By Vestnik Kavkaza
Mufti Mukhammedgali Huzin and sociologist Roman Silantiev think that the problem of religious expansion into Russia should be opposed by the system of traditional Islamic education, which should be strengthened and reinforced. We should prepare our own theologians and reduce the proportion of those people who go to study abroad. This could help eliminate extremism in our country, it is argued.
A lot of religious leaders who could stand at the origins of the Russian theological schools were just physically destroyed, but we can still recreate the Islamic theological school in Russia. The main theological schools should be recreated in Dagestan and Kazan. We also can invite to Russia Syrian theologians, who are now actively being killed by terrorists and are bearing a great loss
According to Mufti Mukhammedgali Huzin, the problems of theological education in Russia are really serious: “The fact is that over the past 20 years of free peaceful development of religious organizations in Russia the lost Islamic theological school of the Russian Federation was never rebuilt - neither in Kazan nor in the North Caucasus. There was infinite fragmentation and disunity of the Muslim community of Russia. Of course, there are both objective and subjective factors concerning this matter: influences from the outside, terrible expansion of foreign Islamic movements, both from Arab countries and from Turkey, Turkish and Arab sects in Russia, an attempt to replace the traditional Russian enlightened teachings of Islam by Nur, Wahhabis, Salafis or Ahmadiyya. Many religious groups in Russia tried to prioritize their ideology, so the re-establishment of religious and philosophical schools has been relegated to a distant time. We see that a lot of religious leaders who could stand at the origins of the Russian theological schools were just physically destroyed. Over the past years, about 70 Muslim religious leaders have in some way been killed, blown up, shot, etc.
It is logical for Russia to recreate two centers of gravity. For the Turkic-speaking population this is the center of Kazan, the logical reconstruction of the Kazan school of theology. Until the revolution it took its rightful place in the world of theology with its editions of the Koran, interpretations of the Koran, Sharia issues, many areas of theology. The Russian theological school occupied a leading position in world space. Therefore, at the same time this would mean the consolidation of the Muslim community.
The second theological school that it would be logical to recreate is in the North Caucasus - most likely, it has to be located in the most enlightened area of Dagestan, with its centuries-old traditions. Islam in Dagestan is over 1,400 years old; since the time of the appearance of the Arabs in Derbent there have been a lot of theologians there, really possessing the resources to create a comprehensive theological Shafi'i school in the North Caucasus. It will also play a bridging role for the Muslims of the North Caucasus.”
