Window on Eurasia

Moscow Urged to Mobilize CIS Muslims Against U.S.

 

Paul Goble

Vienna, June 19, 2006 – Moscow should mobilize Muslim groups in the
countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States in order to block
the expansion of American influence in that region, according to Geidar
Dzhemal, the head of the Islamic Committee of Russia who has often
allied himself with Russia’s most anti-Western politicians.

In an interview posted on the Islam.ru webpage, Dzhemal argues that the
recent protests in Crimea against a NATO exercise there represents
“the first good experience of blocking American-CIS measures through
the use of internal resources and local cadres”

[http://www.islam.ru/pressclub/analitika/krim/?print_page].

And the Muslim leader with close ties to many left-wing Russian
nationalists adds that in his opinion, “this experience must be
studied [by Russia and Russia’s Muslims] and then extended to Central
Asia and the Southern Caucasus” in order that “the land will burn
under the feet of the Americans!”

According to Dzhemal, the elites in the countries of these two regions
“best of all recognize now the negative essence of Americanism and
its satanic nature” but “unfortunately, the people has still not
awakened and risen to an understanding of what Americanism brings with
it.”

Given that situation, he suggests, Muslims in both the Russian
Federation and these other countries can play a key role in “raising
the level of the political consciousness of the masses through
da’awat (an Islamic call)” which now must include political and not just
religious elements.

The radical Islamist leader argues that promoting such a politicized
version of Islam not only will undermine the secular nationalism of
Crimean Tatars like Mustafa Dzhemilyev but also help to
internationalize the situation there, both of which will promote Russian interests.

Dzhemal then examines the consequences of such a strategy in the
context of the increasingly tense relationship between the United States and
Iran. He argues that the recent changes in the upper reaches of the
American government mean that Washington is “still more inclined to
adventurism and dangerous actions than it was a year ago.”

Indeed, he continues, “thanks to the aggressive American policy, Iran
has become the leader of world resistance. More than that, namely as a
result of American policy, Teheran morally is able to win leading
positions throughout the Islamic world,” something that serves
Russia’s purposes as well.

Muslims in Russia and the CIS can slow any plans by the United States
to move against Iran by adding to the difficulties Washington faces in
their own countries just as they have already done in Ukraine. And that
in turn will work to the advantage of the umma not only in Russia, the
CIS countries and Iran but throughout the world:

“The more America loses time [in its ongoing campaign against Iran],
the more it is guaranteed that it will pass from the scene just as did
the former USSR,” a conclusion that not everyone either in the
Russian government or in Western capitals will find entirely reassuring.

With regard to the countries within the CIS in which Muslims might
operate, Dzhemal makes a clear distinction between those where Muslims
are in a minority such as Ukraine and Georgia and those like Azerbaijan
and the countries of Central Asia where Muslims are the dominant
communities.

In Ukraine, he suggests, “very many Ukrainians are paying attention
to Islam because it is a passionate nation [a term from the late
Eurasianist leader Lev Gumilyev referring to a people on the rise]
which [like many of them] is disappointed in the Western project and is not
characterized by love for Americanism.”

Consequently, Dzhemal continues, there like in Georgia, Moscow and its
Muslims can gain influence by playing up this dimension of Islam even
among those groups who are not themselves Muslim.

Concerning the Muslim majority countries of Azerbaijan and Central
Asia, Dzhemal says, Moscow and its Muslims must do the maximum they can to
make conditions difficult for the Americans, both because of Iran and
because of the broader interests of Russia and Islam.

This means, he says, “there should be an active cooperation with
Islamic organizations in the neighboring countries of the CIS, not only
in Central Asia but in Georgia and Azerbaijan. For this,” he says,
Moscow and its Muslims should work both at the official and unofficial
level and actively coordinate their respective messages.

Dzhemal is clearly speaking in the first instacne for himself, but the
arguments he makes in this interview may very well have a broader
resonance. At the very least, they are a reminder of the fact that
Moscow and its Muslims could in fact pursue parallel policies, both of
which would be directed against the United States and the West.