Regional Dimension of Post-Soviet Development of Russia’s Muslim Societies in the Orenburg Province

Abstract

The article of Grigoriy Kosach examines post-Soviet period in the history of Muslim congregations in Russia taken from a regional perspective. It covers last fifteen years beginning with the fall of iron curtain and strict state control on the religious life of Russian citizens. His research is located on the level of Spiritual Board of the Orenburg Province emerged in the town of Buguruslan in 1994. The paper focuses on actors and networks of competing factions in the Muslim religious elites whose struggle for power and resources contributed to growing disintegration of previously indivisible Islamic society of Russia. The author argues that recent micro-history of the Buguruslan muftiate is important for deeper understanding changing religious and political context of today twists and turns of Islam in Russia.