CONVERSION TENDENCIES AND CONTEMPORARY ISLAM: ATTEMPTS OF CLASSIFICATION OF “WAYS TO THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE” (ON THE BASIS OF MONITORING IN THE REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN)

Abstract

This article is devoted to one of the aspects of revitalization of religious life on post-soviet space — returning/coming into  Islam  in contemporary Russia. The article attempts to systematize probable ways of becoming a person as a practicing believer. Author’s positions are enforced by data  received during  the monitoring of religious situation in Tatarstan that is carried out by the chair  of religious studies of Kazan Federal  University since 2011. Also authors raise a question about formatting of adequate religious-studies terminology in context of the  problem of transition  of person from  position of declared Islamic identity to position of practicing believer — in Russian orthodox tradition we have  a concept of “in-churchment”, that has no direct analog  in Islamic tradition.