The Russian Federation, boasting the world’s largest territory in the world, has a population of approximately 146 million. Islam ranks as the second largest religion in Russia after Christianity, with over 25 million Muslims residing in the country. The Russian Federation is a multinational, multicultural, and multi-religious country, encompassing about 160 ethnic groups. The vast majority of Muslims are indigenous peoples who have been living in these lands for centuries. Today, the Russian Constitution lists Islam as one of the traditional religions of the country.
The Russian Federation holds observer membership status within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and is a major participant in the Eurasian Islamic Council, the largest international organization of the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Türkiye.
Notably, there isn’t a singular representative body for Muslims in the Russian Federation. Instead, Religious Administrations function as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The heads of religious organizations, regional muftis, and leaders of central religious administrations are elected by their respective members and officially registered with the appropriate state department. The state collaborates with and indirectly aids religious administrations and Muslim communities through various governmental organs.
History of Islam
Islam made its way to the territory of the presentday Russian Federation through various routes and regions. Notably, the city of Derbent in the Republic of Dagestan stands as one of the earliest places where the divine message of Islam was embraced. In the year 2023, the country commemorated the 1380th anniversary of the acceptance of Islam in Derbent. The historical city boasts 40 tombs of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), along with the oldest mosque in the country, the Juma Mosque, which continues to hold significant cultural and religious importance to this day.
The most important event regarding the mass acceptance of Islam is the voluntary adoption of Islam as the official state religion by the Volga Bulgarian state. Following the envoy sent by Khan of Volga Bulgarian, Almis Khan, to the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir- Billah, expressing a desire to embrace Islam, the conversion occurred in 922 with the arrival of a delegation led by the renowned traveler Ibn Fadlan, who served as an advisor and secretary, in Bolghar. In this respect, Volga Bulgaria was recorded as the first Muslim-Turkic state to accept Islam as the official state religion.
These Muslims, who experienced a period of stagnation following the collapse of the Volga Bulgarian State in the historical process and the disappearance of the Khanate of Kazan in the region subsequent to the collapse of the Golden Horde, underwent a second scientific and intellectual revival after Catherine II restored some of their rights. While Muslims in Russia enjoyed one of the most prosperous periods in their history, they were detrimentally impacted by the Soviet Union era that commenced with the Bolshevik Revolution, just like members of other religions.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, religions began to reclaim their freedom in the country. The concentration of Muslims in the Volga- Ural region made significant contributions to both Tsarist Russia and the modern Russian Federation. The fact that Volga Bulgaria voluntarily accepted Islam as the official state religion has been commemorated by Muslims with various events in Bolghar since 1989. These events have progressively grown in scale and participation each year, evolving into a festival for Muslims. In 2022, the state celebrated the 1100th anniversary of Islam’s acceptance throughout the country for a year.
Activities of the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Türkiye
Especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Presidency of Religious Affairs began to support the needs of its fellow believers and coreligionists in these regions, sharing its experience with them in accordance with their requests. Within this framework, it has cooperated with local religious administrations recognized by the state in the Russian Federation. The Religious Services Consultancy of the Presidency of Religious Affairs has been conducting its activities since 1993.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, alongside the exchange of students, the printing of basic religious publications, the deployment of religious officials, support for various construction projects, training programs for local religious officials, and the facilitation of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha activities, more significant cooperation between the two countries in the religious field began to emerge.
One of the most important steps in the religious diplomacy between Türkiye and the Russian Federation is the construction of the Moscow Central Mosque. Following the decision to rebuild the mosque in Moscow, Ravil Gaynutdin, President of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Russia Mufties Council, paid an official visit to Ankara in 2010. During his visit, Gaynutdin met with the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the project was presented to Erdogan. After the meeting, a protocol was signed for all interior works of the Moscow Central Mosque to be carried out by the Presidency of Religious Affairs and the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation. The project and implementation phase lasted almost two years, and more than 100 craftsmen from Türkiye worked on the calligraphy works alone. The mosque was officially inaugurated with the participation of the President of the Republic of Türkiye, the President of the Russian Federation, and the President of the State of Palestine.
Another major joint construction project in the Russian Federation is the service building of the Russian Islamic University in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan. This building was constructed by the Istanbul Provincial Muftiate within the framework of the Sister City Project and officially inaugurated in 2022.
There is also important cooperation in the field of religious publishing. The project involving the translation of Islam through Hadiths into Russian holds a particularly special place, providing valuable information to the academic community and serving as a resource for universities. Additionally, dozens of works have been jointly translated at a foundational level. In December 2022, President of Religious Affairs Prof. Dr. Ali Erbas paid an official visit to the Russian Federation to participate in the closing programs of the events commemorating the 1100th anniversary of the acceptance of Islam as the official state religion of Volga Bulgaria. Within the framework of his visit, the book ‘Islam through Hadiths’, which was translated into Russian in cooperation with the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Russian Council of Muftis, was presented. To symbolize this historical moment, a logo dedicated to the 1100th anniversary of the acceptance of Islam was also included in the book.
One of the most significant forthcoming projects is the translation of the Basic Encyclopedia of Islam into Russian. This encyclopedia, published in eight volumes in Türkiye in 2019 by the Center for Islamic Studies (ISAM) of the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation, will be translated under a protocol signed between ISAM and the Moscow Islamic Institute in December 2023. The protocol covers various issues related to proofreading, layout, online publication, and printing of the translated work in Russia.
