This article is dedicated to the issues of relations between the state and Islam in Arab countries (Algeria, Egypt, Syria) and in Russia in the contemporary era. Despite the fundamental diff erences between political systems and diff erent experiences in relations between the state and religion, all these societies are facing similar threats and challenges in recent years, causing certain parallels between policies towards Islam. This work is based on both published materials and around 20 interviews with experts, politicians and religious leaders from the researched countries recorded by the authors. The research allowed to defi ne common and diff erent traits of implemented political strategies, made it possible to show the infl uence of such processes as securitization of religion administrating, growing individualization of faith practicing, integration of religious institutions in the civil society structures on the transformation of StateIslam relationship models.

The article is devoted to the history of coming to power and the analysis of the domestic and foreign policy of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE), Field Marshal Abd-аl Fattah al-Sisi. The author notes that the new leader of the country chose a tough internal political course aimed at strengthening his own power and suppressing the opposition, fi rst of all, the Muslim Brotherhood (the organization’s activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation), and the 2014 Constitution and its 2019 amendments led to the virtual disappearance of the independent branches of power and its concentration in the hands of the president, as well as the consolidation in the Basic Law of provisions on the special role of the military in the life of society. Thus, the head of state and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces determine the political processes in the country, controlling civil institutions. Unlike the traditional ARE course, Abd-al Fattah al-Sisi is building a tougher and more uncompromising policy, demonstrating a readiness to use force, primarily in Libya, narrowing his scope for diplomatic maneuver.

This article describes the documents and visual materials dedicated to the socalled “Personal records of mullah Shamsutdinov”. The “Personal records” included archival documents of Moscow imams Khairetdin Ageev (1827–1913) and Abdullah Shamsutdinov (1878–1937), there also was the “Album” with engravings and clippings on an Oriental topic and personal belongings of Ageev-Shamsutdinov’s family. These rare and unique materials are kept in the State Museum of the History of Religion. Until recently, most of the materials have remained unknown and have never been published before. Thus, the submitted materials can be classifi ed as a source for the history of religious life of Muslims in Russia in the late XIX – early XX centuries.

Urban Muslim culture with large seats of public education has long been attracting the minds of researchers. In the 19th–20th centuries the city of Ufa became one of the centers of Tatar education and culture. From 1865 to 1908, the percentage of Muslims in the provincial centre increased from 4,33% to 18,03%. In 1906 the “Galiya”, the third madrasah, was founded in Ufa. During the 1913–1914 academic year, 10,7% of all shakirds studied exactly in this madrasah. At that time the main source of information for the Tatar-speaking population of Ufa was the “Tormysh” (“Life”) newspaper, the pages of which often highlighted the topics concerning the history of the “Galiya” madrasah. The article provides some information about the editors and publishers of the newspaper. Some facts help us to conclude that the pages of the national newspaper often refl ected the spiritual and educational work conducted by teachers and shakirds of the madrassah for the sake of the local population. In general, the analysis of the publications reveals the great infl uence of the madrasah on the social and cultural environment of the Urban Muslim community.

This series of publications is a translation of selected sections from the book “The Incoherence of the Incoherence” (Tahafut at-Tahafut) of peripatetic philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 1198), written in response to the book of asharite mutakallim al-Ghazali (d. 1111) “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” (Tahafut al-Falasifa).
In this part Ibn Rushd examines the second of two objections raised by al-Ghazali against the main proof for the eternity of the world – “from complete cause” (in Ghazali’s wording, “impossibility of the temporal proceeding from absolute eternity”), as well as his criticism of another proof based on the eternity of time (in two formulations).

The article presents a Russian translation of two chapters of the treatise by Jalal ad-Din al-Suyuti “Tanāsuq al-durar fi tanāsub as-suwar” (“A string of pearls regarding the correspondence of the Surahs”). In the last few decades European Arabic studies have paid a lot of attention to the composition of the Qur’an, whereas Muslim scholars have been dealing with this problem almost from the very beginning of the Qur’an studies. Suyuti’s treatise summarizes Muslim scholars’ centuries-old researches on the Qur’an composition. The fi rst chapter represents the author’s introduction to the treatise, where he states the reasons that induced him to write this book, and the second chapter is related to the analysis of the surah “The opening”. The introductory remarks contain information about the life of Jalal ad-Din, as well as a brief analysis of the treatise and an assessment of its signifi cance for study of the Qur’an composition.

The given paper studies the results of a research by a special commission of Dagestan Muftiate on the determination of the five daily obligatory prayers (Namaz) schedule in the Republic of Dagestan. The study gives a short statement of Shariah regulations on each Namaz starting and ending time; thus, provides visual comparative analysis of the research results with an existing in Dagestan Namaz timetable. The concluding part reveals the effective ways of implementing the renewed calendar within the local communities. The results of the research will be useful for the Muslim religious figures from other regions of Russia in correcting their existing Namaz timetables in accordance with the Shariah Rules.

This paper presents the analysis of relationships between perceived discrimination, religiosity and psychological distress of Afghan refugees living in Russia. The study included 96 respondents: 54 men and 42 women, aged 18-55 years. To determine the level of distress, Afghan Distress Symptom Checklist (ASCL), specifi cally developed for the Afghan sample, was used (Miller, et al., 2006). To measure perceived discrimination, we used a scale from the MIRIPS questionnaire (Berry, 2017). The degree of religiosity is assessed according to the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS) (Huber, Huber, 2012). Analysis of the research results confi rm our hypothesis that the higher the perceived discrimination, the higher the level of psychological distress. The study also proves that the positive relationship between perceived discrimination and distress is weakened with a higher level of religiosity displayed and just the opposite, such relationships get stronger when the level of religiosity is low. This suggests that for Afghan refugees-respondents living in Russia, adherence to their religion acts as a buff er against discrimination and distress.

The article is devoted to the problems of using symbols in religious-oriented psychological assistance to Muslims. The author analyzes approaches to the symbol concept in Psychology and Philosophy, as well as develops the theory and practice of using symbols in Psychotherapy. Symbols are considered in the context of Islamic divine signs, which are provided by Allah in order to contemplate, to understand and to disclose them in the nature and personality of a man, as well as in historical events from the past described in holy scriptures. Based on the analysis of the text of the Qur’an, the author emphasizes the connection between symbolic Qur’anic images and the inner world of a person, the state of their intellectual and spiritual development. Based on the works of Islamic authors of the past and present, the article suggests methods for using symbolic images presented in the Qur’an in the practice of counseling and psychotherapy, as well as substantiates the basic principles that must be observed in the process of providing psychological assistance to Muslims.

The article presents the results of a socio-psychological study conducted in St. Petersburg and in the Leningrad Region. The main objectives of the research were: to understand the reasons of why women adopted Islam in regions with a Muslim minority, to identify the features of the adapting process itself in accordance with a new religious identity and to investigate the specifi cs and solutions of the problems they faced. We used the method of qualitative (in-depth) unstructured biographical interviews and a modifi cation of a “Who am I” test by Kuhn-McPartland. The article describes the study structure, reveals the regional features of its implementation and also names the socio-religious specifi cs of the groups under study. All the urgent problems of non-ethnic Muslim women can be classifi ed into the so-called general problems relating to adaptation to a new religious identity and specifi c ones relating to the features of the region. Specifi c problems are: the issues connected with employment and education, wearing hij ab, with religious practices outside home, children halal nutrition, acceptance of a woman’s religious choice by the closest people, and also the diffi culties connected with marriage, social insecurity and socializing in Muslim community. Based on the analysis of the above-mentioned problems the ways of solving them are outlined.