Islam in Russia
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Islam in Europe by country
Islam is a major religious minority in the Russian Federation, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe.<ref name="Lunkin">Template:Cite book</ref> According to the US Federal Research Division 1998 reference book,<ref name=CurtisLeighton>Template:Cite book | via Archive.org</ref> Muslims in Russia numbered about 19% of the religious population, and, according to the US Department of State in 2017,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Muslims in Russia numbered 14 million or roughly 10% of the total population. One of the Grand Muftis of Russia, sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin, estimated the Muslim population of Russia at 25 million in 2018.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Recognized under the law and by Russian political leaders as one of Russia's traditional religions, Islam is a part of Russian historical heritage, and is subsidized by the Russian government.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The position of Islam as a major Russian religion, alongside Orthodox Christianity, dates from the time of Catherine the Great, who sponsored Islamic clerics and scholarship through the Orenburg Assembly.<ref>Azamatov, Danil D. (1998), "The Muftis of the Orenburg Spiritual Assembly in the 18th and 19th Centuries: The Struggle for Power in Russia's Muslim Institution", in Anke von Kugelgen; Michael Kemper; Allen J. Frank, Muslim culture in Russia and Central Asia from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, vol. 2: Inter-Regional and Inter-Ethnic Relations, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, pp. 355–384,</ref>
The history of Islam and Russia encompasses periods of conflict between the Muslim minority and the Orthodox majority, as well as periods of collaboration and mutual support. Robert Crews's study of Muslims living under the Tsar indicates that "the mass of Muslims" was loyal to that regime after Catherine, and sided with it over the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Robert D. Crews, For Prophet and Tsar, pp. 299-300 (Harvard, 2006)</ref> After the Russian Empire fell, the Soviet Union introduced a policy of state atheism, which impeded the practice of Islam and other religions and led to the execution and suppression of various Muslim leaders. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Islam regained a legally recognized space in Russian politics. Despite having made Islamophobic comments during the Second Chechen War, President Vladimir Putin has since subsidized mosques and Islamic education, which he called an "integral part of Russia's cultural code",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and encouraged immigration from Muslim-majority former Soviet states.
Muslims form a majority of the population of the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan in the Volga Federal District and predominate among the nationalities in the North Caucasian Federal District located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea: the Circassians, Balkars, Chechens, Ingush, Kabardin, Karachay, and numerous Dagestani peoples. Also, in the middle of the Volga Region reside populations of Tatars and Bashkirs, the vast majority of whom are Muslims.<ref name=CurtisLeighton /> Other areas with notable Muslim minorities include Moscow, Saint Petersburg, the republics of Adygea, North Ossetia-Alania and Astrakhan, Moscow, Orenburg and Ulyanovsk oblasts. There are over 8,000 registered religious Muslim organizations,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> equivalent to almost one fifth of the number of registered Russian Orthodox religious organizations of about 42,000 as of 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
In the mid-7th century AD, as part of the Muslim conquest of Persia, Islam was introduced to the Caucasus region, parts of which were later permanently incorporated by Russia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The first people to become Muslims within current Russian territory, the Dagestani people (region of Derbent), converted after the Arab conquest of the region in the 8th century. The first Muslim state in the future Russian lands was Volga Bulgaria<ref> Template:Cite journal </ref> In 922, The Tatars of the Khanate of Kazan inherited the population of believers from that state. Later most of the European and Caucasian Turkic peoples also became followers of Islam.<ref name="Shireen Tahmasseb Hunter 2004">Shireen Tahmasseb Hunter, Jeffrey L. Thomas, Alexander Melikishvili, "Islam in Russia", M.E. Sharpe, Apr 1, 2004, Template:ISBN</ref> The Mongol rulers of the Golden Horde were Muslims from 1313. By the 1330s, three of the four major khanates of the Mongol Empire had become Muslim.
The Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, the last remaining successor to the Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia and burnt down parts of Moscow in 1571.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Until the late 18th century, the Crimean Tatars maintained a massive slave-trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, exporting about 2 million slaves from Russia and Ukraine over the period 1500–1700.<ref>Darjusz Kołodziejczyk, as reported by Template:Cite journal</ref>
From the early 16th century up to and including the 19th century, all of Transcaucasia and southern Dagestan was ruled by various successive Iranian empires (the Safavids, Afsharids, and the Qajars), and their geopolitical and ideological neighboring arch-rivals, on the other hand, the Ottoman Turks. In the respective areas they ruled, in both the North Caucasus and South Caucasus, Shia Islam and Sunni Islam spread, resulting in a fast and steady conversion of many more ethnic Caucasian peoples in adjacent territories.
The period from the Russian conquest of Kazan in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible to the ascension of Catherine the Great in 1762 featured systematic Russian repression of Muslims through policies of exclusion and discrimination - as well as the destruction of Muslim culture by the elimination of outward manifestations of Islam such as mosques.<ref>Frank, Allen J. Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780–1910. Vol. 35. Brill, 2001.</ref> The Russians initially demonstrated a willingness in allowing Islam to flourish as Muslim clerics were invited into the various regions to preach to the Muslims, particularly the Kazakhs, whom the Russians viewed with contempt.<ref>Khodarkovsky, Michael. Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800, pg. 39.</ref><ref name=EncycSex572>Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures, pg. 572</ref> However, Russian policy shifted toward weakening Islam by introducing pre-Islamic elements of collective consciousness.<ref name=Hunter14>Hunter, Shireen. "Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security", pg. 14</ref> Such attempts included methods of eulogizing pre-Islamic historical figures and imposing a sense of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to highly élite Russian military institutions.<ref name=Hunter14 /> In response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though manyTemplate:Quantify were persecuted as a result.<ref>Farah, Caesar E. Islam: Beliefs and Observances, pg. 304</ref> The government of Russia paid Islamic scholars from the Ural-Volga area working among the Kazakhs<ref name="Frank1998">Template:Cite book</ref>
Islamic slavery did not have racial restrictions. Russian girls were legally allowed to be sold in Russian-controlled Novgorod to Tatars from Kazan in the 1600s by Russian law. Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians were allowed to be sold to Crimean Tatars in Moscow. In 1665, Tatars were allowed to buy Polish and Lithuanian slaves from the Russians. Before 1649, Russians could be sold to Muslims under Russian law in Moscow. This contrasted with other places in Europe outside Russia where Muslims were not allowed to own Christians.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Cossack Hetmanate recruited and incorporated Muslim Mishar Tatars.<ref name="Frank2001">Template:Cite book</ref> Cossack rank was awarded to Bashkirs.<ref name="Frank2001 2">Template:Cite book</ref> Muslim Turkics and Buddhist Kalmyks served as Cossacks. The Cossack Ural, Terek, Astrakhan, and Don Cossack hosts had Kalmyks in their ranks. Mishar Muslims, Teptiar Muslims, service Tatar Muslims, and Bashkir Muslims joined the Orenburg Cossack Host.<ref name="Frank2001 3">Template:Cite book</ref> Cossack non-Muslims shared the same status with Siberian Cossack Muslims.<ref name="Frank2001 4">Template:Cite book</ref> Muslim Cossacks in Siberia requested an Imam.<ref name="Frank2001 5">Template:Cite book</ref> Cossacks in Siberia included Tatar Muslims like in Bashkiria.<ref name="Frank2001 6">Template:Cite book</ref>
