This article was originally published in Danish on July 1, 2022.
By Povl H. Riis-Knudsen
Following a request, I will attempt to briefly explain some aspects of Islam in Russia.
Russia has always been Europe’s bulwark against attacks from the east. Crucial in this regard was the Battle of Kulikovo Pole in 1380, where Russian forces prevented the Mongols and Tatars from advancing further into Western Europe. As a thank you for the latter, the Tatars plundered Moscow two years later, before they were finally pacified. However, this struggle has not always taken place on the battlefield. For many years, Russia was in fact a Mongol vassal state. Peace was bought through marriage, among other things – then you were no longer an enemy, but family. This policy of mixing has left deep genetic traces in the Russian (and Ukrainian) population, and this mixture has naturally become even more widespread as Russia advanced to the Pacific Ocean and subjugated Alaska. Perhaps it is a good dose of Mongolian genes that makes Russians what they are: a little more down-to-earth and skeptical of individualistic “ideas” than Western Europeans, frugal and incredibly resilient both in the face of ordinary adversity and in war.
Islam came with the Mongols and Tatars, and it is estimated that today approximately 12% of Russia’s population is Muslim. The core Muslim countries are the autonomous republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan around the bend in the Volga. These are moderate Muslims, and even in these two republics, one does not really feel that one is in a Muslim area. In addition, there are some of the republics in the Caucasus, where Chechnya is probably the best known due to the Americans’ attempts to install a North Caucasian caliphate in the area to weaken Russia. As we know, this did not succeed, but nowhere in Russia is the presence of Islam more noticeable than in Chechnya. When the muezzin calls to prayer, people leave their cars in the middle of the street and rush to the nearest mosque.
In Russia as a whole, Islam otherwise plays no role. Of course, there are mosques in all major cities and in some Muslim villages around the country, where one might not expect to find them. Russia is a Christian country with the Orthodox Church as a fundamental power factor. When it is sometimes claimed that only 0.5% go to church more than once a year, I honestly doubt it, but in this context, one must remember that the Orthodox Church is more than just a series of services. There are always people in an Orthodox church. They light candles, say prayers, kiss icons, etc. They may only be there for fifteen minutes, but they come regularly. The church is part of everyday life – not just on Sundays, when people also come and go during the service.
During the Soviet era, all religions were at times violently persecuted by the state, which had atheism as one of its fundamental principles. However, with the fall of Soviet power, this changed for all recognized religions, but it is precisely here that one sees the strength of the Orthodox Church in the speed with which it is trying to restore all that has been lost. but it should be noted that there are still many ruins of churches and monasteries waiting to be rebuilt. Often it is the priest himself who wields the trowel and lays the floor. Services are held in the ruins until he is finished. This would not be possible if the population did not rally around the church to a very large extent. The exception, of course, is the Americanized elite, the scum of the nation, but they are always the ones foreign journalists talk to.
Russian Muslims have been domesticated under communism. They can worship their god in peace, but apart from in Chechnya, I have only heard a single call to prayer, which surprised me. That was in Tobolsk in western Siberia. You don’t expect that there. Russian Muslims pose no threat of Islamization, and they have no influence on society as such. Nor do they make any demands in this or that regard. They can, of course, settle anywhere in the federation, but if they really want to live as Muslims, they can only do so to a limited extent in the autonomous republics. When I say to a limited extent, it is because no special consideration is given to religion. Alcohol is sold everywhere, and there is pork on the menu in every restaurant I have been to.
Russia’s problem with Islam comes from a completely different place: Central Asia, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union and whose citizens now have visa-free travel to Russia to work, which many people do because it is easier to earn money there. Taxi drivers in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, or Novosibirsk often come from the former Soviet republics, and the same goes for construction workers. I have just spent most of two months in Central Asia, and there are an incredible number of people who have worked in Russia for shorter or longer periods of time. “But home is still best!” as a taxi driver in Tajikistan said. You often read in the mainstream press that these countries need the money that foreign workers send home from Russia. Come on! These are not impoverished developing countries. These countries are basically all rich. They have raw materials and oil or gas in almost unlimited quantities and large agricultural areas. The states as such have enough money, which is often reflected in perhaps overambitious construction projects (which unfortunately do not always include roads!).
