This talk explores how various authorities and institutions have offered competing visions of how to live a pious life for Russia’s growing Muslim communities. These debates about the identity of “Russian Islam” continue to wrestle with the Soviet legacy of anti-religious politics. However, in recent years they now also address the challenges of migration from the Caucasus and Central Asia, religious and racial discrimination, the ascendancy of the Orthodox Church in Russian politics, and Russia’s expanding role in the Middle East. In seeking answers to questions about everyday piety, gender, ritual, Muslim-Christian relations, and other matters, Muslim men and women in Russia have access, via “old” and “new media,” to a heterogeneous landscape of rival intellectuals and leaders who are reshaping the face of Islam in contemporary Russia.

Robert Crews is a Professor of History at Stanford University. His research and teaching interests focus on Afghanistan, Central and South Asia, Russia, Islam and Global History. He is the author of For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia (Harvard University Press, 2006).