Modern Tendencies of Islam in Ukraine
Historically, Islam is an integral part of Ukrainian society. Muslim communities hold worthy positions among other religious tendencies. However, combat operations in the east and south part of the country as well as the occupation of Crimea became a real test for Ukrainian Muslims. Some of them have maintained pro-Ukrainian position in this conflict, and others have decided to go another way through smooth integration into the context of “Russian Islam”.
The history of Islam dates back to hundreds of years on the territory of Ukraine. Impression about the Muslims on the lands of Ukraine was created through the relationships of Ukrainians with other nationalities living on both territory of Ukraine and the neighboring countries. Historically, these relationships, at most, were strained and extremely difficult. For centuries, interstate conflicts were taking place between Ukrainian - Christians and Tatars-Muslims generally typical for all medieval states. This was due to the difficult relations with the southern neighbors having Islam religious. However, as the peaceful relationships with Muslim nations have been established Ukrainians’ view on Islam has gradually changed.
First references about Muslims date back to the IX-X centuries. It is remarkable to recall a legend about the “choice of faith” according to which Prince Vladimir was choosing one of the three religions, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is also worth noting that Ukrainian lands joined the Golden Horde as almost all of Central and Left-bank Ukraine were under the Islam influence.
During this period, mosques were being actively constructed, education networks were widely developed and relationships were established and strengthened with other regions such as Egypt, Persia, Central Asia and Volga1 which already had developed traditions of Muslim studying. However, flourishing of Muslim civilization on the territory of Ukraine was taking place during Crimean Khanate as a state where Islam was an official religion.
Crimean Khanate, established as a result of dissolution of the Golden Horde, had all hallmarks of statehood (territory, population, power). Crimean Khan covered the lands of the Peninsula and Northern Black Sea, Pryazovia and Kuban. Crimea is the very place being as a cradle of Islam in Ukraine spreading the mentioned religion both in the mainland and the neighboring countries. First mosques and madrassas were built in Ukraine followed by the first communities of believers.
It is worth noting that the development of Islam did not occur solely on the territory of Crimea, as the Islam was spread not only in the Black Sea coastal area and Pryazovia but locally in the West of Ukraine, namely in Ostrog, Lviv, Zhytomyr and Kamjanetz’-Podils’kiy. Ukrainian land has been one of the main targets for Tatar invasions. First of all, this is due to the location of the Crimean Khanate, which in its turn was a springboard for development of expansion deep into the Ukrainian and Russian lands. It is worth remembering that the Turkish colony existed outside the Crime border namely in Azov, Ochakiv, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi and Kamjanetz’-Podils’kyi.
Crimean Khanate was destroyed during the expansion of Russian Empire in XVIII century. By that time, there were at least 18 mosques in the capital of Khanate. In turn, Russian Empire forced 160.000 Crimean Tatars2 to leave Crimea. Islam has become a power for Volga and Crimean Tatars - representatives of Turkish speaking nations of Central Asia living in Ukraine that time - that helped to maintain them as a nation from assimilation. It is interesting that such tendency appeared in XX century too.
During the period of Soviet powers, namely by the end of 80s, Islam was considered to be an underground movement as the religious life of Muslims living in Ukraine was totally suppressed. According to the reports by the authorized people in religious issues, there was not a single Muslim community or the registered group of Muslims in Ukraine from the end of 40-s until the end of 80-s since the Soviet authorities did not consider organizations of Muslim believers3 necessary.
Nearly 190 000 Crimean Tatars were exiled from Crimea by Stalin’s order dated as of 18-20 May 1944. The number of deported Crimean Tatars exceeded 200 00 people totally. According to official figures, up to 25% of immigrants were died during deportation and the first years of deportation. Nearly 46% immigrants were killed, almost every second4 as per to the reports received on the base of nationwide survey conducted by the National Movement of the Crimean-Tatar People in 1960s. Crimean-Tatar Muslim communities formally stopped to exist after repressions and deportation of Crimean Tatars. However, Tatar communities from Volga-Ural regions functioned as an underground movement secretly conducting religious rites in the major cities of Ukraine.
