Akademik

   Political ideology. Plotting a path between the traditionalism of “old” Hanafi interpretations of Islam and “new” streams of thought such as Wahhabism, many Tatar and some Bashkir elites have embraced neo-Jadidism as a solution for the 21st century. Jadidism, from the Arabic usul ul-jadid, or “new method,” was a socioreligious movement that dominated Russian Islamic thought in the late tsarist era. Its proponents sought to reform sharia (Islamic law) through forward-looking interpretation (ijtihad) that accommodated the demands of modernity and stressed acquisition of knowledge from all sources, especially the West. Recognizing their position as a religious minority in the Russian Federation, neo-Jadidists see accommodation with their Russian Orthodox neighbors as necessary, while at the same time supporting a moderate Islamist political platform for the country’s 20 million Muslims. They often brand their movement as a political expression of “Euro-Islam” that can provide a desirable model for other countries with large Muslim minorities. Neo-Jadidists tend to be strongly nationalistic at the regional level and support neo-Eurasianism at the federal level.

   See also Tatarstan.