Lectures Kamal el Zant. Arab preacher Kamal el Zant and his place in the Muslim Ummah of Tatarstan: from recognition to exile

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Books

, White Andrew, Kamal Eric. E-metrics are considered as a tool for analyzing funds and economic efficiency of using digital and virtual library resources, consisting of abstracts,…
Statistical methods for working with electronic documents in the library field, or E-metrics, Andrew White, Eric Jiva Kamal. E-metrics are considered as a tool for analyzing funds and economic efficiency of using digital and virtual library resources, consisting of abstracts,…
Statistical methods for working with electronic documents, or E-metrics: how to use data to manage and evaluate electronic resources and funds, Andrew White, Eric Jiva Kamal. 400 pages. E-metrics are considered as a tool for analyzing funds and economic efficiency of using digital and virtual library resources, consisting of abstracts,…

Kamal El Zant(born October 3, 1974) - Koran-hafiz (reader of the Koran), who preaches in Kazan mosques. Kamal El Zant explains topical issues Islam simple and plain language, with the help of which he achieved fame in Russia. Author of several books on the Islamic worldview and ethics (Tell Me About Faith, Morals of a Muslim). Also released DVD and MP3 discs with lectures on religion.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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✪ Dr. Kamal el-Zant | Morals of a Muslim [one of the important topics]

✪ "Rights of spouses" | Kamal el-Zant - Seminar in Turkey 2017

✪ What determines the level of your #Faith (Aqida)? | Dr. Kamal el-Zant

Subtitles

Biography

Born October 3, 1974. In 1992, Kamal El Zant came from Lebanon to Kazan. In 1992, he entered the Faculty of Medicine at KGM(I)U, and successfully graduated in 1999. 1999-2002 he studied in residency in oncology and 2 years in general surgery. At the moment she works in the clinic of the City Oncological Dispensary as an oncologist. He received his initial religious knowledge in Lebanon. Within 10-15 years he became a famous preacher in Russia. Since 2003, he has been a Quran hafiz. Since 2008, he has been studying in absentia at the Lebanese University "Al-Jinan" (Tripoli) in the magistracy in the direction of "Quranic sciences".

Prohibition on the distribution of books

El Zant Kamal Abdul Rahman's book "Tell me about faith", released in 2009, was approved by the ex-mufti of Tatarstan Gusman Iskhakov. However, with the advent of Ildus Faizov, the Ulema Council of Tatarstan recommended that the Mufti ban this book for use in mosques for its inconsistency with the canons of the Hanafi madhhab.

Lectures by Kamal Zant, which are held in the Kazan mosque "Ometlelar". As if one of his books was recognized as not corresponding to the canons of the Hanafi madhhab. However, at the same time, he continues to gather people in the evenings and give lectures.

The imam of this mosque, Almaz hazrat Safin, believes that there is no harm in Zant's lectures. According to him, he put many on the right path.

“There are many who, after listening to him, freed themselves from drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking, in general, people begin to new life. The people attend his lectures with pleasure,” says hazrat.

At the same time, Safin emphasizes that Zant does not give his lectures in the mosque, and that perhaps the newspaper is pursuing some of its own policy.

“Probably, this is done in order to divide the Muslims. Kamal reads his lectures in the regional organization "Family" opened in the summer. There are no lectures in the mosque. However, the mosque with this organization are located in the same building. Maybe they just got confused,” he says.

According to islamnews.ru, the reason for such attacks is our faith, national identity, traditions, customs - all this is an obstacle that needs to be eliminated. It is not difficult to understand this, one has only to listen carefully to the speeches of some radical politicians or representatives of the irreconcilable wing Orthodox Church. And therefore, having done away with the imams, they will soon take on the Tatar intelligentsia, which is now in suspended animation.

Litigation on a lawsuit against the TV company "TNV"

The former imam of the Enilar mosque, Shavkat Abubekerov, and the preacher Kamal El Zant filed a complaint with the investigative committee about the dissemination of deliberately false information about them in the TV program Seven Days on the Tatarstan TV channel Tatarstan Novy Vek (TNV) dated January 30, 2011. The trial will take place in Kazan on April 29, 2011.

