To start filling up this serious gap I propose to investigate popular yet contested
compendium of legal opinions (
fatawa
) published by influential Sufi master Sa‘id-af-
andi (1937–2012) from the Avar village of Chirkey. This work on Islamic law and
Sufi ethics first appeared in Avar (1997), and was soon translated into Russian
(2002), and supplemented with numerous Arabic citations. Comparative study of
both versions of the book should help in deconstructing of today Islamic narratives
and establishment of their changing vocabulary, actors and sources.
Alfrid K. Bustanov (European University, St. Petersburg)
The Tatar Salafi Discourse and the Borders of ‘Traditionalism’
Over the last decades we have witnessed an increase of the role of the Russian
language for Muslims of the former Soviet Union. Muslims are thinking, writing
and speaking on specifically Islamic issues in the Russian language. The language
of Pushkin and Lermontov has quite surprisingly set up a platform for discussions
among Muslims of a broad ideological spectrum, from jihadists and Salafis to the
state-supported Muftis loyal to the Kremlin, with a vast array of Muslim public
intellectuals and preachers in between. In our pilot-study (Bustanov/ Kemper, 2012;
2013) we argued that before our eyes, “Islamic Russian” emerges as a new sociolect
to express the interests of Russia’s Muslims. Among other things, we argued that
there must be a link between the Russification of the Islamic discourse in the RF
and the growing popularity of the moderate Islamic fundamentalism. This embrace
of the Russian language by Salafis (and, conversely, the trend of Tatar state-loyal
“traditionalism” to defend the use of the Tatar language for Islamic purposes was
already observed by the late Valiulla Iakupov (assassinated by jihadists in 2012), who
served as deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan. Iakupov regarded the spread of
Russian among the Muslim youth as a factor of radicalization. But he himself — by
necessity — also used Russian for his book publications, next to Tatar. In fact, the
distribution of languages of Islam and their assignment to theological/political
positions is very complex, and calls for a closer examination.
What is the place of national languages for the multi-ethnic community of Mus-
lims in Russia? Can we say that this place is marginal, reserved mainly for rural
communities and associated largely with the state-promoted ‘Islamic traditionalism’?
Does being a Salafi and using fundamentalist rhetorical devices mean a linguistic
Russification and a break with the legacy of national Islams in the Russian Federation?
In other words, does the Russian language serve as a border marker between the cos-
mopolitan/globalized ‘fundamentalists’ and the ethnically-oriented ‘traditionalists’?
This paper will examine a curious case of Tatar Salafis who insist on using the
Tatar language, and who thus consciously embrace a Tatar heritage of Islam. The
community in question is located in the Zakam’e region in the Republic of Tatarstan,
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