The term ‘Arab reason’, suggested by M. A. al-Jabiri, directly relates to the problem, which is being discussed among the Arabian intellectuals over the last hundred years, namely what you have to start with in the revival of the Arab world? The majority of ideologists is convinced that the fi rst thing to do is to alter the minds and renounce the outdated cultural attitudes. To understand which of them hinder the expansion, one must reconsider the content of the fundamental forms, through which the functioning of culture in history operated and bring to light the dominant ones. These structures are not to be associated with the Islamic period of history. But for all that the origin of the Islamic civilization implied the break with the previous tribal living and Jahiliyya (ignorance), its principal constituents nevertheless continued in the new culture. The Bedouin poetry serves as one of such constituents, having fi xed and propagated the organizational standards of life, specifi cs of mindset, of a world view and morale of nomads, as well as peculiar features of language with its logic and rhetorical technique.

The article presents a relatively complete list of the versions of the hadith — both in Sunni tradition and in Shiites’. The author highlights diff erent approaches to the assessment of the authenticity of these versions, as well as their representative interpretations by the leading theological schools of classical Islam — Kalam, Asarism (Hanbalism-Taymiyyism), Sufi sm and Falsafa.

The article deals with investigation of a number of stories about Hasan al-Basri, a great preacher and a major representative of the zuhd movement (‘detachment’) in early Islam. These stories are gathered in anthology ‘Memorial of God’s Friends’ (Tadhkirat al-Awliya’) of the major Persian poet and Sufi thinker of XII–XIII centuries Farid ad-Din ‘Attar Nishaburi. The author provides a brief overview of the ethical ideas of Hasan al-Basri and explores the origins of his ethical doctrine. Hasan al-Basri followed the principle of strict responsibility. He was the forerunner of the Mu‘tazilite doctrine of the autonomy of human will. The focus of the article are the main themes of Hasan al-Basri’s ethical doctrine, such as: longing for higher virtues (sincerity, righteousness, piety, humility), the requirement to follow religious instructions, the overcoming attachments to the mortal world, the critique of wealth and the sermon of asceticism, etc. A detailed analysis of the stories about Hasan al-Basri and his statements allows to conclude, that there numerous ideas in his worldview later will take the form of developed Sufi ethical doctrine. The article shows, that all events from the life of Hasan al-Basri, from his birth to death, should be read and understood in the framework of his spiritual progress along a Sufi path.

In the paper presented an attempt is made to describe a general orientation of the worldview of Islamic Neomodernists, representing the new step in developing the revivalist Islamic thought. The common themes in key Neomodernist projects are elicited, while their primary concerns are explained. Special attention is devoted to the problematic theoretical situation which formed Neomodernism, namely the problem of the origins of tradition. The author decides in favour of distinctive understanding of history and of the part reason and Revelation both play in the solution that Neomodernism proposes. The widespread misconceptions about the nature of Neomodernist deconstruction are criticised, as well as the superfi cial explanation of «humanistic hermeneutics». Both obstacles and prospects of the Neomodernist project are explicated. In his conclusion the author indicates the connection between Neomodernism and some trends of Western philosophy.

The article deals with one of the most outstanding representatives of Muslim modernism but still has not been thoroughly studied in our country, Egyptian theologian ‘Ali ‘Abdarraziq (1888–1966), the author of a famous book ‘Islam and the Foundations of Political Power’ (1925).

The second part of the article analyses ‘Abdarraziq’s depoliticization of religion, his critics of the basic problems of traditional political theology of Islam: the conception of the Prophet Muhammad as a king in addition to his prophetic mission, the sacred necessity of the caliphate, the world Islamic government, etc.

The article represents the views of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, on Islam as the basis of the political system. Imam Khomeini believed that Islam should not be considered only as a set of prescriptions or as a kind of philosophical system. In his work “Vilayat-i fakih. Hokumat-i Islami ” (“Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist”) Khomeini substantiates the need for the formation of a state based on Sharia law. The ideas of the Ayatollah were not completely new to Shii political doctrine. The olitical views of Ayatollah Khomeini formed under a great infl uence of a situation in Iran in the XX cent. The author analyzes the Khomeini’s views on politics and his concept of “vilayat-i fakih”. From Ayatollah Khomeini’s point of view, we can’t imagine Islam apart from politics, otherwise Islam will be incomplete. Personal self-improvement also depends on the fullness of religion, and therefore Muslims need an Islamic state to fully keep the Sharia law. The analysis of the views of Imam Khomeini is based on the original treatise in Persian.

The article is devoted to the description and introduction of the translation into Russian of one of the little-known theological and juridical works ‘Ma’ida’ (‘The Meal’) which was written by the prominent Tatar religious thinker Musa Jarullah Bigeev. The book published in 1914 is devoted to the identifi cation, analysis and solution of the Shari‘a problems in determining, what is permitted and what is forbidden in the Muslim diet. The work of the Tatar theologian is a good example of evolution of the Islamic fi qh and the actualization of Shari‘a in the conditions of Russian society on the eve of the great upheavals. It was written as a review on a number of social processes that took place in 1913–1914. In particular, the work is a response of Islamic traditional scientist to the legislative initiative of right-wing parties regarding the ritual slaughtering, submitted to the Duma in November 1913, which indicated a strong activity of M. Bigeev in the integration of the mechanisms of Islamic law in state institutions of the Russian Empire.

