On January 17, the traditional meeting of the Academy staff was held at the Bolgar Islamic Academy, where Acting Rector Aynur Timerkhanov made a report on the results of activities in 2022.

The head of the Academy thanked the staff and workers for their fruitful work. According to him, the past year was not easy in all senses, but much has been done to strengthen domestic Islamic education and solve the problems facing the Academy.

“The year 2022 was an unconventional year, a year of great and serious challenges in many senses. I can say with confidence through the prism of our work: the Academy’s activities over the past five years since its creation fully meet the state task of ensuring spiritual sovereignty by reviving the national theological heritage and development on this original basis of its own system of Islamic education,” said Acting Rector Aynur Timerhanov.

In addition to the 5-year anniversary of the Bolgar Islamic Academy, the year 2022 was marked by the 1,100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgarians. As part of the jubilee events, the Academy was the venue for a meeting of the federal organizing committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin.

The Academy also hosted the IV International Forum “Theological heritage of Russian Muslims”, which brought together over 260 delegates from 21 subjects of Russia and 20 countries from near and far abroad. The Forum included three events of international level: VI Bulgarian readings “Islamic historical and cultural heritage of Russian Muslims in the system of universal values”, V Readings of Sh. Marjani “Role and activities of fatwa institutions in the face of current challenges and threats”, the international summit “Islamic education in the modern world: challenges, trends and opportunities” with the participation of 30 rectors of Russian and foreign Islamic universities. Within the forum, a gallery of prominent Muslim religious figures of pre-revolutionary Russia was presented, where each photo is provided with a QR code, using which it is possible to get additional information about the theologians in Russian, Arabic and English.

This year the Academy graduated its third master’s in Islamic studies. A landmark event was the graduation of the first Masters in Theology. For the first time after a two-year pause, doctoral dissertations were defended in accordance with the new requirements. As a result, one applicant was awarded the degree of Doctor of Islamic Sciences.

The acting Rector of the Academy noted that last year five new cooperation agreements were signed with Levant University (Syria), Al-Mustafa International University (Iran), Nursultan Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Inter-Civilization Dialogue (Kazakhstan), Institute of History, Language and Literature (Ufa), Institute of Asian and African Studies of M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow). 

Separately, as part of his speech Ainur Timerkhanov mentioned the completion of repair and restoration works in the historical building of Madrasah “Marjanija”, which is an object of cultural heritage of the XIX century, and which currently houses the representation of the Academy in Kazan. The Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Fund for the Support of Islamic Culture, Science and Education provided great support.

At the end of his speech, Acting Rector Ainur Timerkhanov emphasized the need for new approaches to the development of a national Muslim religious education system that involve integrating all key parts on a common educational and methodological basis and making wide use of the capabilities of national academic science.

The head of the Spassky municipal district of the Republic of Tatarstan, Fargat Mukhametov, also addressed the Academy. In his report he shared the positive changes that had occurred in the municipal district over the past year.

The event ended with awarding a number of Academy staff members with certificates of appreciation for their successful work in the past year.