The Formation of Religious Authority Among Central Asian Mullahs in Russia: Questions of Duty and Loyalty in a Muslim Migration Context

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a new approach to contemporary religious authority among Muslim migrants in Russia, conceptualizing such notions as duty and loyalty in the Muslim migration context. The study demonstrates the fluidity of the boundary between official and unofficial authorities using the configuration of the Muslim environment of Irkutsk (Siberia) as its real-life example. The research focuses on the position, religious practices, and views of Central Asian mullahs in the city of Irkutsk. Though they do not hold any official positions in the city mosque, they nevertheless play a considerable role in the construction of the religious everyday life of their fellow believers. AcknowledgmentsThis article is a product of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University) in 2022. The research was completed with additional support from the Orient-Institut Istanbul. The paper was translated from Russian into English by Ben McGarr.I would like to thank my colleagues who read different versions of this paper, attentively listened to me at various conferences, and gave their precious and useful advices. They are Sergei Abashin, Ekaterina Demintseva, Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov, Jesko Schmoller, Danis Garaev, Kristina Kovalskaya, Anna Kruglova, Anna Cieślewska, and Guzel Sabirova. I would also like to express my gratitude to all my interlocutors in Irkutsk and beyond who contributed their time, thoughts, and emotions.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. The Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Irkutsk Oblast, or “Baikalskii Muftiyat” (named after Asia’s largest lake, Baikal, located on the border between Irkutsk Oblast and the Republic of Buryatia), under the leadership of Farit – the Mufti and Imam of the Irkutsk Cathedral Mosque – was officially registered in 2006. The Baikal Muftiate was formed on the basis of the liquidated Baikal territorial subdivision (qadiyat/qazyat) of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Asian Part of Russia (abbreviated DUM AChR in Russian). One of the largest Muslim organizations in Russia, the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Asian Part of Russia was founded in 1997 under the leadership of Mufti Nafigulla Ashirov (Yemelianova Citation2022, 139). The process by which the Baikal Qazyat of the Muslims of Irkutsk Oblast separated from the DUM AChR (and the corresponding change of name) took place during 2005 and was prompted by a split in the congregation of the Irkutsk Cathedral Mosque, an attempt by a number of community activists to remove Farit Mingaleyev, the imam of the Irkutsk Mosque and simultaneously head of the Baikal Qazyat. In the confrontation between the two parties, the regional authorities took the side of the current Imam Farit. The Baikal Muftiate is now an independent regional organization, not subject to any of the all-Russian Muslim structures, including the Russian Council of Muftis (SMR).2. Imam Farit (born 1959), a Tatar, was born into a peasant family from Bashkortostan who had been dispossessed and exiled to Siberia’s Irkutsk Oblast. He worked as an engineer through the 1980s and ‘90s, only coming to Islam in adult life. In 1996–1997 he studied at Kazan’s Mukhammadiya madrasah. Since 2006 he has served as Mufti of the Baikal Muftiate. As imam, he is respected by many parishioners, despite many of them also noting his insufficient knowledge of Islam, proximity to the regional authorities, his excessive workload, and, accordingly, his inability to adequately carry out his duties as imam.3. Friday prayers. Jumu’ah-namaz is the term commonly used in Russian for the collective Friday prayer (Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿah). The term is composed of the Arabic jumu’ah and Persian namaz.4. In order to protect the anonymity of my informants, I do not give their names here, nor do I consider it necessary in this case to use pseudonyms.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Orient-Institut Istanbul; Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.