Reconstruction of Islam in the late 20th - early 21st century in Omsk region

The article examines the Muslim community of Omsk Region in the late 20th - early 21st century. This study is based on the reconstruction of the events happening in this period and is aimed at uncovering the reasons for the split of the Muslim Ummah. The evidence was taken from the interviews with chairmen and members of the council of public and religious Muslim organizations, and imams of mosques in the city of Omsk and Omsk Region obtained in August-September, 2020. Methods of content analysis of data from the official Muslim sites and accounts of local religious organizations in social networks have also been used. Administrative and territorial reforms by M.M. Speransky introduced a number of new legislations which abolished the institution of khan’s power and clan system, causing confusion among the Kazakhs. In order to show the loyalty of Tsar’s government to the religion of the Kazakh population, it was decided to erect a mosque with full furnishing in Omsk at the expense of the state treasury. During the Soviet period, Islam was persecuted; all mosques were destroyed or closed. It has been established that after the collapse of the USSR, the Muslim community was split due to personal ambitions and narrow mindedness of its leaders who were accustomed to perceiving everything through the division into friends and foes. Trying to preserve his sole power, Imam Khazret Z.S. Shakirzyanov began to oppose building new mosques, although he could have supported the process and become the leader of the Muslim communities of the region, making new mosques the branches of the Great Mosque. In the opinion of local Muslim leaders, the mistake was the refusal to let the Russian authorities to intervene in religious processes as opposed to Kazakhstan and the republics of Central Asia, where vertical centralization was implemented.