Abstract: the article gives a brief description of a unique document – the 1927 diary entries of Musa Bigeev with a translation into Russian. It reveals a little-studied page in the biography of the Tatar theologian and introduces the reader to the scholar’s view of the socio-political situation in the 1920s in Republican Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world as a whole.

Abstract: in the context of the Nicholas I’s policy on regulating the work of government agencies, the article highlights the financial position of the members and employees of the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly according to the staff list of 1836; additional payments to muftis as state servants; the reasons for the introduction of marriage and metric fees for Muslims, and the continuation of the fees despite completion of construction of the religious administration building in Ufa.

Abstract: the article considers the history of the development of Islamic and Tatar-Bashkir educational institutions in Perm in the late 19th – early 20th centuries, as significant institutions of the urban Muslim and Tatar-Bashkir communities; the main periods of the formation of the content of education in these educational institutions are determined; the sources of funding, the level of students’ training, the state of teaching staff are analyzed.
The main stages of the transformation of the policy of urban and regional authorities towards educational institutions in different political conditions have been studied.

Abstract: following the events of the Arab Spring, theoretical issues of government are attracting growing interest in the social and political sphere in the Islamic East. Islamic concepts are being adopted and extensively used in a race for power by various political forces. In this connection, the experience of countries that have passed through the “Islamic boom” is of particular interest. The currently outlawed political party, Islamic Salvation Front, and its founder, Abbassi Madani, the outstanding theoretician of the concept of the Islamic Golden Age, who developed and presented to Algerian society his programme of Islamic reforms, had a great impact on the political process in Algeria during the 1990s. This paper presents the theoretical views of Abbassi Madani on Islamic government, with an analysis of the activities of the Islamic Salvation Front and its influence on society and the political process. The author concludes that the true motivation of the Islamists in Algeria was a desire to overcome the social and economic crisis and emerge from military dictatorship and economic mismanagement by the incumbent government, rather than a desire to reform the state along Islamic lines.

Abstract: the author, on the basis of the Philosophical-Sufi studies of medieval Muslim scholars, the achievements of modern theoretical thought and independent argumentation, reveals the Sufi understanding of The Existence of God and the Way to Him. The source of the material was, first of all, the treatises of Indian Islamic thinkers written in Farsi: the work of Ali ibn Uthman al-Hudjwiri Kashf al-Mahdzhub li Abrar al-Kulub («Disclosure of the hidden behind the veil for those who have knowledge in the Mystery of Hearts») and the lithographic edition of Fava’eed al-Fouad «Useful [knowledge] for the Heart», owned by the Sheikh Nizamuddin Awliya – one of the most significant Sufi saints of the Order of Chishti. It is convincingly proven, how, using the words-labels, for example, Light and Heart and their connotations (Anwar – plural Absolute Light, Nur – Light, and also refracted or reflected Ray), one can come to the understanding that Nur is Light, Ray, Shine and Allah Himself. Thus, the creators of the monuments of medieval writing in the countries of the Muslim East asserted the religious paradigm according to which, thanks to the Unity of the Existence (vahdat al-wujud), the Light of Divine Grace embraces the entire universe: from the simple to the complex, and from it to the heart of the person who has gone through all the ways of perfection.

Abstract: this article analyses an 18th-century Arabic-language manuscript source by. Tatar author, devoted to the rules of reciting the Qur’an (Tajweed) – «Fide ar-Rahman bi Tajweed al-Qur’an» – «Mercy’s мercy in the recitation of the Koran». A comparison of its content with the popular treatise on the Tajweed of the famous medieval scholar Muhammad al-Jazari.

Abstract: the article discusses the opinion of the outstanding 19th century Tatar theologian and historian Shihab al-Din al-Marjani (Shigabutdin Marjani) on the classification of the Islamic jurists (tabakat al-Fuqaha’) of the Hanafi school (madhab) of Sunni Islam, devised by Ibn Kamal-Basha, the 16th century theologian and mufti (shaykh al-Islam) of the Ottoman Empire. The Tatar scholar discovered inaccuracies in the classification, and his critique was supported and developed by other famous Hanafi theologians of the Islamic world.

