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{{Short description|none}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}(File:Islam in Russia (Arena Atlas 2012).png|thumb|300px|Estimated proportion of Muslim population across Russia's regions (2012)){{Islam in Europe by country}}Islam is a major religious minority in the Russian Federation, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe.BOOK, Lunkin, Roman, etal, 2005, Ислам, Islam, Bourdeaux, Michael, Filatov, Sergei, Современная религиозная жизнь России. Опыт систематического описания, Contemporary Religious Life of Russia. Systematic description experience, Moscow, Keston Institute; Logos, 3, 78–212, ru, 5-98704-044-2, According to the US Department of State in 2017,WEB,weblink RUSSIA 2017 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT,weblink 31 May 2018, 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.WEB,weblink Islam in Russia, www.aljazeera.com, 2018-08-17, 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.BOOK, Bell, I, Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia,weblink 2007-12-27, 978-1-85743-137-7, 2002, Taylor & Francis, 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.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,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.Robert D. Crews, For Prophet and Tsar, pp. 299-300 (Harvard, 2006) 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",WEB, 2018-01-25, Vladimir Putin says Muslim schools can help stop "destructive" ideas,weblink 2021-10-13, Newsweek, en, NEWS,weblink Get circumcised, angry Putin tells reporter, Ian, Traynor, 13 November 2002, 4 April 2023, The Guardian, 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. 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 5,000 registered religious Muslim organizations,NEWS,weblink The Times, London, The rise of Russian Muslims worries Orthodox Church, Jeremy, Page, 2005-08-05, 2010-05-22, equivalent to over one sixth of the number of registered Russian Orthodox religious organizations of about 29,268 as of December 2006.Сведения о религиозных организациях, зарегистрированных в Российской ФедерацииПо данным Федеральной регистрационной службы, декабрь 2006 {{in lang|ru}}

