Hotmail  |  Gmail  |  Yahoo  |  Justice Mail
powered by Google
WWW http://www.JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com

Add JFNC Google Bar Button to your Browser Google Bar Group  
 
 
Welcome To Justice For North Caucasus Group

Log in to your account at Justice For North Caucasus eMail system.

Request your eMail address

eMaill a Friend About This Site.

Google Translation

 

 

Window On Eurasia: Russia Owes Its Greatness To The Golden Horde, Gainutdin Says

posted by eagle on September, 2009 as ANALYSIS / OPINION


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Window on Eurasia: Russia Owes Its Greatness to the Golden Horde, Gainutdin Says

Paul Goble

Vienna, September 28 – Ravil Gainutdin, the head of the Union of Muftis of Russia (SMR), has touched off a firestorm by his comments about the role of Islam in the past and future of Russia, a reminder if one is needed of how sensitive almost all historical events are in that country and how closely they are bound up with current assessments of the future.
Speaking to a Moscow conference on “Russia and the Islamic World: A Partnership in the Name of Stability” last Thursday, Gainutdin first developed the oft-cited observation of Russian historian M.N. Karamzin that “Moscow owes its greatness to the khans” of the Golden Horde” (www.blagovest-info.ru/index.php?ss=2&s=3&id=29888).
The Moscow mufti added that this “assessment” applies to Russia as a whole because “the first massive state unification of Russian Orthodox and Turkic Muslim peoples took place in the 13-14th centuries within the borders of the Golden Horde, when thanks to the political will of [its] khans the assembling of the divided Russian principalities around Moscow began.” 
Arguing that the nature of this origin of the Russian state underscores the importance of Islam within the Russian state and society in the past, Gainutdin then argued that Islam is fated to play an even greater role in that country and its place in the world now and in the immediate future. 
Gainutdin cited the words of the Tatar writer, editor, and philosopher Ismail-bey Gasprinsky (1851-1914) that “in the perhaps not distant future, Russia is fated to become one of the remarkable Muslim states,” a development Gasprinsky said “will do little to lessen its significance as a great Christian power.”
Today, the SMR chief said, “we all can testify how true this prophecy has turned out to be: present-day Russia, if one takes into consideration the dynamics of the development of its Muslim community is in fact a significant Muslim country” and therefore it is entirely appropriate that the Organization of the Islamic Conference will soon include it as a member.
Not surprisingly, Gainutdin’s remarks quickly became the focus of criticism. Archmonk Filipp, the deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s External Affairs Department, said that while some historians give a “positive” assessment of the role of the Golden Horde on Russian historical development, he does not (www.blagovest-info.ru/index.php?ss=2&s=3&id=29883).
If the Horde had played such a positive role, Filipp continued, “and the Russian principalities had felt themselves completely satisfied within the framework of this state formation, they would not have led the national struggle for liberation from the yoke of the Golden Horde.”
Igor Froyanov, a history professor at St. Petersburg University, was even more critical, pointing on that “the influence of the Mongol-Tatar yoke was chiefly negative” and that “a powerful and united Russian state arose not thanks to the Golden Horde but in spite of it” and in the struggle against it (www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=185106). 
But the most thoroughgoing and in many ways most interesting critical comments came from the Institute of Oriental Studies which released a statement on Gainutdin’s argument and from another mufti who asked some pointed questions about what the SMR chief may have thought he was doing in making these remarks.
According to the Institute, Gainutdin’s line of argument reflects “Eurasianist ideas” which were “first formulated by a group of Russian émigré historians in the 1920s and which are extremely popular now among part of Russian Muslims” – and the institute could have added among some nationalists, like Aleksandr Dugin, as well (www.ia-centr.ru/expert/5964/).
In the Eurasianist conception, there has been “an historical succession of great continental powers of the medieval period – the Turkic khanate, the Mongol empire and the Russian empire ‘which objectively have handed off to one another the function of the assembly of peoples in common borders.”
And from this it follows, the Institute declaration continued, that “the Russian Empire, the USSR, and the Russian Federation act as heirs ‘to the unifying mission of the previous ‘super-powers’ of Eurasia, in the first instance of the Golden Horde,’” rather than as states with their own self-definition.
But while Russia’s ties to the Horde did “enrich Russian culture” and in no way should be rejected as entirely bad, the Institute concluded, at the same time, no one should forget “the negative consequences” of the Mongol conquest of the 13th century, against which Russians struggled as they build their own state around Moscow.
Gainutdin’s argument was criticized from another direction by Mufti Mukhammedgali Khuzin of Perm. He told Interfax-Religion that in his view, the SMR chief’s statements “do not correspond to historical truth” and represent a potentially dangerous comment in the current context (www.interfax-religion.ru/islam/?act=news&div=32217).
The fact that the Golden Horde lasted “no more than three centuries,” Khuzin continued, not only testified to the internal political and economic “contradictions” within it but also suggests that it was a far less important state formation either for itself or for others than Gainutdin claims.
Moreover, the Perm mufti said, “the degradation of the khan’s powers which took place at the twilight of the Horde’s existence in no way could make possible the development, flowering and unification of a Russian state which was completely dependent on it.” Thus, the Horde’s role in Russian history should not be exaggerated.
Khuzin said he found difficult to understand why Mufti Gainutdin had chosen to make “such a declaration,” with its potential to divide, given that “the government of Russia, the heads of the traditional religions and the Russian people itself are [currently] striving toward peace and an all-sided strengthening of inter-national and inter-religious relations.”

