When it comes to Russia, the question of Islam barely registers even though the presence of the Muslim faith is not exactly a secret. The country witnessed an explosion of religiosity in the early 1990s in the wake of the Soviet collapse. Yet, more than three decades on, the role of Islam as a shaping force in contemporary Russian politics is little understood and sparsely studied.
That represents a glaring omission because Muslims make up Russia’s fastest growing minority as well as an increasingly powerful political force within the country. They are also in play like never before. Over the past year-and-a-half, the Kremlin has disproportionally singled out minorities (a large percentage of them Muslim) for conscription into its war in Ukraine, making them cannon fodder in what has become a protracted military misadventure—and indicating that it views Russia’s Muslims as second-class citizens at best, expendable assets at worst. At the same time, grassroots resistance to renewed Russian imperialism has led many Chechens to take up arms on the Ukraine side, even as ethnic Chechen forces loyal to the region’s strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, have enlisted in the Kremlin’s war of choice against Kyiv.
An introduction to contemporary Islam’s place within (and its often-contentious relationship with) the Russian Federation is thus most welcome, and Islam and Russia is positioned to serve as such a primer.
Perhaps two chapters are the most relevant contributions for Western policymakers seeking contemporary insights. Nicolas Dryer studies how the faith has influenced the Kremlin’s approach to the Middle East against the backdrop of the “Arab Spring” and the Syrian civil war. Hamidreza Azizi of Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University reviews how Islam has helped shape Russia’s evolving strategic partnership with Tehran. Other chapters deal with issues like the different strains of Islam prevalent in Russia and how Russia’s Muslims see the hajj.
The book’s larger message is one well worth heeding: that Islam has reemerged as a powerful element of contemporary identity among Russia’s Muslims. Increasingly, it is also a feature of Russian society that rubs up uncomfortably against the ultranationalist and neo-imperialist ethos espoused by Vladimir Putin and his circle.