History

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.BOOK, "(..) It is difficult to establish exactly when Islam first appeared in Russia because the lands that Islam invaded early in its expansion were not part of Russia at the time, but were later incorporated into the expanding Russian Empire. In the middle of the seventh century, Islam reached the Caucasus region as part of the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia, conquest of the Iranian Sassanian Empire. ", Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security, Shireen, Hunter, M.E. Sharpe, 2004, 3, etal, 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 BulgariaJOURNAL, Mako, Gerald, The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered,weblink Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, 2011, 18, 208, 2015-10-07, [...] the Volga Bulghars adopted the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, as practiced in Khwarazm., (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.Shireen Tahmasseb Hunter, Jeffrey L. Thomas, Alexander Melikishvili, "Islam in Russia", M.E. Sharpe, Apr 1, 2004, {{ISBN|0-7656-1282-8}} 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.BOOK, Solovyov, S., History of Russia from the Earliest Times, AST, 2001, 6, 751–809, 5-17-002142-9, 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.Darjusz Kołodziejczyk, as reported by JOURNAL, Mikhail Kizilov, Slaves, Money Lenders, and Prisoner Guards: The Jews and the Trade in Slaves and Captives in the Crimean Khanate,weblink The Journal of Jewish Studies, 2007, 58, 2, 189–210, 10.18647/2730/JJS-2007, 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.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. 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.Khodarkovsky, Michael. Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800, pg. 39.Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures, pg. 572 However, Russian policy shifted toward weakening Islam by introducing pre-Islamic elements of collective consciousness.Hunter, Shireen. "Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security", pg. 14 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. In response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though many{{quantify|date=October 2015}} were persecuted as a result.Farah, Caesar E. Islam: Beliefs and Observances, pg. 304 The government of Russia paid Islamic scholars from the Ural-Volga area working among the KazakhsBOOK, Allen J. Frank, Islamic Historiography and "Bulghar" Identity Among the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia,weblink 1998, BRILL, 90-04-11021-6, 35–, File:Carlo Bossoli Khanpalast von Bachcisaraj 1857.jpg|thumb|The Crimean Khan's Palace in BakhchysaraiBakhchysaraiIslamic 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.JOURNAL, KIZILOV, MIKHAIL, 2007, Slave Trade in the Early Modern Crimea From the Perspective of_Christian Muslim and Jewish Sources,weblink Journal of Early Modern History, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 11, 1–2, 16, 10.1163/157006507780385125, The Cossack Hetmanate recruited and incorporated Muslim Mishar Tatars.BOOK, Allen J. Frank, Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910,weblink 1 January 2001, BRILL, 90-04-11975-2, 61–, Cossack rank was awarded to Bashkirs.BOOK, Allen J. Frank, Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910,weblink 1 January 2001, BRILL, 90-04-11975-2, 79–, 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.BOOK, Allen J. Frank, Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910,weblink 1 January 2001, BRILL, 90-04-11975-2, 86–, Cossack non-Muslims shared the same status with Siberian Cossack Muslims.BOOK, Allen J. Frank, Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910,weblink 1 January 2001, BRILL, 90-04-11975-2, 87–, Muslim Cossacks in Siberia requested an Imam.BOOK, Allen J. Frank, Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910,weblink 1 January 2001, BRILL, 90-04-11975-2, 122–, Cossacks in Siberia included Tatar Muslims like in Bashkiria.BOOK, Allen J. Frank, Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910,weblink 1 January 2001, BRILL, 90-04-11975-2, 170–, File:Башкиры в Париже.jpg|thumb|left|Bashkirs in Paris during the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic WarsBashkirs and Kalmyks in the Imperial Russian Army fought against Napoleon's Grande Armée during the French invasion of Russia.NEWS, Vershinin, Alexander, 29 July 2014, How Russia's steppe warriors took on Napoleon's armies,weblink Russia & India Report, BOOK, John R. Elting, Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armée,weblink 1997, Perseus Books Group, 978-0-306-80757-2, 237–, They were judged suitable for inundating opponents but not intense fighting.BOOK, Michael V. Leggiere, Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: Volume 2, The Defeat of Napoleon: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813,weblink 16 April 2015, Cambridge University Press, 978-1-316-39309-3, 101–, BOOK, Michael V. Leggiere, Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: 1,weblink 16 April 2015, Cambridge University Press, 978-1-107-08054-6, 101–, They were in a non-standard capacity in the military.BOOK, Janet M. Hartley, Russia, 1762–1825: Military Power, the State, and the People,weblink 2008, ABC-CLIO, 978-0-275-97871-6, 27–, Arrows, bows, and melee combat weapons were wielded by the Muslim Bashkirs. Bashkir women fought among the regiments.NEWS,weblink Islam in the Russian Army, Nasirov, Ilshat, 2005, Islam Magazine, Makhachkala, Denis Davidov mentioned the arrows and bows wielded by the Bashkirs.BOOK, Alexander Mikaberidze, Russian Eyewitness Accounts of the Campaign of 1807,weblink 20 February 2015, Frontline Books, 978-1-4738-5016-3, 276–, BOOK, Denis Vasilʹevich Davydov, In the Service of the Tsar Against Napoleon: The Memoirs of Denis Davidov, 1806–1814,weblink 1999, Greenhill Books, 978-1-85367-373-3, 51, Napoleon's forces faced off against Kalmyks on horseback.BOOK, Andreas Kappeler, The Russian Empire: A Multi-ethnic History,weblink 27 August 2014, Routledge, 978-1-317-56810-0, 129–, Napoleon faced light mounted Bashkir forces.BOOK, Tove H. Malloy, Francesco Palermo, Minority Accommodation through Territorial and Non-Territorial Autonomy,weblink 8 October 2015, OUP Oxford, 978-0-19-106359-6, Mounted Kalmyks and Bashkirs numbering 100 were available to Russian commandants during the war against Napoleon.BOOK, Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace,weblink 15 April 2010, Penguin Publishing Group, 978-1-101-42938-9, Kalmyks and Bashkirs served in the Russian army in France.BOOK, Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace,weblink 15 April 2010, Penguin Publishing Group, 978-1-101-42938-9, 504–, A nachalnik was present in every one of the 11 cantons of the Bashkir host which was created by Russia after the Pugachev Rebellion.BOOK, Bill Bowring, Law, Rights and Ideology in Russia: Landmarks in the Destiny of a Great Power,weblink 17 April 2013, Routledge, 978-1-134-62580-2, 129–, Bashkirs had the military statute of 1874 applied to them.BOOK, Charles R. Steinwedel, Threads of Empire: Loyalty and Tsarist Authority in Bashkiria, 1552–1917,weblink 9 May 2016, Indiana University Press, 978-0-253-01933-2, 145–, Muslims were exempt from military conscription during World War I.Figes, Orlando (1996). A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 257. {{ISBN|0-224-04162-2}}. {{OCLC|35657827}}. 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.Kazemzadeh 1974 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.А. Г. Булатова. Лакцы (XIX – нач. XX вв.). Историко-этнографические очерки. — Махачкала, 2000.Various Russian, Caucasus, and Western historians agree on the figure of {{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 {{citation needed|date=January 2014}} {{as of | 2014 | lc = on}} more Tatars lived outside the Republic of Tatarstan than inside it.File:Muslim Girls School Erivan.jpg|thumb|left|Students and staff of the ErivanErivanA 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.BOOK, Andrew D. W. Forbes, Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949,weblink 9 October 1986, CUP Archive, 978-0-521-25514-1, 16–, BOOK, Alexandre Bennigsen, Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay, Central Asian Research Centre (London, England), Islam in the Soviet Union,weblink 1967, Praeger, 15, File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-295-1560-22, Nordfrankreich, Turkmenische Freiwillige.jpg|thumb|Captured Soviet soldiers of Muslim backgrounds volunteered in large numbers for the OstlegionenOstlegionenCommunist rule oppressed and suppressed Islam, like other religions in the Soviet Union.{{when|date=May 2013}} Many mosques (for some estimates,WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130601194939weblink">weblink dead, Imamat-news.ru смотреть порно видео онлайн, June 1, 2013, imamat-news.ru, more than 83% in Tatarstan) were closed. For example, the Märcani Mosque was the only acting mosque in Kazan at that{{when|date=May 2013}} time.