Starting point of modern Ukrainian Islam can be considered 1989, time - when Supreme Soviet USSR made decision to condemn criminal deportation of Crimean Tatars and other nations allowing more than 200 000 people return to their historical homelands5.
Since 1991, as Ukraine is gaining its independence, Islam is in an absolutely new stage of development. Muslim believes were able to feely confess their faiths.
First Muslim communities restarted their activities in the early 90-s. No doubt, that Muslim organizations formed in 1991 (there were 14 Muslim communities registered on the territory of Ukraine after the Independence of Ukraine, 12 of them were located on the Crimean Peninsula, one in Kiev and one in Donetsk) could not function without prior fundamental preparation which required a long time. This, in turn, contradicts the official documents saying that there were not Islamic religious communities in Soviet Ukraine6.
After 1991, revival of Muslim religious life in Ukraine is due to two factors – the return of Crimean Tatars from deported places in the second half of 1980s and the free appearance of underground Muslim communities. Probably, the most active Muslim revival was on the Crimean Peninsula where Spiritual Directorate of Crimean Muslims was founded in 1991 (Qadiyat until 1994).
Firstly, Spiritual Administration of Crimean Muslims (Dukhovne Upravlinnya Musulman Krymu) on the territory of Ukraine appeared in Kiev (established in 1992); later on, Spiritual Center of Crimean Muslims (Dukhovnyi Centr Musulman Krymu) was founded in Donetsk in 1994. Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims (Dukhovne Upravlinnya Musulman Ukrainy) (SAUM) is one of the largest religious organizations of Islam in Ukraine headed by Lebanon nationality, Sheikh Ahmad Tamim. This spiritual administration refers to Khabashism movement of Islam.
Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims (SAUM) is quite influential organization standing/positioning as the main or central spiritual directorate for Ukrainian Muslims.
Last but not at least this is due to the fact that the mentioned spiritual administration is included in All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations presented (UCCRO) by the leaders of all major religious communities in Ukraine. Main goals of the organization as stated on official website are to join all efforts of churches and religious organizations for spiritual revival of Ukraine, ensure coordination of inter-church dialogue both in Ukraine and outside the country, participate in elaboration of regulations for governmental and confessional relations, carry out charitable complex projects.
Activities of the present organization have been criticized by many scholars and religious leaders for a lack of transparency and uncertainty, especially with regard to enrolment of members in their structure and low level of efficiency. Therefore, Sheikh Tamim is represented at most of the official meetings with the representatives of the authorities trying to represent all views and opinions of all Muslims documentary, although he has not legal right. As it is stated on the official website of the SAUM, the main source of the organization’s funding are donations from believers, “due to the vigorous activities” of the present movement.
It is worth noting that ethnic composition of the SAUM is quite varicolored consisting of Lebanese, Arabs, Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Dagestanians and other believers having Caucasian origin. Position of SAUM is very interesting with regard to the ongoing events in the East and South of Ukraine and “Revolution of Dignity”. As it is well known, mass media has criticized spiritual administration due to neutral or pro-Russian positions. In response to this, Sheikh Tamim has reiterated that he is actively involved in UCCRO and asserts the rights of true Muslims in this format and does not consider it necessary to use the Maidan platform. However, it is unlikely that such position may be acceptable for Ukrainian society and of course, Ukrainian Muslims in the first place. It is also unknown how efficiently this organization cares about those suffered from the military aggression by the Russian Federation.
Starting from 2007, process of revival of Islamic organizations has reached a new stage in Ukraine. A regional union of “Muftiate of Kyiv” (Kyivs`kyj Muftiyat) and Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims Ummah (Dukhovne Upravlinnya Musulman Ukrainy Ummah) was founded in 2007; later on, two more formations were established: Religious Administration of Ukrainian Muslims “The Unity” (“Yedineniye”) in (Makeevka) and Spiritual Center of Crimean Muslims (Dukhovnyi Centr Musulman Krymu).
