Abkhaz inter-religious council

The Abkhaz president has ordered the creation of an inter-religious
council made up of representatives from all the traditional
confessions. The initiative came from the head of the Council of
Muftis of Russia and Abkhazia Ruslan Yenik.

There is no proven information on confessional division in Abkhazia.
Modern data on religious views of Abkhazians is quite controversial.
Some say that 90% of local inhabitants are Christians, 10% - Muslims.
Others say that Islam has absolute dominance. A third view is that
there are no followers of the main world religions in Abkhazia and the
local population practice paganism or Abkhazia’s own religion. It may
sound like a paradox, but both the first, the second and the third
opinions are correct.

Scientists have noticed that Abkhazians, describing themselves as
Christians or Muslims, have absolutely no worldview discords or common
distinctions. Islam, despite its long history in Abkhazia, failed to
gain a solid base here, becoming part of the worldview of a particular
group of locals. Abkhazian Muslims eat pork, drink alcohol, do not
carry out circumcision, rarely read the Quran. Today, the mosque is
mainly visited by Abkhaz repatriates and other Muslim peoples of the
Caucasus living in Abkhazia. But there are still many mountain
villages with Muslim populations – mainly in the Gudaut and Ochamchir
regions.

Abkhaz Christians attend church rarely, they do not observe fasts,
rarely read the Holy Bible. Both religions have lost their original
content. “If Abkhaz Christians are celebrating a festival, Muslims
gladly join them and vice versa. Families whose members belong to
different confessions usually celebrate both Christian and Muslim
holidays. The celebration itself in the majority of cases revolves
around the table – cooking of specific meals and inviting relatives,
neighbours and friends”, notes a senior member of the Institute of
Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Krylov,
who carried out research in the republic. He referred to the
enlightener and public figure Simon Besaria. “If we take a look at
clergy reports, descriptions of various everyday life records,
Abkhazians are either Christians, Muslims or Pagans, they all find
complete indifference of Abkhazians to religion… But Abkhazians are
not Pagans, they practice a true religion, not alien to the teachings
of Christ, or the moral side of Mohammed’s teachings, Buddha’s or any
other founders of religions. Abkhazians believe in one god. Everyday
records of life pointing out innumerable Abkhaz gods is absurd”,
Basaria insisted.

One way or another, the situation may change soon with the help of
Turkey’s assistance in development of Islam. Turkey wanted to send
religious workers that know the Abkhaz language to Abkhazia, deliver
Islamic literature and use finances from the Turkish Islamic fund to
participate in the construction of a mosque in Abkhazia. At the same
time Russia has started promoting rapprochement of Abkhaz Muslims with
Russian Islamic society.

The branch of the Council of Muftis (set up to prevent a destructive
pseudo-islamic climate in Abkhazia) initiated work on translating the
sacred texts of the Quran into the Abkhaz language. A representative
of the council, sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin, received assurances from
Sergey Bagapsh that the consent of Abkhaz society will be the main
condition for successful development of the government. “Both secular
and ecclesiastical authorities must cooperate. We need the spiritual
enlightenment of believers, to avoid corruption of the real values and
teachings of religions”, said the Abkhaz president. In 2008, the
Abkhaz authorities provided the Council of Muftis with land and gave
permission for the construction of a cultural Muslim centre with a
mosque in Gudaut. At the beginning of May this year Bagapsh ordered to
prolong the development of the land by 2 years to construct this
centre, called Basatyya. The center will have a library, prayer room,
classes to teach the basics of Islam, shops with halal products, a
hotel and a fitness-center.

Yekaterina Tesemnikova exclusively for VK