The Islamic theme have long piqued the interest of Russians and people all over the world. As Islam sparked considerable interest during the period of Western colonial dominance and the triumph of “scientific atheism” ideas. It is also a subject of attention at this time, when the social sciences and humanities are advancing rapidly. Simultaneously, despite the obvious positive trends in its perception and interpretation, a number of issues emerge that must be addressed. Every day, more people speak out in support of Islam and offer their vision, making it difficult for researchers to study it. Pseudo-religious figures emerge, disseminating destructive ideas that contradict the foundations of the Islamic worldview under the guise of Islamic values propaganda.
The International Forum “Theological Heritage of Muslims in Russia”, held regularly by Bolgar Islamic Academy since 2019, is intended to serve as a platform for discussion, development and cultivation of traditional Islamic values.
The forum’s main goal is to unite the efforts of the scientific and expert communities, government bodies, as well as public and religious figures, in discussing and working out solutions for the important issues concerning preserving, studying, and developing traditional Islamic spiritual values of Muslim peoples in Russia, reviving and developing domestic Islamic studies and Islamic education, strengthening cultural, civilizational, and interreligious dialogue in the conditions of modern Russia and globalization in the world.
Key areas of the forum:
The experience of holding the Forum in 2019-2022, in which over 850 theologians and specialists from various fields of humanitarian scientific knowledge from more than 25 countries of the world have already participated, testifies to the growing interest in sustainable research in Russia and around the world to Islam and the Muslim Ummah, the development and spread of Islam in the global context, the potential of Islam, Islamic religious education in preserving and strengthening traditional foundations while taking into account modern realities, and solving urgent problems of the Muslim Ummah in accordance with the expansion and development of cultural, civilizational, and interreligious dialogue in the country and the world.
The forum is organized by Bolgar Islamic Academy in partnership with its founders – the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims of Russia (Ufa), Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation (Moscow) and Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan (Kazan).
The forum is organized with assistance from the Fund for support of Islamic culture, science and education.
Throughout its history, the forum has served as a platform for broad communication among members of the public, religious, and intellectual communities, as well as institutions. Breakout session and round table formats, as well as free communication within the framework of the cultural program, create unique conditions for research collaborations and joint projects. This universal dialogue format allows for the development of common approaches while taking into account the positions of community opinion leaders who actively participate in forum’s activities.
The forum is highly adaptable to public controversy and offers solutions to current challenges confronting the Muslim Ummah in the Russian Federation due to active interaction with communities and institutions of civil society in Russia.
The Muslim peoples in Russia have a thousand-year tradition of Muslim theology, and their own unique methods and approaches have developed within legal schools. The forum provides the opportunity to determine the place of Islam and Muslims in the modern world based on the centuries-old experience of Islamic studies of the peoples of Russia. The forum seeks to establish trends based on an understanding and rethinking of this tradition, in order to find the golden mean between tradition and modernity.
To create a unified intellectual space, a common set of terminology, categories, and conceptual apparatus must be developed.
The forum’s working languages are traditionally Russian, Arabic, English, and Tatar. The forum successively standardizes these common approaches through the publication of materials and collections of articles, as well as through the scientific journals of the academy: Bolgar Journal and Bulletin of Bolgar Islamic Academy.
The accessibility and openness of the forum indicate the integration of theological knowledge and secular humanitarian disciplines, as well as consistent adaptation and development of research methodology. These measures enable the qualitative examination of the manuscript heritage while actively introducing it into scientific and public circulation. The collaborative works of archeographers, philologists, historians, and specialists with specialized Islamic education are well received by a broad audience interested in Muslim intellectual heritage.
At the same time, the experience and capabilities of the forum contribute to effective interaction with the expert community. Work on extremism prevention and the cultivation of multicultural civil society values help to nullify the influence of destructive ideas.
Every year, the forum, which is held by Bolgar Islamic Academy – one of the leading Islamic scientific, educational and spiritual centers in Russia, declares with confidence that it is an effective platform for collaboration between experts from Russia and other countries in the fields of science and Islamic education with the goal of building conceptual and methodological foundations for research related to the revival of the national theological tradition, finding approaches to applied research on fatwa-making methodologies, creating the necessary conditions for the formation of a modern and appealing image of Islamic religious education, further development of the spiritual and moral potential of traditional Islam, strengthening the efforts of the scientific and confessional communities to ensure intercivilizational dialogue in the 21st century.
Bolgar Islamic Academy
Phone: +7 (843) 590 23 79
E-mail: forum@bolgar.academy
1A Kul Gali St., Bolgar, Republic of Tatarstan, 422840, Russian Federation
Representative office in Kazan:
27 Zayni Sultana St., Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, 420021, Russian Federation
