One «hype» on the Muslim issue, caused by Ravil Gainutdin’s statement about the presence of 4 million Muslims in Moscow, had not yet died down when another one appeared.
Yesterday, many media spread the statement of the Mufti of Moscow, Ildar Alyautdinov, calling for the legalization of polygamy. However, fact-checking or verification of information raises the question of whether he made this call yesterday or in 2015, which is the date attributed to the first news about it on the Internet.
It is important to understand that there is a phenomenon in today’s information space where the same news is repeated several times over the course of several years. This was the case, for example, with the mythical ban on Islam in Angola, which we have heard about many times and will probably hear again as «news». There are other examples of this kind.
From our side, we did not even try to find out if Ildar-Khazrat made this statement yesterday or if somebody somehow threw his four-year-old statement into the media. And in general, we do not want to discuss his words, because such intense attention to one person lately can create a completely false impression that we have somehow rallied against him, but rather the methods by which the Islamic presence is simulated in the information field of the Russian Federation.
Any sincere Muslim would be happy if the demands of the muftis that create «hype» and Islamophobia, such as the construction of mosques in all areas of Moscow or the legalization of polygamy, were implemented. However, we all understand very well that in the current realities the probability of their implementation is about the same as the calls for the greening of the moon. In these harsh realities, Muslims face completely different problems, such as when even the few existing Imams are persecuted for preaching what they consider necessary rather than what the authorities demand of them, as was the case with Imam Mahmoud Velitov.
Or when they are arrested and brought to court with their hands tied, defending these imams or protecting mosques from demolition, as is happening with Dagir Khasavov. Or when they break into homes, beat and torture laureates of state awards for their participation in charity activities, as was the case with Kemal Tambiev. And all this, it should be noted, happens only in the Moscow region, not to mention the case of Abdulmumin Gadzhiev in Dagestan and many other things in other regions.
Is it really relevant to draw the attention of society and the media to the issue of polygamy and to join this hype? And what do we hope to achieve? Sharia courts that have jurisdiction over cases involving Muslims’ voluntary involvement in family matters (marriage, inheritance, etc.)? If so, then it is necessary to say so, because otherwise it will mean that we want disputes among Muslims in such marriages to be considered by a judge from some Basman court. Is that what we really want?
Talking about when these issues are resolved in the «gray area» without the recognition and involvement of the state, Sharia norms are not fully observed, and someone’s rights suffer, seems inconsistent to say the least. For the same can be said of many other aspects of a Muslim’s life in a non-Sharia society, where attempts to adhere to Sharia in their personal, family and, at best, community life are limited to the frameworks set by a non-Muslim society to which they must adapt or try to circumvent, sacrificing something in the process. So why is so much attention being paid to the issue of polygamy?
Again, we want to emphasize that our questions are not directed at any particular person who may have made a similar statement in the past. We are talking about the media that spread such statements (Alyautdinov’s cautious support for Khasavov and Gadzhiev received much less coverage) and social networks that pick them up.
Why is this happening? Because Muslims are interesting in the information space only as a target of «hype». And why do we need this? Perhaps, instead of creating «hype» at our own expense, we will begin to form and implement our own agenda of information presence, which will include urgent issues for us. Ending political and religious repression, banning books, ensuring freedom of belief, speech, assembly, public and religious associations, fair and competitive elections, local self-government, real electoral accountability for the heads and parliaments of the republics, true federalism — these are the things that should really concern us in the specific realities of this specific country and that should be covered in the media about us.
And when all this is implemented, then we can discuss the recognition of polygamy and the recognition of other aspects of Sharia within a special legal and judicial jurisdiction. But at the moment we are far from that.