The religious renaissance that began in Russia after the collapse of the USSR was accompanied by the penetration into its territory and the free activity of preachers of new religious movements. Often, the role of such missionaries was performed by foreigners, who, due to their own charisma, charm, ability to professionally and easily understand the broad masses of new believers to convey religious teachings, expanded the circle of their followers, contributed to strengthening the position of a new religious movement in a country in which until recently atheism was part of the state. ideology. The influx of such foreign preachers into Russia has become one of the channels for the religious expansion of foreign states, which is perceived today as a threat. national security countries. The fact that the activity of foreign emissaries of new religious movements is fraught with a certain danger is today the dominant opinion among both government officials and security officials, as well as among clergy and scientists. " In the 90s, an intensive penetration into Russia of non-governmental national and international organizations began, some of which pursued educational and humanitarian, and some also political goals.”, - Aleksey Podtserob writes about the Islamic aspect of Russian-Arab relations, noting that “ the International Islamic Organization for Relief and Salvation (Al-Igasa), the Society for the Revival of Islamic Heritage (Jamaa Ihyaa at-turas al-Islami), the Islamic Fund of the Two Holy Mosques (Al-Haramain), Charity ( Al-Kheiriya), Taiba International Charity Organization, International Charitable Foundation (Binevelence International Foundation), Qatar, etc.." . The active participation of Arab foundations in the religious revival in the Muslim regions of Russia is also confirmed by researchers from Saudi Arabia: “ Since the late 1980s. in the "Muslim" autonomies of Russia, as well as in the Central Asian republics and in the Transcaucasus, Saudi charitable foundations began to operate, which aimed to promote the revival of Muslim education and traditions there”, writes Saudi political scientist Majid bin Abdulaziz at-Turki.

A specific feature of the arrival of Arab preachers of foreign forms of Islam in regions where Muslims are densely populated (in particular, in Tatarstan) is that they are perceived by broad sections of believers as more advanced and literate in matters of Islamic theology than the local clergy. According to Ildus Fayzov, who occupied in 2011-2013. post of mufti of Tatarstan, they looked at any Arab almost in no way at the prophet Muhammad himself» . Especially if this Arab delivered a religious sermon. One of these figures, who left their definite place in the recent history of the Islamic community of Tatarstan, was Kamal el-Zant, who from 1992 to 2013, living in Kazan until his departure from Russia, was engaged in religious preaching in the Volga region for more than 20 years. It is worth dwelling on this figure and his place in the modern history of the Muslims of Tatarstan in more detail.

Kamal Abdul Rahman El Zant was born on October 3, 1974 in Lebanon. Like many other representatives of the Arab youth of the second half of the twentieth century, who wanted to receive higher education, he goes to Russia: at the age of 18, in 1992, el-Zant comes to Kazan, where he enters the Kazan State Medical Institute at the Faculty of Medicine. In 1999, he successfully completed it, after which he entered the residency at the Department of Oncology (years of study: 1999-2002), and then at the Department of General Surgery (years of study: 2002-2004). Over the years, he marries a local Tatar woman, and has four children in marriage. Thanks to this, el-Zant receives Russian citizenship, while retaining the passport of a Lebanese citizen (i.e., he has dual citizenship). After that, he officially starts working at the City Oncological Dispensary in Kazan, according to colleagues at work, he was considered a good specialist.

It should be noted that in addition to El-Zant, other Arabs work in Tatarstan, who came to Russia to study as doctors, but then married local women and settled in the host country, got a job in their specialty (for example, in Kazan he lives and works as a surgeon in Republican Clinical Hospital Mohammed Hamed from Libya, who also sometimes acted as a preacher).

However, in parallel with this work, Kamal el-Zant actively engaged in religious preaching among the Muslims of Tatarstan, and this was no coincidence. According to experts, " in the course of studying at Russian universities or working in representative offices of foreign charitable organizations in Russia, citizens of Arab countries - supporters of non-governmental religious and political organizations distribute Islamic literature of a radical nature, provide ideological and material support to their Russian like-minded people”, writes orientalist Konstantin Polyakov about such Arab students.

According to Kamal el-Zant himself, he received religious knowledge at home in Lebanon while studying at school. Many Arab students who came to Kazan fell under the temptations of secular life. In order to somehow counteract this, the Arab students themselves decided to elect a preacher from among themselves: it was Kamal el-Zant who fit this role. Since initially upon arrival he did not know Russian well, religious sermons were conducted at one time in Arabic among his fellow tribesmen. At the same time, there was an interpreter who simultaneously translated from Arabic into Russian for local residents of Tatarstan who came to listen to an Arab preacher.

In the preface to his first book, Tell Me About the Faith, Kamal el-Zant recalls that he taught his first classes in Islamic doctrine among local Tatar women, many of whom were of retirement or near-retirement age: unlike young, apalar(from the Tatar language “aunts” are translated, only in the form of an appeal to an older woman. - approx.) They were very patient with me when the language barrier made it hard for me to explain something to them. I often admitted to them that they are an experimental group, and they also treated this with patience, and I am grateful to each of them.» . In the context of a shortage of Muslim clergy in Tatarstan in the 1990s, as well as the fact that an Arab would speak in front of them (the opinion was given above about the amazing exaltation of any foreigner from the Muslim countries of the East as an expert on Islam by part of the Muslims of Tatarstan), he was guaranteed success . And there were certain circumstances for this.

