[Download] "Competing Islamic Traditions in the Caucasus (Report)" by Caucasian Review of International Affairs # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

May 10, 2021

eBook details

Title: Competing Islamic Traditions in the Caucasus (Report)
Author : Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Release Date : January 01, 2009
Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
Pages : * pages
Size : 71 KB

Description

The Problems of the Sufi-Wahhabi Discourse It is a common over-simplification to view post-Soviet Islam in the framework of a dichotomy between an age-old "traditional" Islam and the so-called "Wahhabism". Such a perspective consists of an opposition between the "liberal", "tolerant" Islam, espoused mainly by Sufism, and the "integrist", "backward", "terrorist" fundamentalism that poses a serious threat to the already unstable social and political situation in the Caucasus. Such labels, constantly employed by journalists, political analysts, and scholars are misleading for a number of reasons. Firstly, they imply homogeneity inside each of these groups, while even only Sufism embraces a diverse range of brotherhoods, spiritual practices, or political stances. Then, the historical developments such as the Sufi inspirations of the Chechen resistance movement to Russia's colonization in the nineteenth century are being ignored. Moreover, this view, supported by official authorities in the North Caucasian republics, does not take into consideration other groups of Muslims, one of them being the reform-oriented Chechens inspired by the global Islamic movements, who are far from engaging in terrorist activities. Classified as Wahhabists, they have been forced either to emigrate from Chechnya or to conceal their real identity. Lastly, there are Sunni Muslims who neither support the reformists nor practice Sufi rituals. These sorts of empirical cases are evidence of the ambivalence which question the sharp division between "traditional" and "Wahhabi" Islam.