far back as the conquest of the Khante of Kazan in 1552, which brought the Tatars and Bashkirs on the Middle Volga into Russia. The lower Volga Muslim Astrakhan Khanate was conquered by the Russian empire in 1556. The Siberia Khanate was conquered by the Russian empire in 16th century by defeating the Siberian Tatars which opened Siberia for Russian conquest. The Crimean Khanate was conquered in 1739 by the Russian Empire. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Russian conquests in the North Caucasus brought the Muslim peoples of this region - Dagestanis, Chechens, Ingush, and others - into the Russian state. The conquest of the Circassians and the Ubykhs turned this peoples to muhajirs. Further afield, the independent states of Central Asia and Azerbaijan were brought into the Russian state as part of the same imperialist push that incorporated the North Caucasus. Most Muslims living in Russia were the indigenous people of lands long ago seized by the expanding Russian empire.
Just after the incorporation of the Tatar khanates, the Christianization of the Muslims took place until the reign of Catherine the Great.
The first printed Qur'an was published in Kazan, Russia in 1801.
Another event in the Islam history of Russia was Wäisi movement, which began in the turn of the 20th century. The Ittifaq al-Muslimin party represented the Muslim minority in the State Duma.
Under Communist rule, Islam was oppressed and suppressed, as was any other religion. Many mosques - much like their Christian counterparts, the churches- were closed at that time. For example, the Marcani mosque was the only one acting mosque in Kazan at that time.
[edit] Islam today
There was much evidence of official conciliation toward Islam in Russia in the 1990s. The number of Muslims allowed to make pilgrimages to Mecca increased sharply after the embargo of the Soviet era ended in 1990. In 1995 the newly established Union of Muslims of Russia, led by Imam Khatyb Mukaddas of Tatarstan, began organizing a movement aimed at improving inter-ethnic understanding and ending Russians' lingering misconception of Islam. The Union of Muslims of Russia is the direct successor to the pre-World War I Union of Muslims, which had its own faction in the Russian Duma. The post-Communist union has formed a political party, the Nur All-Russia Muslim Public Movement, which acts in close coordination with Muslim clergy to defend the political, economic, and cultural rights of Muslims and other minorities. The Islamic Cultural Center of Russia, which includes a madrassa (religious school), opened in Moscow in 1991. In the 1990s, the number of Islamic publications has increased. Among them are two magazines in Russian, "Эхо Кавказа" (transliteration: Ekho Kavkaza) and "Исламский вестник" (Islamsky Vestnik), and the Russian-language newspaper "Исламские новости" (Islamskiye Novosti), which is published in Makhachkala, Dagestan.
Kazan has a large Muslim population (probably the second after Moscow urban group of the Muslims and the biggest indigenous group in Russia) and is home to the Russian Islam University at Tatarstan. Education is in Russian and Tatar.
Copies of the Qur'an are readily available, and many mosques are being built in regions with large Muslim populations.
The majority of Muslims in Russia adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam. About 2% are Shi'a Muslims. In a few areas, notably Chechnya, there is a tradition of Sunni Sufism. The Azeris have also historically and still currently been nominally followers of Sunni Islam, as their republic split off from the Soviet Union, significant number of Azeris immigrated to Russia in search of work.
[edit] List of Russian Muslims
- Marat Safin
- Dinara Safina
- Sultan Ibragimov
- Khervat Bhagimov
[edit] Russian Muslims and the Hajj
A record 18,000 Russian Muslim pilgrims from all over the country attended the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2006.[7]
[edit] See also
- Islam by country
- Jadidism
- Religion in Russia
- Religion in the Soviet Union
- Islam in Ukraine
- Islam in Belarus
- Islam in Estonia
- Islam in Poland
- Islam in Latvia
- Islam in Lithuania
[edit] References
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
- ^ http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70289
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article551693.ece
- ^ http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8961754
- ^ http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17935/blooming-islam-changing-russia
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872213,00.html
- ^ Russian News and Invormation Agency NOVOSTI-Arabic Section مستقبل روسيا.. نصف السكان مسلمون-Future of Russia..Half of the population Muslim Accessed 2007-SEP-12
- ^ Ministry of Hajj official site http://www.hajinformation.com/main/y1191.htm
[edit] External links
- Chris Kutschera - "The Rebirth of Islam in Tatarstan"
- Russian Islam goes its own way BBC
- Russian Islam Comes Out into the Open The Moscow news
- Russia has a Muslim dilemma Ethnic Russians hostile to Muslims
- Islam in Russia
- Islam in Russia at Qantara.de
Islam in Europe | |
|---|---|
| Sovereign states | Albania · Andorra · Armenia1 · Austria · Azerbaijan2 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus1 · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia2 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan2 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia3 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey3 · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England · Scotland · Northern Ireland · Wales) |
| Dependencies, autonomies, and other territories | Abkhazia2 · Adjara1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Åland · Azores · Crimea · Faroe Islands · Gagauzia · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Kosovo · Isle of Man · Madeira4 · Nagorno-Karabakh1 · Nakhchivan1 · South Ossetia2 · Svalbard · Transnistria · Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus1, 5 |
1 Entirely in Southwest Asia; included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia. 3 Mostly in Asia. 4 Entirely in the African Plate, included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 5 Only recognised by Turkey. | |
cs:Islám v Rusku de:Islam in Russland id:Islam di Rusia ms:Islam di Rusia ja:ロシアにおけるイスラーム ru:Ислам в России