Rinat Aysin is a leader of Religious Administration of Ukrainian Muslims “The Unity” (“Yedineniye”). Main goal of the organization is to unite Muslims of Ukraine and Russia. In the wake of the ongoing military operations in the east of Ukraine, Rinat Aysin has started to call himself a Mufti of DPR so called “Donetsk People’s Republic”. Moreover, having the status of Mufti of DPR, he held several important meetings with the leaders of Russian Islam; it is worth noting a meeting with Talgat Tajuddin- a Supreme Mufti of Central Muslim Spiritual Administration of Russia. Another interesting fact is that Rinat Aysin (as a Mufti of DPR) was one of those who signed notorious “Fatwa”7 at a “World Islamic Conference” in Grozny. As a result, it can be stated that the activities run by the Spiritual Administration “Unity” is openly pro-Russian.
Spiritual Center of Crimean Muslims (Dukhovnyi Centr Musulman Krymu) (SCCM) - has been established in 2010 as a result of conflict between Spiritual Administration of Crimean Muslims and Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims (SAUM). Tavrian Muftiate (Tavricheskiy Muftiyat) - was founded directly on the basis of SCCM headed by Ruslan Saitvaliev. Ayder Bulatov, the famous Crimean expert of Islamic studies thinks that renaming of the title will not change anything. In his opinion, namely the Head of SAUM – Lebanese Ahmed Tamim, who is the supporter of Khabashism has patronized SCCM.
“The core task of the newly established Muftiyat will be the crave for splitting Crimean Muslims and undermining the authority of SACM as the main Spiritual Administation of Crimean Tatars” – proves the Head of Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims “Ummah” Said Ismagilov8.
As a well-known scientist of Islamic studies in Ukraine Mykhaylo Yakubovych noted, in consequence of the removal from Mejlis, activities of which were actually curtailed in the Crimea and in fact, prohibited, SACM nowadays is considered to be as pro-Russian structure. Initially, Tavrian Muftiate was maintaining position as "the only relevant organization for Crimean Muslims." Now, however, the noted organization is actively integrating into the context of Russian Islam by playing with the local authorities.
Special attention should be paid to the Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims (SAUM) “Ummah”, which was founded in 2008 with the center in Kiev. The mentioned Spiritual Administration is headed by Mufti Said Ismagilov. SAUM “Ummah” recommended itself as pro-Ukraine oriented organization having participated in the “Revolution of Dignity” is actively engaged in volunteer and chaplain activities in Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone (ATO) and in difference with the other spiritual directorates uses Ukrainian as a main working language (the official newspaper “Ummah” is issued on Ukrainian language)9.
Mufti of (SAUM) “Ummah” appears in mass media more often than the other Islamic leaders of Ukraine. The characteristic of the noted Administration is the open pro-Ukrainian position and permanent activism, readiness for cooperation in the issues of interreligious dialogue, reconciliation. By working closely with other Muslim organizations the priorities of the mentioned Administration are the ideas of "moderation" in the frames of traditional Sunni Islam10.
Spiritual Administration “Ummah” is actively spreading and propagandizing ideas of integrating Muslims into the Ukrainian society on the principles of patriotism, tolerance and mutual respect. The representatives of SAUM “Ummah” are attending many events aimed at proving and spreading spiritual values. Among the latest events the Symposium held in the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv on 29.09.2016 and attended by the representatives of the above mentioned center is worth to note. The main theme of the symposium was the concept of family as the union between a man and a woman into the Christian and Islamic traditions.
Such initiatives are new for Ukrainian cultural-religious platform, so it is essential that Muslims of Ukraine are actively involved in spreading truthful views related to breaking social stereotypes.
Repeatedly SAUM “Ummah” was the main participant of the projects organized in Ukraine. It has a close cooperation with the organizations serving as a kind of "neutral platforms" for meeting of different religious organizations and confessions. In particular, it is noteworthy to mention the activity of the Center for Interconfessional and Interreligious Dialogue “Libertas” (Lviv) headed by Taras Dzubanskiy, who actively contributes to deepen and better aware Christian and Muslim traditions.