Bashkirs and Kalmyks in the Imperial Russian Army fought against Napoleon's Grande Armée during the French invasion of Russia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Elting1997">Template:Cite book</ref> They were judged suitable for inundating opponents but not intense fighting.<ref name="Leggiere2015">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Cite book</ref> They were in a non-standard capacity in the military.<ref name="Hartley2008">Template:Cite book</ref> Arrows, bows, and melee combat weapons were wielded by the Muslim Bashkirs. Bashkir women fought among the regiments.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Denis Davidov mentioned the arrows and bows wielded by the Bashkirs.<ref name="Mikaberidze2015">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Davydov1999">Template:Cite book</ref> Napoleon's forces faced off against Kalmyks on horseback.<ref name="Kappeler2014">Template:Cite book</ref> Napoleon faced light mounted Bashkir forces.<ref name="MalloyPalermo2015">Template:Cite book</ref> Mounted Kalmyks and Bashkirs numbering 100 were available to Russian commandants during the war against Napoleon.<ref name="Lieven2010">Template:Cite book</ref> Kalmyks and Bashkirs served in the Russian army in France.<ref name="Lieven2010 2">Template:Cite book</ref> A nachalnik was present in every one of the 11 cantons of the Bashkir host which was created by Russia after the Pugachev Rebellion.<ref name="Bowring2013">Template:Cite book</ref> Bashkirs had the military statute of 1874 applied to them.<ref name="Steinwedel2016">Template:Cite book</ref> Muslims were exempt from military conscription during World War I.<ref>Figes, Orlando (1996). A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 257. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.</ref>
While total expulsion (as practiced in other Christian nations such as Spain, Portugal and Sicily) was not feasible to achieve a homogeneous Russian-Orthodox population, other policies such as land grants and the promotion of migration by other Russian and non-Muslim populations into Muslim lands displaced many Muslims, making them minorities in places such as some parts of the South Ural region and encouraging emigration to other parts such as the Ottoman Empire and neighboring Persia, and almost annihilating the Circassians, Crimean Tatars, and various Muslims of the Caucasus. The Russian army rounded up people, driving Muslims from their villages to ports on the Black Sea, where they awaited ships provided by the neighboring Ottoman Empire. The explicit Russian goal involved expelling the groups in question from their lands.<ref>Kazemzadeh 1974</ref> They were given a choice as to where to be resettled: in the Ottoman Empire, in Persia, or Russia far from their old lands. The Russo-Circassian War ended with the signing of loyalty oaths by Circassian leaders on 2 June [O.S. 21 May] 1864. Afterward, the Ottoman Empire offered to harbor the Circassians who did not wish to accept the rule of a Christian monarch, and many emigrated to Anatolia (the heart of the Ottoman Empire) and ended up in modern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, and Kosovo. Many other Caucasian Muslims ended up in neighboring Iran - sizeable numbers of Shia Lezgins, Azerbaijanis, Muslim Georgians, Kabardins, and Laks.<ref>А. Г. Булатова. Лакцы (XIX – нач. XX вв.). Историко-этнографические очерки. — Махачкала, 2000.</ref> Various Russian, Caucasus, and Western historians agree on the figure of Template:Circa 500,000 inhabitants of the highland Caucasus being deported by Russia in the 1860s. A large proportion of them died in transit from disease. Those that remained loyal to Russia were settled into the lowlands, on the left bank of the Kuban' River. The trend of Russification has continued at different paces in the rest of Tsarist and Soviet periods, so that Template:Citation needed Template:As of more Tatars lived outside the Republic of Tatarstan than inside it.<ref name="Shireen Tahmasseb Hunter 2004"/>
A policy of deliberately enforcing anti-modern, traditional, ancient conservative Islamic education in schools and Islamic ideology was enforced by the Russians in order to deliberately hamper and destroy opposition to their rule by keeping them in a state of torpor to and prevent foreign ideologies from penetrating in.<ref name="Forbes1986">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="BennigsenLemercier-Quelquejay1967">Template:Cite book</ref>
Communist rule oppressed and suppressed Islam, like other religions in the Soviet Union.Template:When Many mosques (for some estimates,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web
}}</ref> more than 83% in Tatarstan) were closed. For example, the Märcani Mosque was the only acting mosque in Kazan at thatTemplate:When time.