Arriving to study as a doctor, el-Zant came at a time when a massive religious revival was taking place in Tatarstan, as well as throughout Russia. For El Zant, this was a great opportunity to realize himself in the field of religious preaching. In the 1990s, when the old buildings of mosques were returned to Muslims in the republic and new ones were built, the sermon was conducted in the Tatar language. Kamal el-Zant did not know the Tatar language, but gradually mastered the Russian language well, managed to attract a lot of young urban Tatars who were drawn to religion, but at the same time they were assimilated linguistically: they knew and poorly understood the Tatar language. For Kazan, this is not a rare sight. After the building of the Burnaevskaya mosque was returned to believers in 1994, Kamal el-Zant began to preach there on Fridays. The imam of the Burnaevskaya mosque, Fargat Mavletdinov, willingly allowed an Arab preacher to conduct Friday prayers: the audience of the parish only grew. Kamal el-Zant, in addition to the fact that he preached in Russian, had two more qualities that made him popular: firstly, as an ethnic Arab, ordinary inhabitants trusted him more as an expert on Islam, although he initially had special religious education there was no arrival in Russia; secondly, a well-delivered speech, the ability to speak charismatically with an intonation that “turned on” the believers, also attracted many ordinary believers to this Arab preacher. Added to his charisma was the fact that he worked as a doctor, and was engaged in religious preaching in his free time, i.e. he was not a mullah on a salary, and this created around him an aura of unmercenary and non-possessive. There were more and more fans.

In order to make up for the gap in religious education, and also not to receive accusations that he is self-taught, Kamal el-Zant decided to get a diploma. In 2008 he entered extramural to the Lebanese University "Al-Jinan" (Tripoli) in the magistracy in the direction of "Quranic sciences". Even earlier, he memorized the Koran by August 30, 2001, and in 2003 he became a Koran-hafiz (a professional reader of the Koran who memorized the text of the Holy Book of Muslims).

Gradually, the popularity of Kamal el-Zant grew: he began to perform in various mosques in Kazan, travel around the regions and other cities of Tatarstan, he was invited to lectures and sermons in Bashkortostan, Mari El, Mordovia, the Ulyanovsk, Kirov and Tyumen regions, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug . At first it was difficult to understand the religious views of the Arab preacher, because in the 1990s - the first half of the 2000s he did not publish his books, audio CDs with his lectures were not sold. His fame was oral. They knew about him, but since he did not have any official status among the Islamic clergy, he did not claim any special position in the Muslim community, promising material support, he was not a clergyman in any mosque (el-Zant was characterized by the role of a nomadic preacher speaking in different mosques), then they did not see him as a competitor for the sympathy of believers. Mufti of Tatarstan Gusman Iskhakov (as a mufti in 1998-2011), who sympathized with the Wahhabis, who clearly sympathized with the Arab preacher, played a significant role in the growth of el-Zant's fame. Actually, the star of Kamal el-Zant rose precisely under Gusman Iskhakov: his books and audio CDs began to appear precisely during Iskhakov's tenure as mufti. And the fact that he freely and without any necessary documentary permission to preach in mosques was largely due to the mufti's non-resistance to this.

In the mid-2000s, he leaves Russia for a while. The reasons for the urgent departure are still unknown, but his fans advocated the return of el-Zant. According to one of the stories heard by the author, in a number of mosques in Kazan, in which Kamal el-Zant preached and where he was well remembered, they even put on a hat after Friday prayers so that believers could “throw in” for the return of the Arab preacher back to Kazan. Ultimately, Kamal el-Zant returned to Kazan. It cannot be ruled out that already with other goals and objectives than just working as a doctor. The apartment was provided to him by the parish of the mosque "Ometlelyar", later closely associated with the Cultural Islamic Center "Family", to which el-Zant will also be related.

From the second half of the 2000s, the popularity of Kamal el-Zant began to grow, which was associated with the beginning of the mass availability of the Internet at that time, the emergence of social networks, which ensured the widest possible popularization of his sermons and lectures. By his own admission, he was soon offered to publish books, fans sponsored the opening of his personal website (www.kamalzant.ru) and began to replicate his performances on CDs and DVDs. Success was assured. In 2007, his first book "Tell me about Vera" was published (then it was reprinted several times).

Following this, his second book, “The Morals of a Muslim” (2010-2011), is published in 3 volumes, and both books are positively reviewed by the Mufti of Tatarstan Gusman Iskhakov and other religious figures. These two of his books became very popular, were well reprinted, and audio versions of the books were also released. Let's add that even now books can be purchased in Muslim bookstores in Tatarstan without much difficulty, despite the fact that the situation for Kamal el-Zant will change in the future.