Transl. by Aidar G. Khayrutdinov.

The article is devoted to the problem of criteria of sociological assessment of the state of the institute of ulama. In solving this problem, the author suggests starting from that fundamental understanding of the nature of the phenomenon of social institution, which is developed within the framework of structural functionalism. In accordance with this, the phenomenon of the institution of the Ulema derives from the Islamic ideas of hermeneutics / exegesis, which constitute and legitimize this institution. Thus, the idea of the sacral component of Islamic hermeneutics / exegetics predetermines for the ulama the basic institutional principle of continuity with the tradition of the Prophet. On this basis, the author formulates some key sociologically measurable criteria for the state of the institution of the Ulema in Russia.

Theology is a new speciality, approved by the education instututes of Russian Federation., It is related to religion and religious life.. The creation of a new educational standard makes it possible to fi ll the gap of the past, when religion in certain periods of history played a signifi cant role in society and a new look at the possibility of religion in the formation of the spiritual component of modern man. The importance of correlation between secular and religious in the educational process of the new speciality is great. The diff erentiation of the sphere of existence of philosophy and religion took place in medieval Arab Muslim thought, as Ibn Rushd (XII century) wrote. In the same spirit of contradiction of religion and philosophy thought the Tatar thinker of the XIX century S. Mardzhani and at the beginning of XX century R. Fahraddin. The relevance of the new educational standard theology for the formation of modern spiritual personality is considerable.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the controversy of Dagestan theologians in the XIX century about an application of Nazr, one of the methods of free alienation of property existing in Islamic law. After determination of the nature and types of nazr, the paper consistently reveals the practice of applying of nazr during the period of Shamil’s Imamate, and then in the whole Dagestan region. Confl ict situations arising from the application of nazr and the reaction of Imam Shamil to it are disclosed in the paper. Сonsiderable attention of the article is given to the polemics that unfolded between well-known Dagestanian theologians and jurists, Muhammadtahir al-Karahi and Haji Ali al-Akushi. The reasons for its occurrence and the content of works in Arabic that arose during the polemic are examined in detail in this paper, also the arguments given by each of the parties to convince the opponent of their truth are analyzed. The study reveals the profound knowledge of Muslim legal literature by the Dagestan theologians.

The article discusses the main features of the Astrakhan Muslim community in the early twentieth century. During this period, Muslims of Russia entered the period of institutionalization of ethnic and religious identity. Astrakhan Muslim community in the period under review was one of the centers of the Muslim Tatar movement in the Russian Empire. At the same time, due to the historical and geographical features of the settlement of the Astrakhan region, the formation of the urban population of the provincial center, the community had a number of characteristic features that could not but aff ect all aspects of life of the mahalla. The work is based on the analysis of archival and published sources, works of local historians and orientalists. Unconditional numerical and material domination of the Tatar ethnic group became decisive in the development of the regional Muslim community. But at the same time, the factor of its polyethnicity had a great infl uence on various aspects of mahalla’s life. Even the Tatars, who formed the basis of the community, came from diff erent provinces and represented diff erent territorial groups of the Turkic-Tatar world. But as part of the Astrakhan Muslim community successfully managed to overcome the ethno-group interests, the isolation of local corporations. Islam has emerged as an integrating core value. Astrakhan mahalla has become an exceptional example of ethnic tolerance among co-religionists and loyalty to state institutions, on the other. Today, when the fl ow of migrants from the North Caucasus republics (primarily Dagestan and Chechnya) is directed to the Astrakhan region and the number of Muslims in the region increases annually, the experience of a century ago is very much in demand for the formation of a new religious identity here.

This research looks at the Medeniyet, Turkish newspaper, launched in 1933 in Bulgaria. The goal is to show both historical and political contexts of the newspaper, published in Ottoman language and opposing to Kemalists in Turkey and Bulgaria, and discover main topics of its fi rst ten issues. Research draws upon primary sources, never examined thoroughly before. At the end, all titles of these issues are given in modern Turkish description and in translation to Russian.

The article discusses Islamist projects promoted by Saudi Arabia and the Qatari-Turkish Alliance to strengthen their positions in Syria. The Saudis are focused on conservative Salafi Islamism, while Qatar and Turkey adhere to the moderate ideology of Islamism Muslim Brotherhood. Since the beginning of the crisis, the struggle between the competing forces has been unfolding within the opposition structures (the Syrian National Council, the National Coalition) and in the theater of operations, where there is a support for certain military formations loyal to ‘Pro-Saudi’ or ‘Pro-Qatari’ representatives of the opposition. The struggle of the Qatari-Turkish Alliance and Saudi Arabia has led to a signifi cant weakening of the positions of Qatar and Turkey in the negotiation process, however Doha and Ankara continue to maintain control over numerous armed groups of moderate persuasion.