Social doctrine of Russian Muslims is not believers' contract with the state

The social doctrine of Russian Muslims signed by Islam believers is largely reiterating the earlier adopted documents, and in reality will not be a factor of revaluation of views and stimulation of social activity, said the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 28 the leaders of Spiritual Administrations of Muslims (SAMs) of the regions of Southern Russia signed the "Social Doctrine of Russian Muslims". According to the authors of the document, the doctrine "encompasses all possible aspects of society life that a Muslim may face." The document also reveals "the aspects of Muslims' relationships with the state and the attitude to the notion of 'jihad'."

According to Rinat Mukhametov, an Islamic scholar and a doctoral student at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Marmara, the text of the doctrine itself is of interest, like an article on the Internet. "You can read it' and it has valuable ideas. But as a document intended to change the life of Muslims in Russia it has little value – nobody will read it, and especially the Muslim youth in the Caucasus. They don't even know about the existence of such doctrine," said Mukhametov, adding that requests for such documents usually stems out of the bureaucratic environment.

"Such documents should be born by the Muslim community itself; by its most active part; by Muslim intellectuals and leaders, who have influence on young people, but they, I suppose, didn't take part in drafting thereof," said Ruslan Kurbanov, an Islamic researcher and a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). He believes that no initiatives born at and downloaded from the top are accepted by Muslim youth, like any other group of young people in Russia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.