In many ways, after the speeches of Kamal el-Zant appeared in print, it was possible to get acquainted with his views in more detail. It was just that before that it was difficult: everyone knew that there was an Arab preacher speaking in Russian in mosques with incendiary sermons, but little was known about their content. And after that, sharply critical reviews began to sound from the side of the Tatar imams. Tatar theologian Farid Salman was the first to raise the issue of the content of Kamal el-Zant's books: " Here is a recent example. With the personal approval of Mufti G. Iskhakov, the book “Tell me about the Faith” by Kamal el-Zant, not so long ago a Lebanese, and now a Russian citizen, was published. The book is riddled with mockery of us Tatars. It turns out that we are making a hajj to the Bulgars, we have some special “saint” Khidr Ilyas, who comes out of the grave (!) And helps those who ask him for something. The book, I think, is not without intent written in a language that even a villager with a very poor command of Russian will perfectly understand. All this is accompanied by abundant citations of Qur'anic verses. The author aims to program Muslim Tatars and, above all, rural residents for certain goals. After all, it is in the countryside that the original purity of Tatar Islam is still preserved. In general, we are wrong, and Islam among the Tatars is not the same. But Mufti G. Iskhakov liked the book. In the preface to the book, he writes: "The proposed book is an excellent work by the author Kamal el-Zant for those who want to establish themselves in their faith, as well as for those who stand in the way of the search for truth." Comments, as they say, are unnecessary ...»

One of the reviews pointed out that in the book “Tell me about the Faith” (2007), Kamal el-Zant gives an anthropomorphic interpretation of the attributes of Allah, which is unacceptable from the point of view of the Hanafi madhhab and is more characteristic of the Wahhabis: “ The author, relying on a literal understanding of the sacred texts of Islam, claims that Allah has a specific place in heaven. At the same time, he says that the sky is everything that is above us, and it is limitless..All this essentially coincides with the opinion of representatives of the Wahhabi doctrine. And this contradicts the traditional view of the Sunnis that God exists without place, without image and without direction, for He Himself is the creator of place and space.» .

Chairman of the Council of Ulemas of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Batrov drew attention to the fact that in his book “Tell me about the Faith” (2007), Kamal el-Zant ascribes to the founder of the madhhab (religious and legal school in Islam) Abu Hanif (699-767), whom Muslims of Tatarstan adhere to the words about the three-part definition of the Islamic faith (persuasion with the heart, confirmation with the tongue and performance by actions), which is a distortion and does not correspond to reality (from the point of view of Batrov, Abu Hanifa did not demand the performance of actions as a confirmation of faith for Muslims). Batrov believes that the inclusion of this postulate in the definition of the Muslim faith is more necessary for the Wahhabis, since it is they who, under the need to confirm their faith with actions, mean the commission of terrorist attacks: “ We in Tatarstan also embarked on this path. And it looks like this: a three-part definition of faith - takfir - a terrorist attack. The first two stations are passed. Recent events in Nurlat(an attempt to blow up a police car) show that a landing has begun at the third, final, station", - Batrov writes in a critical article about the book of Kamal el-Zant.

However, further criticism of Kamal el-Zant began to gain even more momentum, taking on a serious character. On January 30, 2011, on the republican TV channel "Tatarstan - Novy Vek" (TNV) in the program "7 days" a video was shown in which Kamal el-Zant and the imam of the Kazan mosque "Enilyar" Shavkat Abubakirov were shown as supporters of Wahhabism. All this happened against the background of cardinal personnel changes in the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan: on January 13, 2011, Gusman Iskhakov left the post of mufti, and Ildus Fayzov, a staunch opponent of Wahhabism, took his place, who began to pursue a policy of de-Wahhabization. Iskhakov, patronizing el-Zant, could no longer help the Arab preacher. Moreover, it turned out that el-Zant was misleading the Muslims of Tatarstan, stating earlier that he was an employee of the dagwat (propaganda) department of the DUM RT. Carefully reviewing the staff list of the muftiate, Ildus Faizov did not find Kamal el-Zant's employee anywhere. An attempt by the latter, together with Imam Abubakirov, to sue the republican TV channel for libel under Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which showed them both as propagandists of Wahhabism, did not produce results.

On June 16, 2011, the Ulema Council of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Tatarstan recognized the book by Kamal el-Zant "Tell me about the Faith" (2007), as well as the books of several other authors, as inconsistent with the Hanafi madhhab Islam traditional for the Tatars. Nevertheless, he continued his missionary work, giving lectures in various mosques in Tatarstan, without any evidence or permission for this. In fact, it was illegal, underground work. As the researchers note, “ having no theological education (only in 2008 he entered the Al-Jinan Islamic University in Lebanon, where he studied by correspondence), being largely self-taught, he gained some popularity among the urban Tatar youth. His sermons were based on the idea of pan-Islamic unity, according to which adherents of any movement in Islam are true Muslims. In practice, this resulted in the fact that his lectures were attended by representatives of various Islamist movements.» .