Islam in the post-Soviet period

File:Islam in Russia.png|thumb|left|Areas in Russia where Islam is the largest religion. Islam makes up the majority in: Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-CherkessiaKarachay-CherkessiaThere 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.WEB,weblink History of Hajj in Russia from 18th to 21st century - IslamDag.info, 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.File:RIAN archive 320886 Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in the Kul Sharif Mosque during his visit to Tatarstan.jpg|thumb| Mintimer Shaimiyev, the president of the republic of Tatarstan, in the Qolşärif MosqueQolşärif MosqueKazan 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.WEB,weblink IslamDag.info, 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 CooperationWEB,weblink Observers, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, 14 January 2023, 9 September 2022,weblink live, Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Orthodox Christianity is much closer to Islam than Catholicism is.WEB,weblink Window on Eurasia: Putin Says Orthodoxy 'Closer to Islam than Catholicism Is' - RISU, Religious Information Service of Ukraine, NEWS,weblink Faith in expediency, The Economist, BOOK, Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Christopher Marsh, Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Vectors, and Sectors,weblink 22 August 2013, SAGE Publications, 978-1-4833-2208-7, 297, WEB,weblinkweblink 2021-12-22, live, Православие ближе к исламу, чем к католицизму. В. Путин, Илья Косыгин, 4 January 2012, YouTube, {{cbignore}}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.WEB,weblink Fact Check: No record of Putin's speech on Muslims, Carole, Fader, The Florida Times-Union, WEB,weblink Russian President Vladimir Putin Says No to Sharia-Fiction!, Archives, WEB,weblink Vladimir Putin's Speech to the Duma on Minorities, David, Mikkelson, 4 April 2014, WEB,weblink Fat Pussy - Porn video, www.hoax-slayer.com, 4 April 2023, {{multiple image }}Islam has been expanding under Putin's rule.WEB,weblink Comeback: How Islam Got Its Groove Back in Russia, Rebecca M., Miller, 13 April 2015, Tatar Muslims are engaging in a revival under Putin.WEB,weblink Do minorities have a place in Putin's Russia?, www.wilsonquarterly.com, 4 April 2023, According to The Washington Post, "Russian Muslims are split regarding the [Russian] intervention in Syria, but more are pro- than anti-war."NEWS, Are Russia's 20 million Muslims seething about Putin bombing Syria?,weblink The Washington Post, 7 March 2016, The Grand Mufti of Russia, Talgat Tadzhuddin and other Russia's Muslim leaders supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.NEWS, Russia's Muslim Leaders on the Invasion of Ukraine: United in a Display of Loyalty, Divided in Competition for Power,weblink PONARS Eurasia, 7 April 2022, Chechnya's Kadyrovite forces have fought alongside the Russian forces in Ukraine.NEWS, Terrified Chechens flee to avoid Ukraine call-up as casualties mount,weblink The Telegraph, 28 May 2022, NEWS, Chechen leader Kadyrov admits high losses among unit in Ukraine,weblink Al Jazeera, 28 October 2022, After a Quran burning incident that happened in Sweden during Eid al-Adha,WEB, Reynolds, Nick, 2023-06-30, Quran burner who caused international outrage reveals his new plans,weblink 2023-07-05, Newsweek, en, Russian president Vladimir Putin defended the Quran by stating that It's a crime in Russia to disrespect the Quran and other holy books.{{Citation |title=Disrespecting the Quran is a crime in Russia, unlike in some other countries - Putin |url=https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ito9uuQ8xJE |access-date=2023-07-05 |language=en}}

