The article deals with juridical aspects of al-Ghazali’s conception of faith. Authors show that al-Ghazali clearly separated juridical understanding of faith and ontological one. In the first case, faith is conceptualized as a set of formal rules, while in the second it is conceptualized as divine light that poured out into human soul. According to al-Ghazali, juridical faith is not a guarantee for salvation, and a lack of formal belonging to Islam is not a guarantee for eternal sorrow in hell. Believing in inclusiveness of divine grace, al-Ghazali develops bride understanding of faith and allows possibility of salvation for infidels.

Тhe author of this article shortly describes the theological treatise of the outstanding Tatar theologian and historian Shihab alDin al-Marjani (1818–1889) «Naturat al-Haqq» which is the famous in the world of Islam. He reveals the reason for writing this treatise and its perspective, gives its assessment. The text contains a discource about an ultimate goal of life of mankind, and the assertion that every Muslim in his deeds would be guided by Sharia in general and particular matters. Al-Marjani also talks about four pillars of religion and fiqh. The translation and comments are presented by the author.

Nazurat al-Haqq (Translation from Arabic and commentary by Shagaviev D.).

The article represents a unique lexicographical work «Miftah al-Qur’an», written by the outstanding Tatar enlightener Kayum Nasyri. The work is the first concordance of the Quran in the Muslim world and represents an essential piece of work for Quranic and oriental studies in general. The work was completed by the author in 1886. It has never been published and preserved as a manuscript. The article gives general information about the manuscript, its underlying methodology and its inherent characteristics. The work is still relevant with regard to the socialization of Islam and the rebuilding of a national school of Quranic studies. It is of value to Islamic scholars, to specialists engaged in the study of the Quran, tо Arabists, philologists and historians. Appendix to the article contains introductory remarks by Kayum Nasyri to the manuscript translated into Russian.

The article attempts to compare the theoretical limits of tolerance to justify the possibility of the use of force in the primary sources of Islam.

The article outlines the major milestones in the biography of Sheikh Kunta Haji, a prominent spiritual teacher of the Chechens and the Ingush, the founder of the Qadirio order in the North Caucasus. The article accentuates controversial points of the discourse about the Sheikh and legends about his religious activities. The author also points out the important views of his peacekeeping doctrine that calls for patience and humbleness and directs believers towards spiritual, moral and humanistic perfection. The article emphasizes the place of Kunta Haji’s teaching in the spiritual culture of the Chechen nation and its significance for spiritual and cultural development.

Rida’addin bin Fakhraddin — an eminent Muslin learned man, writer and Mufti — was the author of a famous voluminous manuscript «The Turks of Bulgar and Kazan» (in  569 folios). One part of this manuscript contains a valuable information on more than 100 mosques and their clerics throughout the provinces of the Volga-Urals during the late 19th — early 20th century, including the Market and City Mosques of Nizhny Novgorod and their imams. This data still attracts scholars’ attention, for the paper says a lot about the houses of worship in Nizhny Novgorod. Some heretofore unknown and unpublished but edifying details of the history of erection of the Mosques in Nizhny Novgorod and the main Russian market place nearby, curriculum vitae of their imams, the practice of election and appointment of imams are given in Russian translation as a supplement to the paper.

The article analyzes Ingushetia’s public thought in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. One of its trends is Islamic enlightenment which had been a part of public education. Particularly, the author of this article makes an attempt to show the role of Islam in the development of ethnic consciousness of the Ingushes. In so doing, the article refers to the establishment of Muslim schools and their role in the process of education spreading. A.Aktoliev, M. Kurkiev and many others are considered to be the outstanding representatives of the Muslim educational thought of the period under review.

The article presents archival materials of the 1920s, preserved in the central archives of the Russian Federation, on Muslims’ condition, positions of Islamic leaders in the Crimea and their interrelations with Muslims in the other regions of the former Russian Empire. The author considers cooperation between the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims (CSBM) in Ufa and the People’s Office for Religious Affairs of Muslims of the Crimea in the 1920s. The article contains a comparative analysis of management practices of the Soviet authorities towards Muslims of the Crimea and Volga-Ural region.