As per to January 1, 2014 624 registered and several hundred unregistered Muslim communities were active in Ukraine. Nowadays Donbass, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Zaporizhia except Crimea are considered to be the most Muslim Regions of Ukraine.
In the ethnic point of view the absolute majority of Muslims in Ukraine compose Crimean Tatars, also natives of Volga-Ural Region, Central Asia, Azerbaijan, North Caucasus, Turkey and Arabian countries. This in turn, demonstrates how different ethnic groups are, including Muslims living in Ukraine.
Muslims of Ukraine are not the followers of only one direction of Islam, while the majority of them are Sunni, there are also small communities of Shiites (mainly in Kyiv and Kharkiv) and Salafis. Salafis are of two directions: Madkhalists and Sururists. Madkhalists are distinguished with “selected” world views and enough radical understanding of religion. Especially it refers to the issues of authorities and relationship between citizens and authorities. The given movement in Ukraine is financed by private donations from Saudi Arabia.
In its turn, Sururists are more moderate and conservative Salafis. The Head of the given movement in Ukraine is the Sheikh Suleiman (Ilimdar Khairullaev). Supporters of this movement predominantly lived in Crimea, though after annexation of Crimea they moved to continental Ukraine. Crimean Tatars, natives of North Caucasus and Ukrainians converted to Islam are dominants among the ethnic groups. It should be stressed that today in Ukraine there is no serious and loud confrontation between the representatives of Salafis and Spiritual Directorates of Muslims of Ukraine, as Salafi communities are few and not so well organized to compete with SAUM or SAUM "Ummah".
Today in Ukraine there are many speculations on the existence of the famous political-religious organizations in the country, as: “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, “Jamaat-e-Islami” and the party “Muslim Brotherhood”. Though, if the representatives of one of these organizations have meetings in Ukraine, it can be considered as a specific case and not a tendency.
“Jamaat-e-Islami” is Islam political party founded in Pakistan. The given organization has not enough support, as in Ukraine there is no appreciable Pakistan influence among Muslims. The same can be said about the Egyptian party "Muslim Brotherhood”, but with regard to Egyptian community.
A bit different situation is with regard to Islam political party “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, the goal of which is the resumption of the Islamic way of life by establishing the Caliphate State. The ideology of the given party is also based on the revival of the Islamic way of life and the spread of Islam throughout the world. This organization has actively been developing in Crimea, but after annexation of Crimean Peninsula the office of “Hizb ut-Tahrir” moved to continental part of Ukraine by the reason that in Russia, as in some other countries the organization is prohibited as the extremist one. It is noteworthy to mention that even before annexation “Hizb ut-Tahrir” in Crimea was in strict confrontation with Mejlis of Crimean Tatar nation. The Head of information office “Hizb ut-Tahrir” in Ukraine is Fazil Amzaev.
The absolute priority for the Ukrainian Muslims became the preservation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The great part of Muslims lives in the occupied territories of Ukraine, thus, the war was the real test for them. It is notable that Muslims of Ukraine actively participated in the events of “Revolution of Dignity”. Large groups of Crimean Tatars and other Muslims including newly converted ones were taking part in ATO under the Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Guard and volunteer battalions, in particular: Battalion “Crimea”11 under Dnipro-1 and Separated Company “Crimea”. It is added with two Chechen Battalions: Dzhokhar Dudayev International Peacekeeping Battalion (Commander Adam Osmayev) and Sheikh Mansur International Peacekeeping Battalion. Muslim chaplains appeared first time within the period of independent Ukraine and they were involved in the Administration of Military Chaplains of Ukrainian Muslims established by SAUM “Ummah”.