Islam in the post-Soviet periodEdit
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 1991.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 lingering misconceptions of Islam among non-Muslim Russians. 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 formed a political party, the Nur All-Russia Muslim Public Movement, which acts in close coordination with Muslim imams to defend the political, economic, and cultural rights of Muslims. 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 few magazines in Russian, namely: "Ислам" (transliteration: Islam), "Эхо Кавказа" (Ekho Kavkaza) and "Исламский вестник" (Islamsky Vestnik), and the Russian-language newspaper "Ассалам" (Assalam), and "Нуруль Ислам" (Nurul Islam), which are published in Makhachkala, Dagestan.<ref name=CurtisLeighton />
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 Islamic University in Kazan, Tatarstan. Education is in Russian and Tatar. In Dagestan there are number of Islamic universities and madrassas, notable among them are: Dagestan Islamic University, Institute of Theology and International Relations, whose rector Maksud Sadikov was assassinated on 8 June 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Talgat Tadzhuddin was the Chief Mufti of Russia. Since Soviet times, the Russian government has divided Russia into a number of Muslim Spiritual Directorates. In 1980, Tazhuddin was made Mufti of the European USSR and Siberia Division. Since 1992, he has headed the central or combined Muslim Spiritual Directorate of all of Russia. In 2005, Russia was granted the status of an observer state in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Orthodox Christianity is much closer to Islam than Catholicism is.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="GvosdevMarsh2013">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> A chain e-mail spread a hoax speech attributed to Putin which called for tough assimilation policies on immigrants, no evidence of any such speech can be found in Russian media or Duma archives.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Multiple image Islam has been expanding under Putin's rule.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tatar Muslims are engaging in a revival under Putin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to The Washington Post, "Russian Muslims are split regarding the [Russian] intervention in Syria, but more are pro- than anti-war."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Grand Mufti of Russia, Talgat Tadzhuddin and other Russia's Muslim leaders supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Chechnya's Kadyrovite forces have fought alongside the Russian forces in Ukraine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After a Quran burning incident that happened in Sweden during Eid al-Adha,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Russian president Vladimir Putin defended the Quran by stating that It's a crime in Russia to disrespect the Quran and other holy books.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Islam in the North CaucasusEdit
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Northern Caucasus experienced an Islamic (as well as a national) renaissance. Also radical and extremist streams of Islam started taking root, initially in western (upland) Dagestan.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1991, Chechnya declared independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Russian Army forces were commanded into Grozny in 1994, but, after two years of intense fighting, the Russian troops eventually withdrew from Chechnya under the Khasavyurt Accord. Chechnya preserved its de facto independence until 1999. However, the Chechen government's grip on Chechnya was weak, especially outside the ruined capital Grozny. The areas controlled by separatist groups grew larger and the country became increasingly lawless.<ref name="global">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Aslan Maskhadov's government was unable to rebuild the region or to prevent a number of warlords from taking effective control. The relationship between the government and radicals deteriorated. In March 1999, Maskhadov closed down the Chechen parliament and introduced aspects of Sharia. Despite this concession, extremists such as Shamil Basayev and the Saudi-born Islamist Ibn Al-Khattab continued to undermine the Maskhadov government. In April 1998, the group publicly declared that its long-term aim was the creation of a union of Chechnya and Dagestan under Islamic rule and the expulsion of Russians from the entire Caucasian Region.<ref name="bowker">Template:Cite book</ref> This eventually led to the invasion of militants in Dagestan and the start of the Second Chechen War in 1999. The Chechen separatists were internally divided between the Islamic extremists, the more moderate pro-independent Muslim Chechens and the traditional Islamic authorities with various positions towards Chechen independence. An interim Russian-controlled administration was imposed in Chechnya in 2000, headed by the ex-Mufti and, therefore, religious leader of Sufism, Akhmad Kadyrov. Encouraged by the Russian strategy of using the traditional Islamic structures and leaders against the Islamic extremists, there was a process of religious radicalisation in Chechnya and other Northern Caucasus regions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
At the end of the Second Chechen War, in 2005, Chechen rebel leader, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev, decreed the formation of a Caucasus Front against Russia, among Islamic believers in the North Caucasus, in an attempt to widen Chechnya's conflict with Russia. After his death, his successor, Dokka Umarov, declared continuing jihad to establish an Islamic fundamentalist Caucasus Emirate in the North Caucasus and beyond. Insurgency in the North Caucasus continued until 2017. The police and the FSB carried out mass arrests and used harsh interrogation techniques. Some of those who closely followed the teachings of Islam have lost their jobs; mosques have also been closed.<ref name="auto"/>
