Мир ислама в общественно-культурном пространстве Москвы : опыт прошлого и современность

Мир ислама в общественно-культурном пространстве Москвы : опыт прошлого и современность

Asadullin F.

Muslim World in Public and Cultural Space of Moscow : the Past and Nowadays

Editor: Naumkin Vitaly

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Москва, 2015, 228 p.

The book deals with least known subject concerned with the investigation of the role and position of the Muslim civilization in the historical development and cultural transformation of the Russian capital. The work is carried out on the basis of retrospective analysis of the past of Moscow enabling the author to combine the medieval historical material with modern Moscow and Russian realities in a logical and consistent way. Declining the monolinear conceptions of Russian history often based on opposing Islam to other religious and cultural traditions of Russia, the author has for the first time used the pluralistic approach to the subject as the only possible and effective method of scientific inquiry. The Muslim component of the modern Moscow life as well as of many other world multinational megapolises such as New York, London or Paris influences all aspects and trends of urban reality including cultural, social and intellectual spheres. The book broadens both Russian and foreign experts’ conceptions of Islam itself and of the Islam culture being an integral part of the historical and spiritual heritage of the Russian multinational and multiconfessional state. Moreover this work helps to fill a major gap in historical scholarship concerning contemporary Moscow as the federal centre and its relations with Russia’s Muslim-majority regions and Muslim world in whole.