This paper is devoted to the attempt of comprehension which direction would follow the islamic thought in the future. The author examines main ideas of American scholar Carl W. Ernst and of Moroccan Muslim thinker M.A. al-Jabri. The conclusion show that the Islamic thought (1) become closer to the European and American thought; (2) would pay attention to the history of relations between East and West; (3) must learn its own intellectual roots and local traditions; (4) would revive the humanism of the classical medieval Arab Muslim civilization.

The present article  considers the cosmological aspect  of philosophy of music of the first prominent representative of the  Peripatetic Arabic school, famous philosopher, theologian, astronomer, naturalist of — Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub al-Kindi (d. 256/873) The basis  of al-Kindi’s "operational cosmology" is investigated separately. The author gives a conclusion about ontological value of music in al-Kindi’s philosophical worldview. There is also given a statement about originality of a number of "fundamental principles" in the faylasuf’s musical theory.

The ideology  of Sh. Marjani can be divided  into  two layers:  religious reformist, which comes out to 70-ies  of the XIX century, and educational of 70-80-ies. Religious reformist views of Marjani, by reflecting some kind of adaptation of religion to the changing reality, included as a theoretical basis  the  concept of «opening the doors of ijtihad», as well as a reference to the days of Muhammad (the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the words of mujtahids). Marjani's goal was "purifying" Islam from later accretions and reforming of the teaching in madrasah. Marjani's enlightenment project included thoughts about  the necessity of getting secular  education, assimilation of the progressive heritage of the past  (Ancient and Arab-Muslim thought) and present (Russian and Western culture) by Tatar  people. Marjani  was a religious reformer and educator at the same time.

The  paper  is devoted to analysis of one  of the  masterpieces of the  famous  Tatar  religious thinker Musa Jarullah  Bigeev in which he considers the essence and content of faith  in Islam.  The author explains Bigeev’s thoughts about the  importance of the  faith  problem, the  background of the causes of the religious crisis in Islam and its results and describes Bigiev’s propositions how the getting out of this  crisis could be realized.

The article is devoted to the  council   of  representatives of the  Tatar  Muslim  clergy  and  teachers of the  Middle Volga and  Ural regions.  The council  was held  in 1898 in the  city of Ufa with the  Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly. A special  interest to the topic can be explained by the  fact that it was the first  known  attempt to discuss  topical issues  of development of education  and  culture of the  Muslim  population in Russia.  During  the  study, there  were summarized the materials  published in several  volumes  in the  memoirs of the  participants. Its work showed that in the late nineteenth century there were made attempts of organized  activities for the development of common programs of reform of the Tatar  mektebs and written language. A number of decisions of the council was implemented in the  beginning of the  twentieth century, namely, prepared  and published textbooks for new-method madrasas of the new rules of spelling. In general, the council  has stimulated the activity  of a number of prominent businessmen to expand the  network of new-method madrasas and the opening of the short-term pedagogical courses.

The article considers the Soviet roots of Islamic rise at the micro level of the individual farm in Northern Dagestan. The author comes to the  conclusion that the  post-Soviet reislamization of the village in 1990ies was not "revival", back to the  local pre-revolutionary Islamic  tradition, destroyed during Soviet political repression. The basis for the  Islamic rise of the  1990-ies was founded in the jamaats of collective and state  farms, existing in the mountains and on the plains in the second  half of the twentieth century. The Farm was not an intermediary between the Soviet authorities and the local society, it would stand with the Muslim community, but had given the last resources for existence.

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. 

The  article analyses constitutional provisions of the Republic of Iraq (2005) referring to Shari‘a and Islam in general. It offers a comparative analysis of the present Constitution and the previous one (1970). It is demonstrated that there are virtually no significant places  for Shari‘a and Islam in the Constitution of 1970. The Constitution of 2005 offers  a more meaningful role for the  Islamic  principles.  It is also  demonstrated that still the new Constitution of Iraq has very limited mentions of Islam which can be connected with the pressure of the provisional American occupation authorities, as well as Shi‘a — Sunni contradictions. The Administration of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq produced a tough resistance to  the attempts to include Islamic principles in any project of future Constitution. As a result, the final version  of the constitution was neither Sunni nor Shi‘a. Against  this  background, the  very fact of a reduced number of references to Islam (without Shia or Sunni connotations) might have been regarded as a sort of compromise. Meanwhile, it can be concluded that throughout the extremely complicated political history of the country the consensus in constitutional construction has not been obtained so far.

There  took  place  the  Islamic  revolution in  Iran  in  1979, which  main  inspirer and  spiritual leader  was the  Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900/1902–1989). Imam Khomeini proposed the  concept of the  Islamic  state that was realized in the  political structure of modern Iran.  The  article analyzes two  aspects  associated with  this  concept: the  ground of Islamic  rule  and  the doctrine of "Wilayat  al-Faqih" (rule by the [righteous] faqih), and there is also determined their  relationship with the previous tradition.

Starting from  the  1970s, one of the largest Indian Muslim organizations Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has been  reconsidering its ideology  and rethinking the  views of its founder Syed Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979) on the  role  of women in the  life of the  Muslim  community. Since  the 1990s, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has allowed Muslim women  to participate in the socio-political life of India. The organization has begun  to pay more attention to improve the  status of women in the  society. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s women  wings have been established in many  states of India; currently, they are most active in Kerala and Karnataka.

The article is devoted to the  new  trends in  modern Arabic historiography of the  Crusades, in which ideological work involving  the ideas of Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism is gradually giving way to a truly scientific works. In the  last  four  decades, the  Arab historians has been  publishing dozens of papers devoted to the  Turkic military  leaders and  rulers  in this  period of the Middle East history  and the decisive contribution of the Turks in the  expulsion of the  crusaders from the region of the Muslim world. Arab authors have noted the  leading  role of the  Seljuks  and  the  Mamluks  in the struggle of the Muslims with the crusaders.

A close  connection with traditional  north-western  Yemeni  social  patterns of political representation that are used  by Houthi Movement is stated on the  basis  of historical and  sociological analysis in the  article. It is assumed that this  connection has  played  a significant  role  in Houthis' recent political achievements. It is noted that  the conversion of Houthis into the dominant political force in the country occurred  after  the  formation of Movement's symbolic base, most of which components emerged as a reaction to external stimuli such as neocolonial Western policy and strengthening of the Salafi positions.