Russian president Vladimir Putin has allowed the de facto implementation of Sharia law in Chechnya by Ramzan Kadyrov, including polygamy and enforced veiling.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
_12.jpg){kind=link}
There was large anger from mostly Muslims from the Caucasus against the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in France.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Putin is believed to have backed protests by Muslims in Russia against Charlie Hebdo cartoons and the West.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Demographics and BranchesEdit
More than 90% of Muslims in Russia adhere to Sunni Islam<ref name=CurtisLeighton /> of the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools.<ref name="Lunkin" /> In a few areas, notably Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, there is a tradition of Sunni Sufism,<ref name=CurtisLeighton /> which is represented by Qadiriyya, Naqshbandi and Shadhili orders.<ref name="Lunkin" /> Naqshbandi–Shadhili spiritual master Said Afandi al-Chirkawi received hundreds of visitors daily.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
.jpg){kind=link}
About 10%, or more than two million, are Shia Muslims, mostly of Twelver Shi'ism branch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At first, they are the Azeris, who historically and still currently been nominally followers of Shi'a Islam, as their republic split off from the Soviet Union, significant number of Azeris immigrated to Russia in search of work. In addition to them, some of the indigenous peoples of Dagestan, such as the Lezgins (a minority) and the Tats (a majority), are Shias too.<ref name="Lunkin" /> Nizari Isma'ili Muslims—another Shia branch—are represented only by the Pamiris, migrants from Tajikistan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> There is also an active presence of Ahmadis and Non-denominational muslims.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In 2021, Putin announced that some 20% of Russian aviation industry employees are Muslims.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ConversionsEdit
Most Muslims in Russia belong to ethnic minorities but in the recent years there have been conversions among the Russian majority as well, one of the country's main Islamic institutions, the Moscow-based Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation (DUM RF) estimating the ethnic Russian converts to number into the "tens of thousands" while some converts themselves give numbers between 50,000 and 70,000.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
HajjEdit
A record 18,000 Russian Muslim pilgrims from all over the country attended the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2006.<ref>Russian Pilgrims Number Exceeds 18,000, Ministry of Hajj, Saudi Arabia.</ref> In 2010, at least 20,000 Russian Muslim pilgrims attended the Hajj, as Russian Muslim leaders sent letters to the King of Saudi Arabia requesting that the Saudi visa quota be raised to at least 25,000–28,000 visas for Muslims.Template:Citation needed Due to overwhelming demand from Russian Muslims, on 5 July 2011, Muftis requested President Dmitry Medvedev's assistance in increasing the allocated by Saudi Arabia pilgrimage quota in Vladikavkaz.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The III International Conference on Hajj Management attended by some 170 delegates from 12 counties was held in Kazan from 7 – 9 July 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Language controversiesEdit
For centuries, the Tatars constituted the only Muslim ethnic group in European Russia, with Tatar language being the only language used in their mosques, a situation which saw rapid change over the course of the 20th century as a large number of Caucasian and Central Asian Muslims migrated to central Russian cities and began attending Tatar-speaking mosques, generating pressure on the imams of such mosques to begin using Russian.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This problem is evident even within Tatarstan itself, where Tatars constitute a majority.<ref>http://www.allrussia.ru/pressreview/default.asp?id=37870&rub_id=19&VYear=2000&VMonth=4&VDay=18Template:Dead link</ref>
Public perception of MuslimsEdit
A survey published in 2019 by the Pew Research Center found that 76% of Russians had a favourable view of Muslims in their country, whereas 19% had an unfavourable view.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Islam in Russia by regionEdit
Islam in MoscowEdit
According to the 2010 Russian census, Moscow has less than 300,000 permanent residents of Muslim background, while some estimates suggest that Moscow has around 1 million Muslim residents and up to 1.5 million more Muslim migrant workers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The city has permitted the existence of four mosques.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The mayor of Moscow claims that four mosques are sufficient for the population.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The city's economy "could not manage without them," he said. There are currently four mosques in Moscow,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 8,000 in the whole of Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Muslim migrants from Central Asia have had an impact on the culture with Samsa becoming one of the most popular take away foods in the city.<ref name=bbcnews/>
List of Russian muftiatesEdit
| All-Russia boards | |||