The article considers the issue of what message about the world and reality is conveyed at the basic level of the Arabic tense system by 1) the opposition of the equational and verbal sentence, 2) the opposition of two basic verbal forms, 3)  the opposition of functionally independent and functionally dependent verbal forms, and 4) by the opposition of forms with the meaning of the present and past tenses.

The article studies the state of the research of the religious preconditions and consolidating factors of democracy. The analysis of the transformation of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, the main reference points of the present day social doctrine and the place of democracy in this doctrine demonstrates that the church doctrine is not a dogma but a fluid discourse responding to the challenges of modernity.

Faizkhan, as well as other Tatar enlighteners, considered that the progress of Tatar nation could be achieved only through acquiring education and adopting modern European methods of teaching. Tatar enlighteners were realizing that without acquiring modern knowlHUSAIN FAIZKHAN’S CONCEPT OF THE REFORMATION OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION Recreation of the national Islamic theological school: Russian recipe edge Tatar people would not reach the level of Russians and Europeans. Faizkhan was the first among Tatar enlighteners who conceived the advantage of the European educational system and arrived at the idea of transferring European methods of education to Tatar ground. In winter 1862/63 he wrote his «Islah madaris» (School reform) and «Risala» (The treatise), where he presented the project of the reformation of Islamic education. Neither these works nor «Ukitu isuli» (Bases of education), which contains additional information to the abovementioned works, were published. After the death of Faizkhan, Mardjani obtained these manuscripts and added his marginal notes, which a great deal contributed to the project of Islamic educational reform.

The article covers the analysis of the necessity and possibilities of including of Koranic learning elements in teaching material in university history courses. There are concrete examples of using academic literature for substantiation of actuality of such a form of activity of lecturers. Emphasis is given to the importance of conflict prevention of ethno-confessional character using the potential of educational practices and security amplification through the prevention of possible conflicts between representatives of different ethnoses and confessions in the near and distant future.

The article analyzes the experience of the project «School of Muslim leader «Mahalla 2.0.»» implemented by secular and religious institutions of Tatarstan. The initiative is of interest as a successful model of social integration of young Muslims. The results of the activities of the school deserve a detailed analysis, because the experience brings to the problems of the state policy in the sphere of religious education, interaction with the spiritual institutions of Tatarstan and communication with the secular part of the Tatar community.

The present article reviews teaching books developed and written by scholars of St. Petersburg State University in 2015 within the scope of scientific and methodical arrangements of the program for training of specialists with knowledge of history and culture of Islam. The description of tutorials follows after the detailed reference depicting the process of the certain teaching books development, criteria for selection of topics, various principles of methodological approaches and background of collaboration of Islamic and secular institutions. Upon the decision of webinar held at the St. Petersburg State University on January 19, 2016, the teaching books under review were recommended for use within the program for training of specialists with knowledge of history and culture of Islam.

The article highlights the system of Islamic education in contemporary Indonesia and its specific features and peculiarities. According to the state law adopted in 2007 and government instructions, all educational institutions and organizations should include religious (mostly Islamic) lessons in their curriculums. Nevertheless, young generation of Indonesian Muslims can receive the most complete and profound Islamic education only in Islamic educational institutions comprising of more than 50 thousand schools of different kinds and levels. Islamic education in Indonesia is based on Holy Scriptures, such as the Koran and Sunnah. Religious teachings in the Indonesian system of Islamic education have a direct and long-lasting impact on lives and the formation of Islamic world views of Muslims in the country.

The article takes a look at the visit of the chairman of the Russia Mufties Council, chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia to the Resource Center for the Development of Islamic Education and Islamic Studies at the Kazan Federal University. The article describes several events that took place during the visit: the speech of the Mufti, presentation of the Resource Center and a number of presentations of major publications — the work of Kayum Nasyri (1825–1902) on Quran «Miftah alQuran» (The Key to the Quran), a bibliographic research dedicated to Persian manuskripts preserved at the Kazan University Library and a multimedia project «Tatar Muslim Culture of the Volga region» (in Russian, Tatar, English) prepared in collaboration with Indiana University.