Islam in the North Caucasus

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.WEB,weblink Islam, Islamism, and Terrorism in the Northern Caucasus and Central Asia: A Critical Assessment, 4 April 2023, 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.WEB, Second Chechnya War – 1999–???, GlobalSecurity.org,weblink 15 April 2008, 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.BOOK, Chechnya: From Past to Future, Richard Sakwa, Anthem Press, 2005, 223–318, Mike Bowker: Western Views of the Chechen Conflict, 978-1-84331-164-5, 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.WEB,weblink ISLAMIC EXTREMISM IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS: WHAT KIND OF THREAT FOR REGIONAL SECURITY?, 4 April 2023, 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. Russian president Vladimir Putin has allowed the de facto implementation of Sharia law in Chechnya by Ramzan Kadyrov, including polygamy and enforced veiling.NEWS,weblink Putin Is Down With Polygamy, Julia Ioffe, Julia Ioffe, Foreign Policy, 24 July 2015, 28 January 2016, File:The opening of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque (2015-09-23) 12.jpg|thumb|Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened Moscow's Cathedral Mosque, 23 September 2015.]]There was large anger from mostly Muslims from the Caucasus against the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in France.NEWS,weblink Putin Points Muslim Rage at Cold War Foes, Ilya, Arkhipov, Stepan, Kravchenko, Bloomberg.com, 17 February 2015, Putin is believed to have backed protests by Muslims in Russia against Charlie Hebdo cartoons and the West.WEB,weblink Chechnya declares public holiday to support huge anti-Charlie Hebdo rally, Independent.co.uk, 20 January 2015,

Demographics and Branches

File:RIAN archive 908389 Victory Day parade in Russian Regions.jpg|thumb|Chechen World War II veterans during celebrations on the 66th anniversary of victory in the Second World War.]]More than 90% of Muslims in Russia adhere to Sunni Islam of the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools. In a few areas, notably Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, there is a tradition of Sunni Sufism, which is represented by Qadiriyya, Naqshbandi and Shadhili orders. Naqshbandi–Shadhili spiritual master Said Afandi al-Chirkawi received hundreds of visitors daily.WEB,weblink Shaykh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi, IslamDag.info, File:Бакы-мечеть (Криушинская).jpg|thumb|Baku Mosque in Astrakhan, former Sunni, presently belonging to the Twelver Shia community.]]About 10%, or more than two million, are Shia Muslims, mostly of Twelver Shi'ism branch.WEB, Goble, Paul, Because of Syria, Moscow Focusing on Sunni-Shiite Divide Within Russia,weblink Window on Eurasia -- New Series, 9 October 2015, 9 October 2015, 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. Nizari Isma'ili Muslims—another Shia branch—are represented only by the Pamiris, migrants from Tajikistan.BOOK, Kalandarov, T. C., Памирские мигранты-исмаилиты в России, Pamir Ismaili Migrants in Russia, Исследования по прикладной и неотложной этнологии Института этнологии и антропологии РАН [Research in applied and urgent ethnology of the institute of Anthropology and Ethnography, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences], Moscow, 2005, Nauka (publisher), Nauka, ru,weblink 5-201-13758-X, There is also an active presence of Ahmadis.BOOK,weblink Islam Outside the Arab World, Routledge, Ingvar Svanberg, David Westerlund, 6 December 2012, 418, 978-0-7007-1124-6, 2014-06-27, In 2021, Putin announced that some 20% of Russian aviation industry employees are Muslims.WEB, Escobar, Pepe, 21 July 2021, Checkmate fighter puts Russia ahead of the game,weblink Asia Times,