| Grand Muftiates | Grand Muftis | Term of office | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Template:LinkedLabel<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Sheikh-ul-Islam Talgat Tadzhuddin | 1992–present | Ufa |
| The Template:LinkedLabel<ref name="popov">Template:Cite book</ref> | Sheikh Rawil Ğaynetdin | 2014–present | Moscow |
| Muftiate | Mufti | Term of office | Headquarters |
| The Template:LinkedLabel<ref name="popov" /> | Albir Krganov | 2016–present | Moscow |
| Interregional boards | |||
| Muftiates | Muftis | Term of office | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Template:LinkedLabel<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Ismail Berdiyev | 2003–present | Moscow and Buynaksk |
| The Template:LinkedLabel<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Nafigulla Ashirov | 1997–present | Moscow and Tobolsk |
| Notable regional muftiates | |||
| Muftiates | Muftis | Term of office | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Muftiate of the Republic of Dagestan<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Sheikh Ahmad Afandi Abdulaev | 1998–present | Makhachkala |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai<ref name="Lunkin" /> | Askarbiy Kardanov | 2012–present | Maykop |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Bashkortostan<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Ainur Birgalin | 2019–present | Ufa |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Salah Mezhiev | 2014–present | Grozny |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic<ref name="Lunkin" /> | Hazrataliy Dzasejev | 2010–present | Nalchik |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic<ref name="Lunkin" /> | Ismail Berdiyev | 1991–present | Cherkessk |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania<ref name="Lunkin" /> | Khajimurat Gatsalov | 2011–present | Vladikavkaz |
| The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan<ref name="Lunkin" /><ref name="popov" /> | Kamil Samigullin | 2013–present | Kazan |
| The Spiritual Centre of the Muslims of the Republic of Ingushetia<ref name="Lunkin" /> | Isa Khamkhoev | 2004–present | Magas |
Notable Russian MuslimsEdit
Template:More references needed section Template:See alsoTemplate:Image array
- Khabib Nurmagomedov, professional mixed martial artist and first Russian UFC champion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, Soviet military veteran, former judoka and combat sports coach, and the father of former UFC Undisputed Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Islam Makhachev, professional mixed martial artist and current UFC undisputed lightweight champion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Khamzat Chimaev, professional UFC middleweight fighter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Nassourdine Imavov, professional UFC middleweight fighter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Usman Nurmagomedov, a professional mixed martial artist and current Bellator MMA undisputed lightweight champion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Umar Nurmagomedov, a professional mixed martial artist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Magomed Ankalaev, professional mixed martial artist and UFC undisputed Light heavyweight champion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Zabit Magomedsharipov, former professional mixed martial artist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Tagir Ulanbekov, professional mixed martial artist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Ikram Aliskerov, professional mixed martial artist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov, professional mixed martial artist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Gadzhi Rabadanov, professional mixed martial artist.
- Saygid Izagakhmaev, professional mixed martial artist.
- Zubaira Tukhugov, professional mixed martial artist.
- Rudolf Nureyev, considered the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Marat Safin, former world No. 1 tennis player.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Vyacheslav Polosin, former Russian Orthodox Church priest who was at the forefront of a campaign to make Orthodox Christmas a public holiday in Russia<ref name=bbcnews>Template:Cite news</ref> and converted to Islam in 1999.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Abdulrashid Sadulaev, widely regarded as one of the most dominant active freestyle wrestlers in the world as well as one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers of all time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Alina Zagitova, figure skater.
- Shamil Musaev, freestyle wrestler.
- Movlid Khaybulaev, professional mixed martial artist.
- Movsar Evloev, mixed martial artist, in the featherweight division of the UFC. A professional since 2014, he has also competed at 1 Global, where he is the former bantamweight.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Musa Evloev, Greco-Roman wrester and Olympic gold medalist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Imam Shamil, political leader and Imam of Dagestan, who resisted against Russian expansion of the Caucasus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Ramazan Ramazanov, professional kickboxer holding seven times world Muay Thai world championship wins.
- Alisher Usmanov, Russian oligarch with est. $16.7 billion in March 2025.
- Ziyavudin Magomedov, Russian billionaire and oligarch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Elvira Nabiullina, head of Russia state bank.
- Vladislav Surkov, businessman and politician, former advisor to the President of Russia.
- Akhmad Kadyrov, first president of the Chechen republic.
- Ruslan Baisarov, entrepreneur and businessman.
- Musa Bazhaev, president of Alliance Group.
- Malik Saidulaev, businessman and politician.