However, people do not have much money, and when you can earn twice as much in Russia, it makes sense to go there.
In Central Asia, however, Islam is a growing problem, at least in Kazakhstan, where around 30-35% of the population is still Russian or other Europeans, but very noticeable in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The three countries (along with Turkmenistan) share a common language with Turkey, and from there a violent Islamization process is spreading, not only in Central Asia, but also in the Balkans. Halal-certified restaurants are becoming more and more common the further south you go, and women’s clothing is also becoming more and more Muslim, although I have only seen less than a handful of veiled girls, and they may well have been tourists. Personally, I think girls in long dresses are prettier than girls in crop tops and hot pants. But none of this is a problem in itself, of course. There is no violence, arson, or any of the other phenomena we have come to associate with Islam. Such things would be severely punished, because the governments are very keen to keep militant Islamism out and maintain reasonably secular societies. This is good for the economy and tourism – and all these countries have a lot to offer in this respect – and it undeniably makes life more pleasant. An Islamic movement could ultimately trigger a civil war. People here are much wiser than those in Western Europe.
Tajikistan has a particular problem with Islam. It has a very long, impassable, and unguarded border with Afghanistan, with whom it also shares a language to a large extent. Tajikistan does not want Afghan conditions, and any attempt at Talibanism of any kind will be severely punished here as well. But it can hardly prevent them from entering the country – and from there perhaps continuing on to Russia. Like some of the Chechens, the Afghans feel they have something to avenge. Many Russians would like to see the visa exemption for citizens of the former Soviet Union abolished. “They are taking our jobs” is one of the arguments. Another, and probably more important, argument is the danger that among this group of otherwise decent people there may be some with evil intentions. The security service says that it prevents several terrorist acts every year. We do not know what their purpose would have been, of course, but most of the terrorism that has hit Russia has so far had its roots in Chechnya.
However, there are political reasons not to abolish visa-free travel. Russia wants to maintain a community with these countries, which were also Russian before they became Soviet. And this desire is mutual. It is Russia that steps in when civil war-like conditions break out in Kazakhstan – probably also encouraged by the US.
It is also Russia that tries to protect Tajikistan and Uzbekistan against unwanted guests from Afghanistan. They want to maintain their independence, and much is being done to remove the Russian language from public life, at least in Kazakhstan and most of all in Uzbekistan, where young people often do not understand Russian beyond the most basic level. But at the same time, they want to preserve the community that everyone shared until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Of course, they do not want communism back, but simply a certain sense of community. They thus curse the borders that Stalin drew, for example in the Fergana Valley or between Turkmenistan and the oasis where the well-preserved ancient city of Khiva is located. Especially in the densely populated and lush Fergana Valley, where Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan are completely intertwined—regardless of nationality—and where long new roads must be built to bypass each other’s territories, people want the old conditions back. If you are coming from the north of Kyrgyzstan and want to go to the southern city of Osh, you have to make an extra detour of about 130 km. And then there are the border controls. It took me five hours to get from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, which is definitely the worst country to enter by land. This is also unpopular with the population. And these Stalinist borders are apparently sacred, even though they tore historical entities apart and mixed peoples who do not belong together. The situation is the same in Ukraine. Ukraine has no historical borders, as it has hardly ever been an independent state before. There is a lot of potential for conflict here!
The post-Soviet Stan countries also have no real historical legitimacy, even though the areas naturally have a very long history as independent political entities with very changing borders. They just don’t have much to do with the current states.
Russia’s biggest problem, like that of the rest of Europe, is that its population is shrinking. In Uzbekistan, families have five or six children a year apart. This is something that will have an impact, and this population explosion will be decisive for future developments. In Europe, we are so busy with ourselves that we forget about the future and the bigger picture. The people who have many children are far richer than the people who have the highest gross national product! Once again, it is important to hunt down those who have promoted this negative development in the European nation states. Not surprisingly, it is often the usual culprits!
Danmarks Frihedsraad 