The experts drew attention to the activities of the Regional Public Organization “Cultural Islamic Center “Family” (the president is Rafael Aflyatunov, who is also engaged in the hotel business in Kazan, he owns the Gulfstream Hotel), located in Kazan and having a representative office in Vysoka Gora (the regional center is 19 km from Kazan). The Family Center (Kazan, 2nd Azinskaya st., 1v) was registered on June 24, 2011, whose activities were identified with the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. At the same address is the Kazan mosque "Ometlelyar", in which an Arab preacher also regularly lectured. The mosque itself is referred to by researchers as one around which the Islamists are grouped. In 2012, Kamal el-Zant began working as a vice president at this Semya center, which published the Strong Family newspaper in Russian and Tatar. In the end, the regional authorities of Tatarstan finally realized where his missionary work among the Tatar youth was leading, measures were taken: the Family Center was liquidated as a legal entity by a decision of the Soviet District Court of Kazan on October 12, 2012 (the reason is a violation of the federal law " On public associations”: the “Family” center is registered as social organization but engaged in religious activities). The President of the Family Center, Rafael Aflyatunov, tried to fight off the attention of the security forces, even made an open appeal to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan Artyom Khokhorin, in which he did not hide that in the organization " work different people and those who do not share the actions of our spiritual leaders, and those who were dismissed from the DUM, and those who were forced to leave the posts of imams of mosques" and " it is impossible to drive all of them into one maskhab, to dictate to them how to behave, but it had no effect.

The surge of terrorist activity in Tatarstan, during which on July 19, 2012, the mufti of Tatarstan Ildus Faizov was wounded, and the prominent Muslim theologian Valiulla Yakupov was shot to death near the entrance of his house, with subsequent special operations by the security forces against terrorists, raised the question of the need to stop the activities of preachers who do not have any official status in the system of the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Republic of Tatarstan and who strictly do not comply with the requirements for following the Hanafi madhhab adopted in Tatarstan. Despite repeated attempts by Kamal el-Zant to emphasize that he himself does not speak out and never criticized the madhhab of Abu Hanifa (699-767), there was no trust in his words. In the end, the times when Arab preachers could freely operate in Tatarstan were ending. Kamal el-Zant was given a clear understanding of this, and he realized that this could have consequences for him. And it will be easier to leave Russia back to his home in Lebanon, especially since he retained the citizenship of Lebanon.

It is noteworthy that the last public speaking el-Zanta became involved in the same program “7 Days” on the TNV TV channel in January 2013, which 2 years ago showed a video clip where an Arab preacher was shown as a conductor of Wahhabism, because of which he unsuccessfully sued. For almost two hours in the broadcast studio, Kamal el-Zant had a conversation with the general director of TNV and the host of the 7 Days program, Ilshat Aminov, and the then chairman of the Ulema Council of the Spiritual Muslim Spiritual Directorate of Tatarstan, Rustam Batrov (now he is the first deputy mufti of Tatarstan): this, as it turned out, became a farewell speech by an Arab preacher in Russia, and not in a mosque, but in the studio of a TV channel in front of a much larger audience. Probably, the organizers of this whole event in this way addressed a large mass of el-Zant's fans, showing their spiritual idol as a supporter of loyalty to state bodies and the Spiritual Muslim Spiritual Board of the Republic of Tatarstan. As the press wrote, on the one hand, some radical adherents expected fiery speeches from him in defense of Muslims(after the terrorist attack on July 19, 2012, mass detentions of Muslims took place in Kazan, however, then everyone was released. - ed.), on the other hand, the security forces began to suppress any protests rather harshly» . El-Zant himself did not indicate his position on this matter at that time, probably disappointing his ardent supporters in some way, who were waiting for his call and loud statements. As a result, after the start of the closure of the Family Center in 2012 (we note that despite the liquidation of the organization as legal entity, the publication of the newspaper "Strong Family", Muslim calendars and books of imams associated with this organization will continue) Kamal el-Zant himself began to realize that it would be better for him to leave Russia. In the new prevailing conditions of control over the religious sphere in Tatarstan, there is no place for self-proclaimed and alternative preachers. It is obvious that el-Zant will not be able to preach traditional Islam, and he does not know it. Then it will not be consistent with his former image, with his published books, in which he spoke critically about the religious traditions of the Tatar people. It would be easier and safer for him to leave Tatarstan. And on January 14, 2013, Kamal el-Zant left Russia for Lebanon with his family. At home, he works in his main specialty - a doctor.