- Ziya Bazhayev (1960–2000), founder of Alliance group and philanthropist.
- Umar Dzhabrailov, businessman and politician.
- Islambek Albiev, gold medalist wrestler at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling
- Abdulkhakim Ismailov, (1916–2010), World War II soldier. He was photographed by Yevgeny Khaldei raising the flag of the Soviet Union over the Reichstag in Berlin on 2 May 1945, days before Nazi Germany's surrender.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Gasret Aliev (1922–1981), World War II soldier, awarded Hero of Soviet Union medal.
- Magomet Gadzhiyev (1907–1942), World War II submarine commander and Hero of the Soviet Union.
- Hasbulla Magomedov, comedian, entertainer and internet personality.
- Abdulkadir Abdullayev (b. 1988), professional boxer, gold medal winner at the European Games and a bronze at the world championships.
GalleryEdit
- Qolşärif Mosque.JPG
Qolşärif Mosque in Kazan, belonging to the Hanafi school, is one of the largest mosques in Russia.
- Nurd Kamal Mosque.jpg
Nord Kamal Mosque in Norilsk, the world's northernmost mosque.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Noyabırsk yamal i nenitski otonom bölgesinin en büyük şehiri rusyanında petrol ve gaz yataklarınında merkezi -62derece sıcaklık by ismail soytekinoğlu - panoramio.jpg
Mosque in Noyabrsk in Siberia's Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
- Moscow Cathedral Mosque 2015-08.jpg
- Town of Karachaevsk central mosque. Russia, Karachaevo-Cherkessia.jpeg
Central mosque of Karachaevsk, Karachaevo-Cherkessia
- Lala Tulpan.jpg
- Perm asv2019-05 img48 Cathedral Mosque.jpg
- Башня Сююмбике, вид с Преображенской башни.JPG
Qolşärif Mosque, Kazan, Tatarstan
- Korovin kazan.jpg
Ivan the Terrible subjugated the Tatars and forcibly convertedTemplate:Citation needed some of them to Christianity.
- Мемориальная мечеть, Memorial Mosque.jpg
Memorial mosque in Russia
- Mosque SPB.jpg
Saint Petersburg Mosque, Saint Petersburg
- Астрахань. Белая мечеть.JPG
White mosque in Astrakhan
- Mechet 25 prorokov.JPG
- ЖумгІа мажгит, МахІачхъала (crop).jpg
- Dzerzhinsk. City Mosque.jpg
Mosque in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhy Novgorod Oblast
See alsoEdit
- Islam in Europe
- Islam by country
- Islam in the Soviet Union
- Islam in Tatarstan
- List of mosques in Russia
- Religion in Russia
- Islam in Bangladesh
- Islam in China
- Islam in India
- Islam in Indonesia
- Islam in Iran
- Islam in Nigeria
- Islam in Pakistan
- Islam in the Philippines
ReferencesEdit
- Template:Country study
- D'Encausse, Hélène Carrère. Islam and the Russian Empire: Reform and Revolution in Central Asia (University of California Press, 1988)
External linksEdit
- Kurbanov, Ruslan. Reasons and Consequences: Banning Hadiths and Seerah in Russia, onislam.net
- islam.ru Template:In lang
- History of Hajj in Russia from 18th to 21st century
- Why Islam?
- Akhmetova, Elmira. Islam in Russia (History & Facts), onislam.net
- Chris Kutschera - "The Rebirth of Islam in Tatarstan"
- Russian Islam Comes Out into the Open The Moscow News
- Russia has a Muslim dilemma Ethnic Russians hostile to Muslims
- Islam in Russia
- Russian mosquesTemplate:Dead link
- Moscow's Mosque Problem - slideshow by Der Spiegel
- Akhmetova, Elmira. Islam in the Volga Region, onislam.net
- Sotnichenko, Alexander Islam, Russian Orthodox Church Relations and the State in Post-communist Russia Template:Webarchive Politics and Religion Journal
- What is it like to be a Muslim in Russia?
- Central Muslim Spiritual Board of Russia - official website
- Russia Mufties Council - official website
Template:Asia in topic Template:Islam in Europe Template:Russia topics Template:Mosques in Russia