batmannow
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Russian ties with Muslim world
31 October 2008
arabnews.com
The Russia-Islamic World Forum that has just taken place in Jeddah holds out the fascinating possibility of a new and positive relationship between the Muslim world and Russia. That is highly welcome. Like the US, Russia has the ability to promote peace in the world or to cause instability and conflict. It is in everyones interests that it be the former. It is also one of the four parties in the Middle East Quartet; it can be a powerful force for a just peace in this particular corner of the world. Moreover, dialogue between cultures and civilizations has become a cornerstone of Saudi policy another reason then for working with the Russians. The new potential relationship is all the more inspiring given that relations between Russia and the Muslim world have been anything but good in the past and when we say the past we do not mean a couple of decades or so. It is not just what Russia did in Afghanistan or Chechnya that still raise Muslims hackles the world over. For centuries, ever since the Russian started fighting the Tatars and the Golden Horde in the 14th century, Islamophobia has been deeply ingrained in Russian culture more deeply than anywhere else on earth. From those early beginnings through to the 19th century, Russia was the principal enemy of Islam, destroying and devouring Muslim states, from the Crimea to far-away Bukhara and Samarkand. It could have been even worse; throughout the 19th century Russia plotted and planned to destroy the declining Ottoman Empire and recapture Constantinople for Orthodox Christianity.
The anti-Islamism that fueled Russian imperialism has never gone away. It remained throughout the communist era and is still there. Despite the fact that Islam is indigenous to Russia 20 million Russians are Muslim and, with a million Muslim inhabitants, Moscow is the biggest Muslim city in Europe by far opinion polls show xenophobia at an all-time high and directed overwhelmingly at Muslims; most Russians continue to regard Islam as fundamentally alien. In this, they are aided and abetted by a deeply hostile media that stereotype Muslims as terrorists and criminals, and do so far more blatantly than the Western media. The hostility has been made worse by acts of terrorism by Chechnyan militants but it was there long before the terrorism started.
That is not to say that things are not changing. They are. We have seen attempts by Moscow to reach out and embrace the Muslim world, of which the forum has been a part. In 2004, Vladimir Putin, then appointed a Muslim, Rashid Nurgaliyev, as the countrys interior minister; he is still in post. That was a step forward. In 2005, Russia sought and was granted observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). There are now more mosques in Russia than in Egypt, itself quite remarkable. That said, Russias interest in the Muslim world is not wholly unconnected to Prime Minister Putins efforts to restore Moscows influence in the world; by connecting with the Muslim world, he hopes to end Washingtons global domination. But then an end to the unipolar world is also a Muslim aim.
Nonetheless, much more needs to be done if relations between Russia and the Muslim world are to be genuinely cordial. Russia will be judged by how it treats its own Muslims. In Jeddah, the Russian delegates backed the call for the worlds media to respect different religions. Moscow could start by doing something about its own media.
And there is still Chechnya. It is unacceptable for Moscow to say that South Ossetia or Abkhazia can be free from Georgia but Chechnya must stay part of Russia. That sticks in the gullet.
31 October 2008
arabnews.com
The Russia-Islamic World Forum that has just taken place in Jeddah holds out the fascinating possibility of a new and positive relationship between the Muslim world and Russia. That is highly welcome. Like the US, Russia has the ability to promote peace in the world or to cause instability and conflict. It is in everyones interests that it be the former. It is also one of the four parties in the Middle East Quartet; it can be a powerful force for a just peace in this particular corner of the world. Moreover, dialogue between cultures and civilizations has become a cornerstone of Saudi policy another reason then for working with the Russians. The new potential relationship is all the more inspiring given that relations between Russia and the Muslim world have been anything but good in the past and when we say the past we do not mean a couple of decades or so. It is not just what Russia did in Afghanistan or Chechnya that still raise Muslims hackles the world over. For centuries, ever since the Russian started fighting the Tatars and the Golden Horde in the 14th century, Islamophobia has been deeply ingrained in Russian culture more deeply than anywhere else on earth. From those early beginnings through to the 19th century, Russia was the principal enemy of Islam, destroying and devouring Muslim states, from the Crimea to far-away Bukhara and Samarkand. It could have been even worse; throughout the 19th century Russia plotted and planned to destroy the declining Ottoman Empire and recapture Constantinople for Orthodox Christianity.
The anti-Islamism that fueled Russian imperialism has never gone away. It remained throughout the communist era and is still there. Despite the fact that Islam is indigenous to Russia 20 million Russians are Muslim and, with a million Muslim inhabitants, Moscow is the biggest Muslim city in Europe by far opinion polls show xenophobia at an all-time high and directed overwhelmingly at Muslims; most Russians continue to regard Islam as fundamentally alien. In this, they are aided and abetted by a deeply hostile media that stereotype Muslims as terrorists and criminals, and do so far more blatantly than the Western media. The hostility has been made worse by acts of terrorism by Chechnyan militants but it was there long before the terrorism started.
That is not to say that things are not changing. They are. We have seen attempts by Moscow to reach out and embrace the Muslim world, of which the forum has been a part. In 2004, Vladimir Putin, then appointed a Muslim, Rashid Nurgaliyev, as the countrys interior minister; he is still in post. That was a step forward. In 2005, Russia sought and was granted observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). There are now more mosques in Russia than in Egypt, itself quite remarkable. That said, Russias interest in the Muslim world is not wholly unconnected to Prime Minister Putins efforts to restore Moscows influence in the world; by connecting with the Muslim world, he hopes to end Washingtons global domination. But then an end to the unipolar world is also a Muslim aim.
Nonetheless, much more needs to be done if relations between Russia and the Muslim world are to be genuinely cordial. Russia will be judged by how it treats its own Muslims. In Jeddah, the Russian delegates backed the call for the worlds media to respect different religions. Moscow could start by doing something about its own media.
And there is still Chechnya. It is unacceptable for Moscow to say that South Ossetia or Abkhazia can be free from Georgia but Chechnya must stay part of Russia. That sticks in the gullet.