Abstract: the paper describes two text-books written by Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (11th–12th centuries) to teach students with different levels of education and mentality: Persian-language source Zad-i akhirat and Arabic-language source Bidayat al-Hidaya. The possibility of using these two sources with minimal adaptation in the process of modern religious education in Islamic Universities and Madrasas is justified in this paper. This would enrich the teaching experience of Muslim teachers. The possibility of usage of another work by al-Ghazali Kimiya-yi sa‘adat is also discussed in this article.

Abstract: the article analyses aspects of teaching of the Islamic creed in Islamic religious educational institutions of the Republic of Tatarstan. As well as an overview of modern innovative methods and technologies in teaching Islamic creed.

Abstract: the present article covers issues of the organization of learning and methodological guidance on the major 48.03.01 Theology (bachelor degree level) with the Islamic block of disciplines of confessional education at Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education «Pyatigorsk state university» (PSU). The article focuses on issues concerning the approach to training in Islamic sciences and the organization of the curriculum in this discipline. It also discusses questions concerning the preparation of materials on learning and teaching methods on the basis of requirements according to the federal state educational standard taking into account specificity of Islamic education and features of dogmatic character.

Abstract: the article examines the sociological aspects of Islam in post-Soviet Russia and one of its regions – Tatarstan. The author draws attention to a number of influential factors, without which it is impossible to adequately study the processes of post-Soviet reIslamization. The most significant are: regional differentiation of Muslim communities; the influence of Soviet modernization and state ideology of atheism on the state of Islamic theology and the transmission of religious norms and practice; the impact of globalization trends and glocalization on the identification and practices of Muslims. The combination in one sociocultural space of the local religious tradition and the patterns of Islamic globalization in close proximity to the secular community forms the situation of competition of identification projects, normative and ideological conflicts, both among spiritual leaders and inside the ummah itself. The new challenges of the post-secular world require a revision of the methodology for studying Muslim communities; rethinking the concept of “tradition” in the contexts of the local history of the Tatars in conditions of a multi-confessional Russian society and a global Islamic tradition. The research potential of constructivist approaches in sociology and identity theories in the study of Islam and Muslim communities is shown.

Abstract: this paper analyzes the possibility of using the theological heritage of the venerable Sheikh shaziliyskogo tariqat Said Afandi al-Chirkawi in the Republic of Dagestan. The religious renaissance that took place in the 1990s allowed the ideas of Islam to regain on the territory of the republic. However, it led to the emergence among Dagestani youth of adherents of extremist religious ideas. The author reveals the positive significance of the application of sheikh’s writings in the work on prevention and countering manifestations of extremism among young people. Also shown are methods of using the spiritual heritage of Sheikh in solving other spiritual and moral problems of today’s youth.

Abstract: this article attempts to identify the issues covered by the science of «psychology of Islam» in the Russian context. The institutionalization of science is based on a comparison of the subjects and content of the works of Russian, European and other foreign psychologists of religion. The main aspects of theoretical approaches and empirical research are identified as a basis for developing psychological support for Muslims. The article addresses the problem of demarcating the psychology of Islam and Islamic psychology. The main activities of the Association of psychological assistance to Muslims in Russia are reviewed.

Abstract: the article reviews data from studies of the level of reflection and empathy of a group of imams who are theology students at the Russian Islamic Institute and a group of disciples (shagirds) from the Azov madrasah and imams from the Republic of Crimea. The importance of the optimal level of development of the perceptual aspect of communication in the professional activity of a Muslim cleric is revealed.

Abstract: the article contains a report on the opening of the Tatarstan office of the Association of Psychological Support for Muslims in Kazan – the Association’s first office in Russia. It summarizes two scientific-practical workshops held in Kazan to mark the opening of the office on 21–22 February 2018: one by the Resource Centre for the Development of Islamic and Islamic Studies Education of the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies of Kazan Federal University; and the other by the Association of Psychological Support for Muslims on “Counselling of Muslims: A Theoretical and Practical Framework”. The discussion of approaches to counselling Muslims is based on the works of the well-known Islamic psychologists.