Conversions

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.BOOK, Sibgatullina, Gulnaz, Languages of Islam and Christianity in Post-Soviet Russia, Brill Publishers, 2020, 73,

Hajj

A record 18,000 Russian Muslim pilgrims from all over the country attended the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2006.Russian Pilgrims Number Exceeds 18,000, Ministry of Hajj, Saudi Arabia. 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} 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.WEB,weblink IslamDag.info, The III International Conference on Hajj Management attended by some 170 delegates from 12 counties was held in Kazan from 7 – 9 July 2011.WEB,weblink IslamDag.info,

Language controversies

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.WEB,weblink The Rebirth of Islam in Russia, WEB,weblink РЕЛИГАРЕ - "Русский ислам" как явление и как предмет исследования, www.religare.ru, This problem is evident even within Tatarstan itself, where Tatars constitute a majorityweblink{{Dead link|date=February 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Public perception of Muslims

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.NEWS, European Public Opinion Three Decades After the Fall of Communism – 6. Minority groups,weblink Pew Research Center, 14 October 2019,

Islam in Russia by region

File:Memorial mosque.jpg|thumb|Memorial Mosque in MoscowMoscowFile:Mosque SPB.jpg|thumb|Saint Petersburg MosqueSaint Petersburg MosqueFile:Белая мечеть-1.jpg|thumb|White Mosque of AstrakhanAstrakhanFile:Mechet 25 prorokov.JPG|thumb|Mosque of Twenty-Five Prophets in Ufa, BashkortostanBashkortostanFile:Makhachkala mosque 5.jpg|thumb|Grand Mosque of Makhachkala in Makhachkala, DagestanDagestanFile:Izhevsk Mosque-1.jpg|thumb|Mosque in Izhevsk, UdmurtiaUdmurtiaFile:Якутск. Мечеть.jpg|thumb|Mosque in Yakutsk, Yakutia ]]File:Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque, Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.jpg|thumb|Mosque in Grozny, ChechnyaChechnyaPercentage of Muslims in Russia by region:{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100;" cellspacing="4"|+ valign="top"! Region! data-sort-type="number" style="max-width:8em" | Percentage of Muslims! Source

