The furor caused by Rasul Tavdiryakov’s comments on the case of Aslambek Ezhaev seemed to have died down by the end of last week. At least there is a feeling that the initiator of the whole story is now more interested in maintaining interest in it, while those whom he provoked into a strong reaction have, fortunately, already moved on to other topics. However, there is one issue that has come up in this discussion that we cannot ignore. And not just because it concerns us, but because of its objective importance for the Russian Muslim community.
For example, one commentator defending Tavdiryakov made the following point: «Many of those who are now actively writing in social networks in defense of Ezhaev are abroad or writing from ‘fake’ accounts under names like Ibn Fulan Abu Fulan, and do not understand that this is such a dangerous issue that no public figure in Russia can have any influence on it. And those who give ‘orders’ from afar are safe and comfortable!» …Tavdiryakov’s article was rudely written, especially the last paragraphs, but it neutralized the ‘orders’ coming from abroad, calling for the defense of our brother Ezhaev, whom no one can help but Allah.
In general, I have seen similar comments many times, especially on our website, claiming that it is easy for those abroad to write such bold articles and incite a wave, knowing that they will not face any consequences. So let’s talk about it openly.
First of all, who are these mysterious «foreigners» and where do they come from? Perhaps, over the years, a new generation of Muslims has emerged who, due to their age or recent arrival in Russia, have recently become actively involved in Islamic life without having experienced this history. That is why they can be intimidated by these mysterious «foreigners», who seem to have appeared out of nowhere, but it is clear that they are stirring up a wave from afar, pursuing their obscure goals, or even working for those who want to destabilize the situation in the country, and so on.
However, everyone involved in Islamic life in Russia has long been aware that these so-called «abroad» individuals are none other than active Russian Muslims who have been forced to leave their country in recent years due to repression against them. Among these «abroad» individuals are well-known imams, preachers, Islamic students, journalists, human rights activists, public figures, publishers, philanthropic businessmen, etc. The total number of these «abroad» Muslims is already in the thousands, including dozens of well-known names who until recently were at the forefront of Muslim religious and public life in Russia. It is not necessary to list them all, especially since many of them either do not want to disclose their location or are in an intermediate position, such as living permanently abroad but visiting Russia periodically. But either way, the fact is that there are many such people among the general mass of active and known Russian Muslims, and most likely there will be more of them as time goes on, because even many of those who distance themselves from the «abroad» individuals today may find themselves among them tomorrow and consider or have considered this possibility.
Is this a new phenomenon in the history of Muslims in Russia? No, waves of Muslim emigration have occurred many times before. Often they were regional and connected with the conquest of certain Muslim lands and their annexation to Russia. However, since the late 19th century, there have been several waves of emigration that can be considered the emigration of Russian Muslims themselves, i.e., Muslims from territories that had long been part of Russia and were not fleeing from its annexation. At the end of the 19th century, Muslims from the Volga region began to leave due to new restrictions in state religious policy. This wave reached its peak in the early 20th century against the backdrop of rising chauvinist sentiments in Russia, on the one hand, and the solidarity of active Muslims in Russia with the Ottoman Caliphate, on the other. All in all, this can be considered a wave of Muslim emigration from Russia that preceded the post-revolutionary wave caused by the Communists’ rise to power.
During the decades of communist rule, it was almost impossible for Muslims to emigrate from the USSR, and after the collapse of communism in the 1990s, there was no need to do so. Therefore, for late Soviet and post-Soviet Muslims, Muslim emigration was a novelty. The exception was the exodus of refugees from Chechnya as a result of the war, but this wave repeated the history of Muslim exoduses from certain regions during their annexation by Russia. For Muslims in the rest of Russia, the 1990s and early 2000s were a time of unprecedented religious freedom, which they actively used.
