According to his words, the reasons of accepting Islam by Russians are „looking for
God” or image of Islam as the revolutionary political movement directed on radical
transformation of a society. That’s why they bring more problems to the organization
then public benefits for ummah. Therefore, the non-practicing Moslems have to be the
main objects for the Islamic proselytism in Russia.
Russia is a multinational and multiconfessional country, and religious problems
were always crossed with political and social contradictions. All revolts against the
central power in XV or in XXI century had religious aspect. That’s why the state always
tried to maintain the interreligious peace in the country. Now the political elite of the
Russian Federation has no strategy of a religious policy, as there is a set of contradictions
between the state and the main religious traditions – Orthodox Christianity and
Sunni Islam.
Now we can say that the only problems between two of three researched organizations
are resolved: the state and ROC. The relations between the state and Islam, and
also Islam and Orthodoxy remain very difficult. These problems are extremely difficult
to resolve within the limits of the liberal political system assuming secularism, equality
between the religions and the equidistance of the state from all the religious organizations.
Unfortunately, the state doesn’t attend to the problem of the relations with
Islam, operating within the limits of the developed European and American concepts
of multiculturalism and tolerances. It causes, on one hand, a negative reaction of the
majority of the population of Russia and on another – it forces significant figures of
Moslems to go underground.
From our point of view, it is necessary to develop our own Russian concept of the
interreligious peace, where the state should be a mediator between Islam and Orthodox
Christianity, offer a number of the agreements, regulate mutual relations between
the main religions. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention on mutual proselytism
in Christianity and Islam as well as to criticize or even restrict the appointment of converts
to the significant posts. The practice of interreligious conferences and dialogues
where the religious leaders develop joint decisions on moral and social problems have
to be borrowed from other countries. In case of insufficient attention of the authorities
to the problems of interreligious relations Islam and Orthodox Christianity can become
the subject of political opposition like it has already happened all over the world
and lead the country up to its disintegration.