Adygea}}| 24.60| Source

Altai Krai}}| 1.00| Source

Altai Republic}}| 6.20| Source

Amur Oblast}}| 0.63| Source

Arkhangelsk Oblast}}| 0.00| Source

Astrakhan Oblast}}| 14.62| Source

Bashkortostan}}| 54.3| Source

Belgorod Oblast}}| 0.62| Source

Bryansk Oblast}}| 0.25| Source

Buryatia}}| 0.20| Source

Chechnya}}| 95.00	Chechnya>Source

Chelyabinsk Oblast}}| 6.87| Source

Chukotka}}| 0.00	Chukotka Autonomous Okrug>Source

Chuvashia}}| 3.50| Source

Republic of Crimea|name=Crimea}}| 15.00	Republic of Crimea>Source

Dagestan}}| 83.00| Source

Ingushetia}}| 96.00	Ingushetia>Source

Irkutsk Oblast}}| 1.25| Source

Ivanovo Oblast}}| 0.50| Source

Jewish Autonomous Oblast}}| 0.80| Source

Kabardino-Balkaria}}| 70.40| Source

Kaliningrad Oblast}}| 0.25| Source

Kalmykia}}| 4.80| Source

Kaluga Oblast}}| 0.63| Source

Kamchatka Krai}}| 1.20| Source

Karachay-Cherkessia}}| 64.20	Karachay-Cherkessia#Religion>Source

Republic of Karelia|name=Karelia}}| 0.20| Source

Kemerovo Oblast}}| 1.00| Source

Khabarovsk Krai}}| 1.13| Source

Khakassia}}| 0.60| Source

Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug}}| 10.88| Source

Kirov Oblast}}| 0.87| Source

Komi Republic}}| 1.00| Source

Kostroma Oblast}}| 0.60| Source

Krasnodar Krai}}| 1.37| Source

Krasnoyarsk Krai}}| 1.50| Source

Kurgan Oblast}}| 2.62| Source

Kursk Oblast}}| 0.25| Source

Leningrad Oblast}}| 0.75| Source

Lipetsk Oblast}}| 1.13| Source

Magadan Oblast}}| 1.00| Source

Mari El}}| 6.00| Source

Mordovia}}| 2.50| Source

Moscow}}| 3.50| Source

Moscow Oblast}}| 2.12| Source

Murmansk Oblast}}| 1.00| Source

Nenets Autonomous Okrug}}| 0.00	Nenets Autonomous Okrug>Source

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast}}| 0.13| Source

North Ossetia-Alania}}| 30.00| Source

Novgorod Oblast}}| 0.80| Source

Novosibirsk Oblast}}| 1.13| Source

Omsk Oblast}}| 2.75| Source

Orenburg Oblast}}| 13.87| Source

Oryol Oblast}}| 0.25| Source

Penza Oblast}}| 5.75| Source

Perm Krai}}| 4.00| Source

Primorsky Krai}}| 0.50| Source

Pskov Oblast}}| 0.20| Source

Rostov Oblast}}| 1.13| Source

Ryazan Oblast}}| 1.00| Source

Saint Petersburg}}| 2.25| Source

Sakhalin Oblast}}| 0.40| Source

Samara Oblast}}| 2.25| Source

Saratov Oblast}}| 2.40	Saratov Oblast#Religion>Source

Sevastopol}}| 0.00	Sevastopol>Source

Smolensk Oblast}}| 0.12| Source

Stavropol Krai}}| 2.00| Source

Sverdlovsk Oblast}}| 2.88| Source

Tambov Oblast}}| 0.25| Source

Tatarstan}}| 53.80	Tatarstan#Religion>Source

Tomsk Oblast}}| 1.13| Source

Tula Oblast}}| 1.00| Source

Tuva}}| 0.00| Source

Tver Oblast}}| 0.75| Source

Tyumen Oblast}}| 5.75| Source

Udmurtia}}| 4.25| Source

Ulyanovsk Oblast}}| 6.87| Source

Vladimir Oblast}}| 0.63| Source

Volgograd Oblast}}| 3.50| Source

Vologda Oblast}}| 0.25| Source

Voronezh Oblast}}| 0.38| Source

Yakutia}}| 1.40| Source

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug}}| 17.40| Source

Yaroslavl Oblast}}| 0.75| Source

Zabaykalsky Krai}}| 0.25| Source

Islam in Moscow

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.WEB,weblink Строители и гувернантки покидают Москву, Российская газета, 9 February 2009, The city has permitted the existence of four mosques.JOURNAL,weblink Underground Islam, Simon, Shuster, 2 August 2013, Slate, The mayor of Moscow claims that four mosques are sufficient for the population.JOURNAL,weblink Moscow mayor: No more mosques in my city, 21 November 2013, Christian Science Monitor, The city's economy "could not manage without them," he said. There are currently four mosques in Moscow,WEB,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150904012805weblink">weblink 2015-09-04, In Moscow, more Muslims than mosques, and 8,000 in the whole of Russia.WEB,weblink 7500 Mosques Have Been Erected In Russia Since Putin Became President, www.interpretermag.com, 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.

List of Russian muftiates

{{also|Russian Council of Muftis}}{| class=wikitable All-Russia boards!scope="row" width="250"| Grand Muftiates!scope="row" width="300"| Grand Muftis!scope="row" width="100"| Term of office!scope="row" width="100"| Headquarters

	Shaikh al-Islam>Sheikh-ul-Islam Talgat Tadzhuddin|1992–present|Ufa

GIVEN=IGOR	TRANS-CHAPTER=1.3.1 SUNNIS	TRANS-TITLE=THE REFERENCE BOOK ON ALL RELIGIOUS BRANCHES AND COMMUNITIES IN RUSSIA	LANGUAGE=RU	YEAR=2016, 2023-12-25, |Sheikh Rawil Ğaynetdin|2014–present|Moscow

!scope="row" width="250"| Muftiate !scope="row" width="300"| Mufti !scope="row" width="100"| Term of office!scope="row" width="100"| Headquarters{| class=wikitable Interregional boards!scope="row" width="250"| Muftiates!scope="row" width="300"| Muftis!scope="row" width="100"| Term of office!scope="row" width="100"| Headquarters

