The article deals with the reasons of transformation of views of the administration of Novorossiya and Taurida governorates on reforming of management of Muslim spiritual affairs in the region.The main reasons are: (1) the status of the territory as an ‘internal’ province, where the government of Alexander II successfully implemented liberal reforms, (2) the project of of unifi cation of spiritual aff airs management of the Crimean and Volga-Ural Tatars as SunniMuslims, equally belonging to the Hanafi  Madhab, proposed by the orientalist A. K. Kazembek, (3) the project of reform, elaborated by the Orenburg Governor-General Kryzhanovsky (1867), which proposed measures of struggle against the islamization of the East Russia, and (4) aiming of the Russian government at the political ’reforms’.

The author analyzes measuresof local authorities (1867–1869) on controlling over Waqf lands of the abolished mosques, on spreading of the Russian education among the Crimean Tatars, on transforming the Taurida Mohammedan Spiritual Board to the section of the Taurida Governorate board, on the disaffi  rmation of heredity of the Crimean Tatar clergy.

The Muslims of Russia, living in the legal fi eld of the Russian Empire, developed their community as a community of citizens of Russia, which obeys the Russianlegal norms. The Hanafi  theological and juridical school was the basis for the development of the whole Tatar scientifi c and theological thought: both the Kadimist and the Jadid ones. The adherents of Kadimism and Jadidism discussed questions of understanding of Hanafism, the vector of its development, the possibility of interpreting the norms of the Shari’ah according to the reality of the modern world. Tatar scientific and theological thought developed mechanisms for adapting Muslim law to modern reality by means of reviewing of certain principles and points of view on the madhab, and Muslim lawmaking.

The paper discusses Muslim education in Southwest Dagestan. The source base is provided by artifacts gathered in the years 19101911 by A. K. Serzhputovskiy. From his collections we have selected objects currently stored in the funds of Russian Museum of Ethnography. As indicated by Serzhputovskiy, the objects had been collected from Karata, Dido (Tsez) and Botlikh peoples. Our study of these objects clearly demonstrates the existence of two-level education system. Small wooden boards were used for teaching letters in the maktab school (1st stage). Historical research has shown that second-level schools (madrasah) were also present in the region. A celestial sphere, showing Zodiacal signs, proves that astronomy was one of the subjects studied therein.

The article deals with the practice of transferring the Ushir-Zakat to peasant committees of public mutual assistance in Adygea in the fi rst half of the 1920s. The author analyzes the new Soviet practice in the context of the formation of the state system of social mutual assistance, as well as changes in the social status of the Muslim clergy in the 1920s. The author outlines the reasons for the unpopularity of peasant community mutual assistance committees among the Adygs, as well as the reasons for the rejection of new practices by the Muslim clergy. It is emphasized that the transfer of Ushir-zakat was not so much a means of replenishing the funds of mutual aid committees, but rather a tool for limiting the infl uence of the clergy. Non-payment of zakat is characterized as a hidden form of protest against the anti-religious policy of the state and collectivization. Throughout the campaign for the transfer of the Ushir-Zakat to KKOV, the emphasis was on the economic component of the Ushir, its transfer to KKOV was seen as the liquidation of the economic dependence of the poor from the clergy, thereby emasculating the spiritual meaning of one of the “pillars of Islam” that prescribes to help the poor and needy.

The present article is devoted to the reconstruction and analysis of the religious teachings of Wasil b. ‘Аttаʼ — w ell-known Muslim apologist and theologian, the founder of Mu’tazilte school of kalam (7^th — 8 ^th centuries). On the basis of the remained fragments the author draws a conclusion about relative independence of Wasil’s concept, which, though did not become a rotary point in modern to it thought, became a basis for “mature” kalam’ theories. The conclusion about rationalistic paradigmatics of theology of Wasil as the methodological beginning of Mu’tazilte’ exegesis, theology and natural philosophy is separately drawn.