Giving an assessment of the activities of Kamal el-Zant, it should be noted that his role and his place in the recent history of the Islamic Ummah of Tatarstan is that of all the Arab preachers who came to Tatarstan, he had the greatest influence on the Muslims of Tatarstan. Firstly, he occupied the niche of a Russian-speaking preacher, of which there are not so many in Tatarstan: the vast majority of imams in the region, even the most popular ones, speak mainly in the Tatar language in front of an audience of believers, while El-Zant attracted to his side those who either poorly understood Tatar language, or did not know him at all (the percentage of Russified Tatars is very high in Kazan). In addition, thanks to his oratory talent and well-placed voice, when during a sermon he turns to shouting, clearly warming up the audience of Muslims listening to him, he earned himself the fame of a charismatic preacher who knows how to “ignite” the crowd. To be honest, there is no second such Russian-speaking preacher in Tatarstan yet. Secondly, Kamal el-Zant managed to attract to his side Muslims of different directions of Islam: from Hanafi to Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Wahhabis. All this fit into the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was based on the principle of pan-Islamism: no matter what your ideological preferences, the main thing is that you are a Muslim, and all Muslims should be brothers to each other. This was usually followed by action. And the events in Egypt showed this when the Muslim Brotherhood took an active part in the "Arab revolution".

Books, audio and video discs with Kamal el-Zant's sermons are still freely sold in Tatarstan; even the physical absence of an Arab preacher in the region does not mean that his legacy is not claimed by that part of the Muslims who share his beliefs.

In 2015, Kamal el-Zant's master's thesis was published in Nizhnekamsk on the topic “The morals of the Muslim family in the Noble Quran”, defended in Lebanon, as a separate book in Russian. Those. the author has not been in Russia for 2 years now, and his works are being published by his followers and sympathizers. And although there is no direct correlation between the sermons of Kamal el-Zant and the terrorist activity of Islamic radicals in Tatarstan, el-Zant and similar local Tatar preachers, who adhere to the direction of Islam that is not traditional for Russia, managed to create fertile ground for the expansion of the presence of Islamic radicalism.

Notes:

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2. Batrov R. We are being fooled for a reason // "Islamic Portal", February 28, 2011. URL: http://www.islam-portal.ru/communication/blog/Batrov/97.php (Free access)

3. Vatoropin A.S. Islamist movement in modern Russia: genesis, character traits and development prospects // Sociological journal. - 2013. - N2. - p.97-110

4. A list of Muslim books "outside the law" has been named in Tatarstan // "Arguments and Facts" (Kazan), June 16, 2011. URL: http://www.kazan.aif.ru/society/details/426816 (Free access)

6. Kamal el Zant. Tell me about Vera. - Kazan: Idel-Press Publishing House, 2007. - 528 p.

7. Kamal El Zant. Tell me about Vera. 2nd edition, revised and enlarged. - Kazan: Publishing house "Idel-press", 2009. - 544 p.

8. Conference “Muslim Brotherhood in Russia: penetration, nature of activity, consequences for the Muslim community of the country” // Muslim world. - 2014. - N3. - p.151-153

9. Minvaleev A. Kazan left the preacher of "non-traditional" Islam // "BUSINESS Online", January 29, 2013. URL: http://www.business-gazeta.ru/article/74043/ (Free access)

10. Appeal of the "Cultural Islamic Center "Family" to the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan // "Voice of Islam", August 15, 2012. URL: http://golosislama.ru/news.php?id=10788 (Free access)

11. “It is no longer possible to deny the penetration of religious fundamentalism into the republic”: an interview with acting. Mufti of Tatarstan Ildus Faizov // "REGNUM": February 8, 2011. URL: http://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-volga/tatarstan/1372865.html (Free access)

12. Podtserob A.B. Russian-Arab Relations: The Impact of the Islamic Factor // Russia and the Islamic World: History and Perspectives of Civilizational Interaction. Collection of articles and materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Karim Khakimov (March 24-26, 2011). - Ufa: Vagant, 2011. - p.127-132

13. Polyakov K.I. The Arab East and Russia: the problem of Islamic fundamentalism. Ed. 2nd, stereotypical - M.: Editorial URSS, 2003. - 160 p.

14. Postnov G. Tatar Muslim Brothers Go Underground // Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 15, 2011. URL: http://www.ng.ru/regions/2011-11-15/1_tatarstan.html (Free access)

15. Review of the book by Kamal El Zant "Tell me about the Faith" (Kazan: Publishing house "Idel-Press", 2007. - 528 p.) // Author's archive.