A new wave of Muslim emigration from Russia began in the late 2000s and has been growing ever since. If Muslims left before the revolution because of Orthodox chauvinism and afterward because of communism and the Soviet regime, with Putin’s consolidation of power Orthodox chauvinism merged with revived Sovietism and the return of the Chekists to power. One of the first victims was the Islamic community in Russia. However, these repressions do not stop at Muslims alone, but gradually encompass other religious and various political groups, as was the case during the Soviet era, especially under Stalin. As a result, after two decades of Vladimir Putin’s rule, more people have left Russia than in the first years after the Communists came to power. Moreover, for the first time in many decades, Muslim emigration from Russia has resurfaced, both from specific regions where Muslims fled to avoid Russian rule (such as Chechnya during two wars or Crimea after 2014) and on an all-Russian scale, similar to what was described above.
Therefore, if we want to understand who these «abroad» people are, we should ask ourselves whether it is at all normal that a new wave of Muslim emigration has emerged in Russia, and that many people who did not plan to leave and were conducting their activities within the legal framework, trying to use the religious and political rights that emerged after the fall of communism, have become part of it.
Another uncomfortable question that needs to be answered is why some active Muslims in Russia had to go «abroad» to avoid being killed or imprisoned for their activities, while others managed to avoid this fate. Of course, it would be wrong to give a general answer, and there are certainly brave individuals who, by the grace of Allah, manage to remain free in Russia without compromising their principles. But let’s be honest — they are the exception rather than the rule. The rule is that those who accepted the rules of the game established in Russia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries stayed, while those who did not want to or could not accept them became victims of repression or left to avoid becoming victims. This is what is discussed in Rasul Tavdiryakov’s controversial article, the strength of which lies in its frankness.
Is it easy for those «abroad» to say what they say compared to those who chose to stay in Putin’s Russia and accepted its rules of the game? Yes, it is easier for them to speak than for the remaining individuals. However, these ‘abroad’ people are not millionaires who can afford to live anywhere and do anything. They all had their professions in Russia, many of them quite promising. They had to give it all up, find themselves in uncertainty, and rebuild their lives from scratch, often struggling to survive with a lower level of income and opportunities. Not to mention, they had to leave their homes, relatives and friends. Many did not even get to say a final goodbye to their dying loved ones, and those who did often paid a high price.
Not all of those who wanted to go «abroad» were able to do so, as some were forced to return because they could not or would not endure the sacrifices involved. In fact, in recent years there have been two well-known cases of reprisals against prominent representatives of Russian Muslims related to this situation.
Are those «abroad» safer than those who stayed in Russia? Only in the sense that they cannot be searched or arrested at any moment, unlike those who speak out or post. However, in terms of overall safety, it is not accurate to say that they are completely safe. Many of them have had to move several times, including the editor-in-chief of our website, who had to leave Turkey again with his family after pressure from Russian security services on Turkish authorities forced him to do so. There are numerous examples of the security concerns of «expatriates» in Europe, let alone Turkey. That’s why not all «abroad» people dare to say what they think, and some even forbid themselves to think such things for fear of having said too much in the past and being reminded of it.
Therefore, if we assess the situation realistically, we will see that those who became «abroad» are Russian Muslims who did not want to or could not fit into the reality of Putinism, similar to a significant part of the rest of Russian society. Yes, the problem for these individuals is that they are physically isolated from the majority of Russian Muslims who remain, so their appeals or advice are not always perceived as adequate. On the other hand, it must be understood that those who are allowed to express themselves in Russia can do so only within a very narrow corridor. Therefore, the most conscientious people simply keep quiet so as not to say anything that contradicts their principles, while those who lack the courage even for that distance themselves from the «foreign» and other «unreliable» people for fear that their past statements will be used against them.
So, is it normal that the remaining individuals are unable to say what needs to be said, while those who have purchased the ability to speak at a high price are labeled in order to discourage people from listening to them? What should be done in such a situation — should we strive for silence like the remaining individuals, or should we strive for a situation where one does not have to go «abroad» to have the ability to speak?