Ismail Berdiyev|2003–present|Moscow and Buynaksk

Tobolsk

{| class=wikitable Notable regional muftiates!scope="row" width="250"| Muftiates!scope="row" width="300"| Muftis!scope="row" width="100"| Term of office!scope="row" width="100"| Headquarters|The Muftiate of the Republic of Dagestan |Sheikh Ahmad Afandi Abdulaev|1998–present |Makhachkala|The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai|Askarbiy Kardanov|2012–present |Maykop|The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Bashkortostan |Ainur Birgalin|2019–present|Ufa|The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic|Salah Mezhiev|2014–present|Grozny|The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Ingushetia|Sheikh Muhammed Alboghatchiev||Magas

Kabardino-Balkaria>Kabardino-Balkarian Republic|Hazrataliy Dzasejev|2010–present|Nalchik

Karachay-Cherkessia>Karachay-Cherkess Republic|Ismail Berdiyev|1991–present|Cherkessk

|The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania|Khajimurat Gatsalov|2011–present|Vladikavkaz|The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan|Kamil Samigullin|2013–present|Kazan

Notable Russian Muslims

File:Хабиб Нурмагомедов-2. 12.9.2019 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Khabib NurmagomedovKhabib Nurmagomedov

• Khabib Nurmagomedov is a former professional mixed martial artist.
• Islam Makhachev is a professional mixed martial artist and current UFC undisputed lightweight champion.
• Usman Nurmagomedov is a professional mixed martial artist.
• Umar Nurmagomedov is a professional mixed martial artist.
• Rudolf Nureyev was considered the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.
• Marat Safin a former world No. 1 tennis player.
• Vyacheslav Polosin was a former Russian Orthodox Church priest who was at the forefront of a campaign to make Orthodox Christmas a public holiday in RussiaNEWS,weblink BBC, Moscow's Muslims find no room in the mosque, 2012-03-22, 2022-07-15, and converted to Islam in 1999.WEB,weblink IslamDag.info,
• Alina Zagitova is a figure skater.
• Shamil Musaev is a freestyle wrestler.
• Movlid Khaybulaev is a professional mixed martial artist.
• Movsar Evloev is a mixed martial artist, who is currently competing in the featherweight division of the UFC. A professional since 2014, he has also competed at 1 Global, where he is the former bantamweight.
• Imam Shamil was a political leader and Imam of Dagestan, who resisted against Russian expansion of the Caucasus.
• Ramazan Ramazanov is a kickboxer.

Gallery

File:Qolşärif Mosque.JPG|Qolşärif Mosque in Kazan, belonging to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, is one of the largest mosques in Russia.File:Nurd Kamal Mosque.jpg|Nord Kamal Mosque in Norilsk, the world's northernmost mosque.NEWS,weblink Arctic mosque stays open but Muslim numbers shrink, 15 April 2007, Reuters, Paxton, Robin, File:Иркутск. Соломатинская улица Мечеть 1906г.jpg|Tatar mosque in Irkutsk, Siberia, 1906File: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, where Muslims make up 18% of the total population.File:Moscow Cathedral Mosque 2015-08.jpg|Moscow Cathedral MosqueFile:Town of Karachaevsk central mosque. Russia, Karachaevo-Cherkessia.jpeg|Central mosque of Karachaevsk, Karachaevo-CherkessiaFile:Lala Tulpan.jpg|Lala Tulpan in Ufa, BashkortostanFile:Perm asv2019-05 img48 Cathedral Mosque.jpg|Perm Mosque, Perm KraiFile:Башня Сююмбике, вид с Преображенской башни.JPG|Qolşärif Mosque, Kazan, TatarstanFile:Korovin kazan.jpg|Ivan the Terrible subjugated the Tatars and forcibly converted{{Citation needed|reason=This claim needs a reliable source.|date=November 2021}} some of them to Christianity.

See also

• 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 Indonesia
• Islam in Iran
• Islam in Nigeria
• Islam in Pakistan
• Islam in the Philippines

References

{{Reflist}}

• {{Country study}}

External links

{{commons category}}

• Kurbanov, Ruslan. Reasons and Consequences: Banning Hadiths and Seerah in Russia, onislam.net
• islam.ru {{in lang|en}}
• 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"
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060519195038weblink">Russian Islam Comes Out into the Open The Moscow News
• Russia has a Muslim dilemma Ethnic Russians hostile to Muslims
• Islam in Russia
• Russian mosques{{Dead link|date=February 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• 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 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

{{Asia in topic|Islam in}}{{Islam in Europe}}{{Mosques in Russia}}