16. Salman F. The future of Tatar Islam // Confessional factor in the development of the Tatars: conceptual studies. - Kazan: Institute of History. Sh. Marjani AN RT, 2009. - p.194-204

17. Suleimanov R.R.. Arab Preachers in Tatarstan in the Late 20th - Early 21st Centuries: Ways of Penetration, Activity, Consequences // Ural Oriental Studies. Issue. 5. - Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University, 2013. - P. 200

18. On November 11, 2010, in Chistopol, local terrorists attempted to blow up the car of the head of the Center for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Chistopol. Then a group of organizers of this terrorist attack, which fortunately ended without casualties, went to the Nurlatsky district of Tatarstan, where they settled in the forest near the village of Novoye Almetyevo. There, the militants (Ruslan Spiridonov, Albert Khusnutdinov, Almaz Davletshin) tried to create a stationary camp (a dugout was dug, a solid arsenal of weapons was prepared, including even grenade launchers, food). However, on November 24, 2010, the militants were discovered by a local ranger, mistaking them for poachers at first. They opened fire on him, but he managed to get to the village and inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After that, on November 25, 2010, the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and special forces from military unit N5598 carried out a special operation to neutralize the terrorists: they left the forest and entered the territory of the village of Novoe Almetyevo, where they could hide in one of the houses. As a result of the special operation, the armed militants were eliminated. The events that took place in the Nurlat region of Tatarstan were called the “Nurlat syndrome”, the essence of which was that the Islamists of Tatarstan are moving from propaganda to active actions in the form of terrorist attacks.

The religious renaissance that began in Russia after the collapse of the USSR was accompanied by the penetration into its territory and the free activity of preachers of new religious movements. Often, the role of such missionaries was performed by foreigners, who, due to their own charisma, charm, ability to professionally and easily understand the broad masses of new believers to convey religious teachings, expanded the circle of their followers, contributed to strengthening the position of a new religious movement in a country in which until recently atheism was part of the state. ideology. The influx of such foreign preachers into Russia has become one of the channels for the religious expansion of foreign states, which is perceived today as a threat to the national security of the country. The fact that the activity of foreign emissaries of new religious movements is fraught with a certain danger is today the dominant opinion among both government officials and security officials, as well as among clergy and scientists. " In the 90s, an intensive penetration into Russia of non-governmental national and international organizations began, some of which pursued educational and humanitarian, and some also political goals.”, - Aleksey Podtserob writes about the Islamic aspect of Russian-Arab relations, noting that “ the International Islamic Organization for Relief and Salvation (Al-Igasa), the Society for the Revival of Islamic Heritage (Jamaa Ihyaa at-turas al-Islami), the Islamic Fund of the Two Holy Mosques (Al-Haramain), Charity ( Al-Kheiriya), Taiba International Charity Organization, International Charitable Foundation (Binevelence International Foundation), Qatar, etc.." . The active participation of Arab foundations in the religious revival in the Muslim regions of Russia is also confirmed by researchers from Saudi Arabia: “ Since the late 1980s. in the "Muslim" autonomies of Russia, as well as in the Central Asian republics and in the Transcaucasus, Saudi charitable foundations began to operate, which aimed to promote the revival of Muslim education and traditions there”, writes Saudi political scientist Majid bin Abdulaziz at-Turki.

Kamal Abdul Rahman El Zant was born on October 3, 1974 in Lebanon. Like many other representatives of the Arab youth of the second half of the 20th century who wanted to get a higher education, he went to Russia: at the age of 18, in 1992, el-Zant came to Kazan, where he entered the Kazan State Medical Institute at the Faculty of Medicine. In 1999, he successfully completed it, after which he entered the residency at the Department of Oncology (years of study: 1999-2002), and then at the Department of General Surgery (years of study: 2002-2004). Over the years, he marries a local Tatar woman, and has four children in marriage. Thanks to this, el-Zant receives Russian citizenship, while retaining the passport of a Lebanese citizen (i.e., he has dual citizenship). After that, he officially starts working at the City Oncological Dispensary in Kazan, according to colleagues at work, he was considered a good specialist.

In order to make up for the gap in religious education, and also not to receive accusations that he is self-taught, Kamal el-Zant decided to get a diploma. In 2008, he entered the correspondence department at the Lebanese University "Al-Jinan" (Tripoli) in the magistracy in the direction of "Quranic sciences". Even earlier, he memorized the Koran by August 30, 2001, and in 2003 he became a Koran-hafiz (a professional reader of the Koran who memorized the text of the Holy Book of Muslims).

