Islamic Press in the Early Soviet Dagestan and the Journal “Muslims of the Soviet Orient”

Abstract

An analysis of a number of articles in imperial and early Soviet newspapers and journals, including “Jaridat Dagistan”, shows that the theological discussion that existed in Dagestan in manuscript tradition for more than three hundred years migrated to some extent to new press. This applies to some issues of the theory of Islamic law (the problem of taqlid and ijtihad), as well as some practical legal issues in the field of worship (‘ibada) and in the sphere of social relations (mu’amala).

In the late 1960’s in Tashkent, the journal “Muslims of the Soviet Orient” was founded, many issues of which were sent to Dagestan in Uzbek (in Arabic script) and in Arabic; various issues of this journal are currently being found in a number of private collections in Dagestan. In many articles the influence of the already established Soviet Oriental scholarly tradition is noticeable. Articles devoted to the theory and practice of Islamic law, to various issues of Muslim theology, are practically absent. An analysis of the articles of this journal and the “Jaridat Dagistan” shows that if the latter was formed and edited exclusively by Dagestani theologians and served as a platform for discussing theological issues, the journal “Muslims of the Soviet Orient” was a Soviet attempt to represent Muslims and showed how they were seen or wanted to be seen by Soviet authority.