Religious Reformism And Jadidism In The Volga-Ural Region (Xix–Xx Centuries)

This article examines the phenomenon of religious reformism and Jadidism in the public thought of Muslims in the Volga-Ural region of Imperial Russia. The consideration of this phenomenon in domestic, Soviet and foreign historiography differs depending on the approaches of researchers due to its heterogeneous nature. The difference in approaches to this phenomenon is related to its various aspects, its multitude of dimensions, it's internal and external premises that affected its formation: religious reformatory discourse, formation of capitalistic relations, the emergence of Tatar bourgeoise and intellectual elite, germination and proliferation of enlightenment ideas, an attempt to revise the role of religion in the social life of people and deculturation of religious tradition, the rise of Salafi movements in Islamicate countries and reformatory ideas of Egyptians, Young Ottomans and Turks. It is noted that there are several prerequisites and factors for the formation of this phenomenon. The authors of this article suggest that Jadidism is a new social phenomenon that fuses inherently religio-philosophical settings of Islam supposing renewal of different spheres of society according to European patterns. Its denotation originates from usul al-Jadid (new method) in the system of Islamic education which supersedes and overlaps religious reformatory Islamic discourse. It strives for discourse in the name of national culture and the best practices of Russian and European cultures.