comments (0)


1 - 1 of 1

Post comment

Your name*

Email address*

Url

Comments*

Verification code*







 RSS FEED


New Posts



Search Analysis Opinion



ANALYSIS / OPINION



Archive


 december 2013

 november 2013

 october 2013

 september 2013

 august 2013

 july 2013

 june 2013

 may 2013

 april 2013

 march 2013

 february 2013

 december 2012

 august 2012

 july 2012

 april 2012

 march 2012

 february 2012

 july 2011

 june 2011

 may 2011

 april 2011

 march 2011

 february 2011

 january 2011

 december 2010

 november 2010

 october 2010

 september 2010

 august 2010

 july 2010

 june 2010

 may 2010

 april 2010

 march 2010

 february 2010

 january 2010

 december 2009

 november 2009

 october 2009

 september 2009

 august 2009

 july 2009

 june 2009

 may 2009

 april 2009

 march 2009

 february 2009

 january 2009

 december 2008

 november 2008

 october 2008

 august 2008

 july 2008

 may 2008

 february 2008

 december 2007

 november 2007

 october 2007

 september 2007

 august 2007

 july 2007

 june 2007

 may 2007

 april 2007

 march 2007

 february 2007

 january 2007

 december 2006

 november 2006

 october 2006

 september 2006

 august 2006

 july 2006

 june 2006

 may 2006

 april 2006

 march 2006

 february 2006

 january 2006

 december 2005

 november 2005

 october 2005

 september 2005

 august 2005

 july 2005

 june 2005

 may 2005

 april 2005

 april 2000

 february 2000



Acknowledgement: All available information and documents in "Justice For North Caucasus Group" is provided for the "fair use". There should be no intention for ill-usage of any sort of any published item for commercial purposes and in any way or form. JFNC is a nonprofit group and has no intentions for the distribution of information for commercial or advantageous gain. At the same time consideration is ascertained that all different visions, beliefs, presentations and opinions will be presented to visitors and readers of all message boards of this site. Providing, furnishing, posting and publishing the information of all sources is considered a right to freedom of opinion, speech, expression, and information while at the same time does not necessarily reflect, represent, constitute, or comprise the stand or the opinion of this group. If you have any concerns contact us directly at: eagle@JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com


Page Last Updated: {Site best Viewed in MS-IE 1024x768 or Greater}Copyright © 2005-2009 by Justice For North Caucasus ®