Lecture by Leila Almazova (Kazan Federal University)

The most famous figures of Islam who have glorified their names among the Tatars were usually travellers for knowledge (tullab/arab. or shakird/tat.): Tajutdin Yalchigul (1767–1838), the author of a commentary to the Sufi treatise of Sufi Allahiyar (1616–1713), studied in Dagestan. Shihabutdin Marjani (1818–1889) who first started to teach in his madrasah in Kazan secular sciences studied in Bukhara and Samarkand. Ziyaetdin Kamali (1873–1942), the founder of the only higher madrasa in the Russian Empire “Galya” (Ufa), studied in Istanbul and Cairo.

Recent research indicated that in the modern Tatarstan madrasas, at least a quarter of teachers are graduates of foreign Islamic educational institutions. Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan Kamil Samigullin (born in 1985) was educated at the Ismail-Aga Mosque in Istanbul. What historically determined the choice of the country of study for Tatarstan Muslims? Whether or not their fate was always favourable to them after returning to their homeland? Speaking of the modern age, how does the idea of building a domestic Islamic education and so called “traditional Islam”, proclaimed by the Russian authorities, relate to the objective fact of foreign influence on the Russian Islam? All these issues will be covered in the framework of the proposed public lecture.

Leila Almazova, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Oriental, African and Islamic Studies at the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. In 2010–2011 she spent an academic year at the University of Michigan (UofM) as a Fulbright Scholar. In 2017 she received Grant “Algarysh” from the Government of Republic of Tatarstan and worked at the UofM on her second doctoral dissertation on the Post-Soviet Islamic Education in Tatarstan under the guidance of Professor Alexander Knysh. In 2015-2018 she served as a member of Executive Board of Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS). Starting from 2019 she works as an expert for the project “Religious Tolerance and Peace” (European Commission, Brussels, Belgium). Her research expertise is in Muslim philosophy, Islamic education, and Islam in the Russian Federation. She teaches courses on these topics as well as the Modern History of the Middle East, Ethno-Religious Conflicts, and Conflict Resolution in Islamic Societies.

The event will be held via Zoom. Please register at registration@zmo.de.

The lecture was postponed from February 2020.