The experts drew attention to the activities of the Regional Public Organization “Cultural Islamic Center “Family” (the president is Rafael Aflyatunov, who is also engaged in the hotel business in Kazan, he owns the Gulfstream Hotel), located in Kazan and having a representative office in Vysoka Gora (the regional center is 19 km from Kazan). The Family Center (Kazan, 2nd Azinskaya st., 1v) was registered on June 24, 2011, whose activities were identified with the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. At the same address is the Kazan mosque "Ometlelyar", in which an Arab preacher also regularly lectured. The mosque itself is referred to by researchers as one around which the Islamists are grouped. In 2012, Kamal el-Zant began working as a vice president at this Semya center, which published the Strong Family newspaper in Russian and Tatar. In the end, the regional authorities of Tatarstan finally realized where his missionary work among the Tatar youth was leading, measures were taken: the Family Center was liquidated as a legal entity by a decision of the Soviet District Court of Kazan on October 12, 2012 (the reason is a violation of the federal law " On public associations”: the “Family” center is registered as a public organization, but is engaged in religious activities). The President of the Family Center, Rafael Aflyatunov, tried to fight off the attention of the security forces, even made an open appeal to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan Artyom Khokhorin, in which he did not hide that in the organization " different people work and who do not share the actions of our spiritual leaders, and those who were dismissed from the DUM, and those who were forced to leave the posts of imams of mosques" and " it is impossible to drive all of them into one maskhab, to dictate to them how to behave, but it had no effect.

It is noteworthy that el-Zant's last public appearance was his participation in the same 7 Days program on the TNV TV channel in January 2013, which 2 years ago showed a video where an Arab preacher was shown as a conductor of Wahhabism, because of which he sued unsuccessfully. For almost two hours in the broadcast studio, Kamal el-Zant had a conversation with the general director of TNV and the host of the 7 Days program, Ilshat Aminov, and the then chairman of the Ulema Council of the Spiritual Muslim Spiritual Directorate of Tatarstan, Rustam Batrov (now he is the first deputy mufti of Tatarstan): this, as it turned out, became a farewell speech by an Arab preacher in Russia, and not in a mosque, but in the studio of a TV channel in front of a much larger audience. Probably, the organizers of this whole event in this way addressed a large mass of el-Zant's fans, showing their spiritual idol as a supporter of loyalty to state bodies and the Spiritual Muslim Spiritual Board of the Republic of Tatarstan. As the press wrote, on the one hand, some radical adherents expected fiery speeches from him in defense of Muslims(after the terrorist attack on July 19, 2012, mass detentions of Muslims took place in Kazan, however, then everyone was released. - ed.), on the other hand, the security forces began to suppress any protests rather harshly» . El-Zant himself did not indicate his position on this matter at that time, probably disappointing his ardent supporters in some way, who were waiting for his call and loud statements. As a result, after the start of the closure of the Family Center in 2012 (we note that despite the liquidation of the organization as a legal entity, the publication of the Strong Family newspaper, Muslim calendars and books of imams associated with this organization will continue), Kamal el-Zant himself began to realize that it would be better for him to leave Russia. In the new prevailing conditions of control over the religious sphere in Tatarstan, there is no place for self-proclaimed and alternative preachers. It is obvious that el-Zant will not be able to preach traditional Islam, and he does not know it. Then it will not be consistent with his former image, with his published books, in which he spoke critically about the religious traditions of the Tatar people. It would be easier and safer for him to leave Tatarstan. And on January 14, 2013, Kamal el-Zant left Russia for Lebanon with his family. At home, he works in his main specialty - a doctor.

Giving an assessment of the activities of Kamal el-Zant, it should be noted that his role and his place in the recent history of the Islamic Ummah of Tatarstan is that of all the Arab preachers who came to Tatarstan, he had the greatest influence on the Muslims of Tatarstan. Firstly, he occupied the niche of a Russian-speaking preacher, of which there are not so many in Tatarstan: the vast majority of imams in the region, even the most popular ones, speak mainly in the Tatar language in front of an audience of believers, while El-Zant attracted to his side those who either poorly understood the Tatar language, or did not know it at all (the percentage of Russified Tatars is very high in Kazan). In addition, thanks to his oratory talent and well-placed voice, when during a sermon he turns to shouting, clearly warming up the audience of Muslims listening to him, he earned himself the fame of a charismatic preacher who knows how to “ignite” the crowd. To be honest, there is no second such Russian-speaking preacher in Tatarstan yet. Secondly, Kamal el-Zant managed to attract to his side Muslims of different directions of Islam: from Hanafi to Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Wahhabis. All this fit into the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was based on the principle of pan-Islamism: no matter what your ideological preferences, the main thing is that you are a Muslim, and all Muslims should be brothers to each other. This was usually followed by action. And the events in Egypt showed this when the Muslim Brotherhood took an active part in the "Arab revolution".

Notes:

1. At-Turki Majid bin Abdel Aziz. Saudi-Russian Relations in Global and Regional Processes (1926-2004) - M.: Progress Publishing House LLC, 2005. - 416 p.

2. Batrov R. We are being fooled for a reason // "Islamic Portal", February 28, 2011. URL: http://www.islam-portal.ru/communication/blog/Batrov/97.php (Free access)

3. Vatoropin A.S. Islamist movement in modern Russia: genesis, characteristics and development prospects // Sociological journal. - 2013. - N2. - p.97-110