Persian philosophers made a great contribution to the development of the Arab-Muslim philosophy. They created their own works in Arabic, which was the language of science of that time, and in Persian. Nasir Khusraw (1004 — after 1074) is an outstanding Isma‘ili philosopher and poet who had an impact on the development of Persian philosophical terminology. The relevance of the study is due to the escalation of scientifi c interest to the Ismaili texts, which became available to scientists only in the XX century. The aim of the work is to determine the specifi city and peculiarities of the Persian philosophical vocabulary in the treatise “Gushayish va Rahaish” (“Knowledge and Liberation”) written by Nasir Khusraw, and also to resolve the difficulties that appearduring translation this treatise int o Russian. The article considers the history of the formation of the Persian scientifi c language, determines the contribution of Nasir Khusraw to its development, articulates the problems faced by the translator during the work on Nasir Khusraw’s philosophical texts. In the article we analyze the ways of understanding philosophical Persian texts.

The paper deals with an attempt to revise some opinions, which are popular in Tatar national linguistics and according to which Arabic terms are borrowed in Tatar owing to mediated or immediate language contacts. The author affi  rms, that the Islamic law as an extralinguistic factor played its particular important role not only in the formation of juridical terminology in Tatar, but also in the enrichment of Tatar language vocabulary in general. The analysis of Arabic words being terms of the Islamic law demonstrates, how serious the Tatar vocabulary has been changed thanks to the islamization. The vocabulary of juridical sphere in Tatar is formed to the great degree by Arabic loan-words.

The author of this article analyzes the religious and philosophical thoughts of outstanding Tatar theologian and enlightener Gabdulla Bubi (1871–1922) which were widespread among the students of madresah in the beginning of the 20th century. Especially the author of this article examines the polemical work Istina and treatise Zhenchini. Considers problems raised in the works of G. Bubi, gives his own assessment. Reviews the key terms of Quranic exegesis as abrogation (nasih we mensuh) and deals with the issue of free individual search in Quranic interpretation (idzhtihad) which is believed to be the core beliefs of life of G. Bubi. The translation and comments are presented by the author of this article.

This article attempts to fi nd out the infl uence of the leading Muslim University of al-Azhar on the representatives of Islam in Russia, the formation of their way of thinking, as well as to identify its role in the socio-cultural and socio-political processes, in which the Muslim community of Russia was involved in the middle of the XIXth —  early XX centuries, associated primarily with the reform of religious education and the emergence of the ‘intelligentsia’.

Stages of spreading Islamism among Tatar people: a) Islamism as official ideology of Bulgur-Tatars (922–1552); b) Islamism of the period of persecution (1552– 1788); c) Islamism at the late XVIII c. — 1917, characterized by reformate and traditional branches. Two varieties of Turkism ideology: Tatar and Turkish Turkism emerged. Leaders of Tatar Turkism: F. Karimi (1870–1937), J. Validi (1887–1932), H. Maksudi (1868–1941); leaders of Turkish Turkism: U. Akchura (1876–1935), H.-G. Gabashi (1863–1936). Adherents of ‘tatarists’: Sh. Marjani (1818–1889), K. Nasiri (1825–1902), R. Fahraddin (1859–1936), G. Ahmerov (1864–1911).

At the end of the 21st century arose an implementation of ‘soft power’ instrumentation into the foreign policy practice of Saudi Arabia. The present article is aimed at reviewing the main components of the Saudi Arabian ‘soft power’ model and evaluating its eff ectiveness in terms of priority foreign policy objectives, primarily, strengthening national positions in the Middle East, secondarily, increasing prestige on the international scene. Within the framework of conceptualization of «soft power» phenomenon is raised a question about the modifi cation of the Western concept corresponding to eastern realities. The author singled out Islam as the main factor of the «soft power» of Saudi Arabia. Considerable attention is paid to the institutional aspect of non-military infl uence, as well as information and communication technologies.

The article considers the importance of carpet in the consolidation of the national community. It is also analyzes the representation of a national image through the cultural heritage. The theoretical approaches of Eric Hobsbawm and Edward Said are used to study the both processes that are taking place in modern Turkmenistan.

The article is devoted to the greatest ideologist of PanSyrianism —  Antun Sa‘adeh (1904–1949). The author considers Sa‘ade’s biography, political activity, and ideological principles of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) which he created. The party SSNP expressed the resurgence of the revival of the Syrian nation and the creation of a single state on the lands of the Graceful Crescent. The doctrine of PanSyrianism is one of the most interesting examples of Middle Eastern nationalist ideologies, which largely determined the political development of the region in the 20th century.