In 2013-2016 SAUM “Ummah” took an active civil position reasonably contributing to consolidation of Ukrainian society, protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. It was the first and not the only one among Muslim associations of the country condemning the beating of students in November 2013 during the "Revolution of Dignity"12. Hundreds and thousands of Muslims were obliged to leave their homes due to occupation of Crimea and military operations ongoing in the East of Ukraine.
It should be stressed that the above mentioned events were evaluated and interpreted differently among Muslims. Some Muslim organizations stayed to be pro-Ukrainian and others integrated into the context of “Russian Islam” without effort. The situation in the Crimea significantly changed after the occupation of the Peninsula by Russian Federation. In March, 2015 Spiritual Administration of Crimean Muslims was “re-registered” as per to the Legislation of Russia and integrated in the structure of Russian Islam, notwithstanding the protests of many believers, namely those Muslims, who were forced to leave Crimea13.
Summing up, it should be emphasized that the intensity of spiritual-cultural, religious-political life and relevant statistics prove that there are densely places populated by Muslims in modern Ukraine, where Muslim historical-cultural traditions are being developed. This contributes to the fact that ethnic Ukrainians actively gain the knowledge of Islam and dispel myths and stereotypical opinions so often attributed to this religion.
Patriotic mood of Ukrainian Muslims might be influenced by the fact that the level of religious freedom is much higher in Ukraine than in Russia. According to various reports the average number of Muslims in Ukraine varies from 400000 up to 2 million people.
It is worth noting that many Ukrainian religious leaders, experts and scholars emphasize that values of Ukrainian Muslims are much closer to European values than of those living in Europe.
Roman Nazarenko.
Tilburg/Netherlands
Paragraphs.Online
1 Mykhaylo Yakubovych. Islam in Ukraine: History and the present time, Vinnytsia, “Nilan-LTD”, 2016, p.18. (In Ukrainian).
2 Islam and Muslims in Ukraine, from the appearance to present time // http://islam.in.ua/ua/tochka-zoru/islam-i-musulmani-v-ukrayini-vid-poyavi-do-sogodennya 03.10.2016 (In Ukrainian).
3 D. Shpak, Islam and Tatar opposition movement in the south of Ukraine in 1970-1980 years of the twentieth century.// Mykolaiv, 2008. p.236. (In Ukrainian).
4 Islam and Muslims in Ukraine, from the appearance to present time // http://islam.in.ua/ua/tochka-zoru/islam-i-musulmani-v-ukrayini-vid-poyavi-do-sogodennya 03.10.2016 (In Ukrainian).
5 Mykhaylo Yakubovych. Islam in Ukraine: History and the present time p.218. (In Ukrainian).
6 Islam in the context of national revival Turkic peoples of Ukraine // Rybachuk M.F, Utkin O.I, Kyryushko M.I.National Revival and religion, 1995, p.197. (In Ukrainian).
7 Islamic Conference named as “Who are they – followers of Sunnah?” was held in the capital of Chechnya on August 25-27. Fatwa was issued to identify “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, “Muslim Brothehood”, “Islamic State”, Khabashizm, Madkhalists, Salafis and Wahhabi as extremist Islam and recognize the “True Muslim” only followers/supports of Sufism Tariqa.
8 Crimean Habashites, changed the signboard // http://islam.in.ua/ru/novosti-v-strane/krymskie-habashity-pomenyali-vyvesku (In Russian).
9 Mykhaylo Yakubovych. Islam in Ukraine: History and the present time p.225. (In Ukrainian).
10 Ibid, p.225.
11 Ibid, p.227.
12"Where the Muslim Ummah of Ukraine are going to move after Russian aggression?"//http://risu.org.ua/ru/index/monitoring/society_digest/64134 04.10.2016 (In Russian).
13 Mykhaylo Yakubovych. Islam in Ukraine: History and the present time p.220. (In Ukrainian).
14 Islam and civil society in times of trial. Analytic report edited by Bogomolov V.O., A.Yu. Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies, The National Academy the Science of Ukraine, 2015. – p.3. (In Ukrainian).
Roman Nazarenko
