| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Tatarstan youth embracing Islam |
| 2005-08-30 |
| The clothing store across from the mosque features torn blue jeans, feather boas and brightly colored button-down shirts. But for customers who want the latest look, it also offers headscarves, veils and ankle-length tunics. In Tatarstan, more and more young people are switching from Western-style dress to Muslim attire. More than just a fashion, the trend reflects a surging interest in Islam among the youth of this largely Muslim region. "Young people are looking for something more, something deeper than just discotheques, alcohol and sex," said the shop's 22-year-old clerk, Elizha, who was dressed in a tightly wrapped blue headscarf and a black jacket and skirt. She said many young Tatars -- who trace their lineage to the feared Mongol hordes that raced across Russia in the 12th and 13th centuries -- wear headscarves or some sort of Muslim clothing. The growing demand for Muslim clothing has enabled store owner Ildar Gubaydullin to open two shops in Tatarstan's capital in the past two months. But on the streets of Kazan, whose skyline is a mix of new Russian architecture, Soviet-era apartment blocks, Russian Orthodox church cupolas and mosque minarets, the trend is not immediately apparent. Orthodox Christian Russians are the second-largest ethnic group in Tatarstan, and very few people on a Thursday afternoon were dressed in anything resembling Islamic clothing. Still, two teenagers in headscarves, long shirts and ankle-length dresses strolling near one of Kazan's numerous universities said many young Tatars were turning to Islam. Many still wear blue jeans, but headscarves are commonplace. "It's everywhere now in universities, in schools," said Dzhamila, 18, who like Elizha did not want to give her last name. Pavel Chikov, a 27-year-old rights activist, said the interest in Islam was a new phenomenon -- within the past four years -- that is reflected not only in clothing, but also in demand for food prepared according to Islamic dietary rules, called halal. "It's a natural process. No one is forcing this on us," he said. Tatars tend to be moderate Muslims, and the region has had little of the religious tensions or extremist tendencies seen in other Muslim regions. Raphael Khakimov, a political adviser to President Mintimer Shaimiyev, noted that just a handful of Tatars traveled to Chechnya to fight with Islamic separatists during the first war there. There are no hard numbers on how fast Tatars are turning to Islam, but the religion has clearly become more visible in public life. The towering Qol Sharif mosque was rededicated in June. Russian Islamic University -- the country's first -- was opened five years ago. Khakimov said that since the Soviet collapse, nearly three dozen Islamic religious schools, called madrassas, have been built in Tatarstan, and many are tied to Russian Islamic University and its mainstream pedagogy. Tatars practice a particularly liberal form of Islam -- "Euro Islam" he calls it -- which views the religion as a personal, individual belief where men and women are considered equal. "For us, Saudi Arabia is very, very far away. What can we take from them?" he said. Ilgiz Shigoballin, a 22-year-old assistant imam at the Nurallah mosque across the street from Gubaydullin's store, said Friday services were now overflowing, with most of the interest coming from college-age and younger men and women. "Young people are sick of having empty lives," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Let's keep those gas prices going up! The higher they go, the lower they'll fall. The more money we give them, the more the Islamist financiers will grow dependent upon it. When the cost of gas gets too high, motorist will start to reduce demand. Really, how many of us need an F-350 to drive to work? What happens then is the demand goes down and the revenue for the Arab terror financers drys up. They also will have a lot of angry constituents at home who feel entitled to their cut--they're going to be pissed when the tap is turned off. Hopefully, the current prices will be sustained long enough to cause us to begin to really begin to use substitutes for Islamic oil. |
| Posted by: Ulomomble Ebberesh6337 2005-08-30 22:39 |
| #5 Tatars practice a particularly liberal form of Islam -- "Euro Islam" he calls it -- which views the religion as a personal, individual belief where men and women are considered equal. That doesn't sound too bad. I hope it catches on in Europe. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-08-30 15:31 |
| #4 I remember an article about Tatarstan a couple months ago on RB. I am still surprised that the cloven hoof of islam reached that far north. Kazan is well to the north of such Russian cities as |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-30 09:28 |
| #3 Tatarstan is about 250 miles south-east of Moscow. The capital is Kazan on the Volga river. Another major city is Naberezhnye Chelny. If you think Chechnya is a problem, wait until the Tatars are Islamified. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-08-30 08:58 |
| #2 Tatarstan. Is this of home of tartar sauce or tator-tots? |
| Posted by: Scott R 2005-08-30 08:12 |
| #1 Hmmm...Wahabis treat ibn-Tamiyyah's defense of Islam against the Tatars as a jihad model. Just how long can Tatars resist Wahabi money - gouged from Western motorists - and remain "liberal"? Not long. The Saudi terrorist entity needs to be destroyed, and their Wahabi clergy with them. |
| Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler 2005-08-30 00:50 |