Last week of May a whole cascade of revolutionary events has fallen upon Moscow. All of them have happened on the first in the Russian history International Theological Conference "Islamic doctrine against radicalism" or immediately after it. This Conference has taken place on May 25-26 in Moscow hotel "Ritz-Carlton". 

Following the two-day work the Conference participants - the leading Muslim scholars of the Islamic world and the spiritual leaders of Russian Muslims have adopted the Moscow Theological Declaration of Muslim scholars on Jihad, the application of Shariah and the Caliphate. This theological document contains the theological conclusions that condemn radicalism, extremism and violence under religious slogans. 

By the unanimous decision the level of final theological document of the Conference was raised from the level of a single fatwa, considering private legal affairs of Muslims, to the level of Moscow Theological Declaration which unites the theological decisions on several key legal issues. This fact puts it in a number of such historical documents as Mecca Declaration, Amman Declaration, Cairo Declaration and several others.

The faces of event

The first revolutionary fact for Moscow and Russia was that first time after the USSR collapsed a fifty-odd of foreign Islamic scholars was officially invited to the country. The fact is that after two Chechen wars Russian media, political analysts and propagandists has created from Arabic and Turkish Muslim scholars, religious leaders and preachers an image of the enemy. 

They were blamed in firing and fueling the armed conflicts in the Northen Caucasus and were named the main persons responsible for the radicalization of Muslim youth in the region. That is why actually for years Russia has been completely closed for foreign religious activists, scholars and leaders. But this measure didn't help Russian government to stop the process of radicalization of Muslim youth in the Northen Caucasus. 

But the May Conference in Moscow first time in new history of Russia hosted a fifty-odd of Arabic Muslim scholars - and this was something revolutionary for the country. In total several hundred people - the largest international Islamic scholars from 23 countries of the Muslim world, thinkers and the recognized experts have gathered those days in Moscow. 

The conference, organized by International Center "al-Wasatya" (Kuwait), Scientific-Educational Center "al-Wasatya" (Russia) and the International Union for Muslim Scholars, was attended by the leading Islamic scholars of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, Albania, Switzerland, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and the Russian Muftis, representing the vast majority of the country.

Secretary General of the International Union of Muslim scholars, Dr. Ali Al-Karadaghi with Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Mufti Ravil Gaydutdin and ex-Mufti of Uzbekistan Muhammad Sadyk Muhammad Yusuf

Very significant was the participation in the event of such luminaries of Islamic theology worldwide, as the Secretary General of the International Union of Muslim scholars, Dr. Ali al-Karadaghi; the deputy Chairman of the International Union of Muslim scholars, Dr. Abdullah bin Bayyah; Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Muhammad Rashid al-Kabbani; Mufti of Oman Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamid al-Khalili; Tunisia's Religious Affairs Minister Dr.Nour-ud-Din al-Khadimi; Kuwaitian Undersecretary of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Dr. Adel Al- Falah; Secretary General of World organization on reciting Koran of World Islamic league by Abdulla ibn Ali Basfar; Head of the Sunni Religious Endowments (al-Awqaf) in Iraq Ahmad Abd al-Ghaffur al-Samarra'i and others.

Russian Muslim religious leaders on the event were represented by the heads of Muslim centralized spiritual boards - the Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Mufti Ravil Gaydutdin; the Chairman of the Coordination Centre of North Caucasus Muslims, Mufti Ismail Berdiyev; the Chairman of the Russian Association of Islamic Consent, Mufti Muhammad Rahimov; the deputy Chairman of the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims of Russia, Mufti Albir Krganov.

Result of the Conference

The second revolutionary fact for Russia was that the final document of the Conference named Moscow Theological Declaration of Muslim scholars on Jihad, the application of Shariah and the Caliphate was filled with references on Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim. The fact is that during all post-Soviet history of Muslim community of Russia exactly these Islamic thinkers were stamped by official Muftis of the country as the ideologists of Wahhabism and radicalism.

Till this moment the presence of recitations from Ibn Taymiyyah's and Ibn al-Qayyim's papers in any books and articles in some cases could be reason for prohibition of particular book or article by the Court as an extremist one. But this Conference has destroyed such practice of last years. Because during two days a half a hundred of Arabic Muslim scholars in the center of Moscow, literally a few steps away from Kremlin constantly cited these scholars as great Islamic thinkers of the past. 

As a result, the event participants announced the adoption of the theological conclusion condemning extremism and radicalism in the complex of symptoms, as well as condemning the use of self-serving political purposes of such terms as Jihad (diligence in the way of Islam), Takfir (the accusation of unbelief and leaving Islam) and the Caliphate (historical and theological concept of Islamic state).

According to experts it is the misinterpretation of these terms that leads to the radicalization of many Muslims around the world and the mistaken understanding that pushes many Muslims to armed struggle to establish an authoritarian political order under the religious banners. This factor is now at the heart of many conflicts in various parts of the Muslim world - from Russia's Northern Caucasus to Afghanistan and Somalia.

"The main advantage of this Declaration is that we don't only blame the Muslim youth in radicalism but we reveal the true reasons of this radicalization, - said Sheikh Ali al-Karadaghi after the Conference, - For instance we say about tyrannies in Arabic world, about aggressive Zionist and US policies in Muslim countries, about tortures and persecutions as main reasons of radicalization of Muslim youth". 

"This Declaration contains an appeal to the Muslim youth to come to dialogue, an appeal to the authorities to provide more freedom, an appeal to the religious organizations to be ready for renewing their methods and programs of activity, an appeal to Muftis not to give fatwas sitting at homes, - he said, - To gain the trust from youth we should ourselves go toward the youth and their demands"

As for importance of this meeting Dr. Adel al-Falah said that "this Conference has an enormous significance for Muslim community of Russia". "The final document of the Conference should be named as Declaration, or Explanation, - he said, - because it contains deep and fundamental explanation of Shariah principles concerning Jihad, Takfir and Caliphate. And about these principles there is an Ijmaa - a consensus of all Muslim scholars".