The Islamic Concept of Happiness: Psychological Analysis

The article is devoted to the study of the Islamic concept of happiness from the standpoint of psychological science. Two approaches to the understanding of happiness, originating in Antiquity, are considered: hedonistic and eudemonistic; the cultural specifi city of happiness is investigated through the prism of ethnocultural values. It outlines the views on psychological health and well-being in Islam, as well as the views on social and individual predictors of happiness of medieval and modern Muslim scholars. The author concludes that the concept of happiness and the idea of it has its own specifi city in diff erent cultures. The concept of happiness among Muslims is directly related to their religious values and worldview, as well as to the peculiarities of ethnic culture. Since Muslim communities are collectivist, the happiness of an individual is seen as closely related to the public good. For a Muslim, the path to happiness is associated with improving his character and the formation of moral values and behavior. Modern Psychology and Psychotherapy are developing the ideas about moral psychology and the ways of its formation as the basis for the psychological wellbeing of an individual.

“Practical” Hermeneutics of Muhammad Quraish Shihab – between Scilla of Anarchy and Charybdis of Dogmatism

The present article deals with the work of an Indonesian scholar and a public intellectual Muhammad Quraish Shihab. The paper reveals the main principles of Quraish Shihab's Quranic Hermeneutics, which include pragmatism (orienting towards the joint interest), thematic approach and methodological holism. Among the objects of the research there are his innovative approach to Quran exegesis, his links with Egyptian modernist schools of M. Abduh and M.R. Ridah, his ideas, where Islam comes as a “middle way”. Moreover, the article demonstrates the connection between his hermeneutical theory and his social activism, especially in the fi eld of media. The author concludes the paper with a brief explanation of the main points of Quraish Shihab's hermeneutical theory.

The relationship between the characteristics of Ethnic Identity and Psychosemantic Characteristics of Experiencing (‘Perezhivanie’) Interethnic Relations of Palestinian Muslims in the multinational Levant Region

This paper presents the results of analyzing the psychological patterns of the development of ethnic identity and interethnic relations in the multinational Levant Region, where interethnic confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis has been noted in recent years. The main aim of the research is to reveal the relationship between the characteristics of Ethnic Identity and the Experience (“perezhivanie”) of Interethnic Relations of Palestinian Muslims in the multicultural Levant Region. In the process of investigating into ethnic self-awareness the authors used the Leary Test, the Semantic Diff erential of “Perezhivanie” ‘Experiencing’ Questionnaire by L.R. Fakhrutdinova aimed at studying the psychosemantic characteristics of the “perezhivanie” ‘experiencing’. The research has displayed that Ethnic Identity is a self-developing phenomenon, basically infl uenced by both the infrastructural relations and positions of ethnic self-awareness, and the processes associated with the relations of ethnic self-awareness with the external environment, with other ethnic groups. The most active points of development have been identifi ed. So, in intrastructural relations, they are active as ratios of I-real and I-mirror with a stronger position of I-ideal, since practically all dimensions of I-real and I-ideal (dominance, egoism, suspicion, etc.) have shown signifi cant diff erences that testify to the points and directions of development of ethnic self-awareness; positions in the relationship between the real self and the mirror self also exerted an active infl uence. The points of confl ict of the structures of ethnic self-consciousness were found, where, when the points of development coincided, the direction of development was diff erent. Thus, suspicion, obedience, dependence, friendliness, integrative indicators of dominance and friendliness have shown themselves to be confl ict points refl ecting confl ict zones between the infl uence of an external ethnic group (mirror self) and self-development processes manifested through the ideal self. In the situation of relations with the external environment, the most active was shown by the self-mirror, which infl uences the development of the subjectivity of the ethnic group through the components of the experience of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. The infl uence of the real self on the characteristics of the “perezhivanie” ‘experiencing’ of the PalestinianIsraeli crisis was also manifested, and therefore, through the components of the “perezhivanie” ‘experiencing’ of this impression on the development of the self-awareness of the ethnic group.

The specifi cs of Monotheism (tawhid) as “a thing-in-itself”. On the Evolution of Islamic Theology in the Late Russian Empire

In this paper, we will try to give a dynamic characterization of the object and the subject of Modern theology among the Tatar Muslims on the exemplar of the theological views of ‘Abdunnasīr Qursavi (1776–1812), Shihabutdin Marjani (1818–1889) and Murad Ramzi (1854–1934) (and partly of their contemporaries). The incognizability of the Creator and the faith as “a thing-in-itself” transformed Tatar Religious Epistemology into the cognition of more defi nite realities. Agnosticism in the question of God’s attributes led to the anthropocentric features of theological worldviews. The above-mentioned chain of theologians demonstrates not only the continuity of the Tatar Theology, but also refl ects the dynamics of the evolution of the attitude towards the madhhabs and towards the role of an individual, the specifi cs of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidiya Sufi brotherhood, as well as the Ottoman ‘usul fi qh’ in the modernization period of the early XVIII century. In general, the works of Qursavi constitute a certain system of views that can be considered as a certain cornerstone, the so-called ‘starting point’ of Tatar School of Theology.

Building Electronic Ecosystem of Religious Islamic Education

The article describes the most important stages of creating an ecosystem of electronic religious education. It also presents one of the possible models for the formation of an electronic informational and educational environment. At the present stage with all the technical prerequisites having been created there is already a widespread basis for the formation of electronic educational ecosystem at almost all levels of religious education. Moreover, there is a lag in the use of new technologies in teaching. Forming electronic educational environment will create additional tools and conditions for analyzing the indicators referred to the educational process, it also will provide a holistic view on the state of the educational system, will reveal qualitative and quantitative changes in it.

Review of Ozerov O.B. “Karim Khakimov: chronicle of life (Destiny of Islam and communism in Russia)”. Moscow: KMK Scientifi c Press; 2020. 232p.

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A treatise addressed to “sane minds”: Review of the translation of the book by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani “The answer to the materialists”. Moscow: “Medina” Publ.; 2021. 72 p.

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“The theory of lights” by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ad-Dabbagh as an example of the Sufi s’ comprehension of Hadith Quds

The article is related to “the theory of lights” which belongs to the Moroccan sheikh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ad-Dabbagh (d. 1720/1). His concept resembles Illuminationism Philosophy and describes all the Divine Revelation granted to the Prophet Muhammad within the hierarchy of the “lights”. The main objective of the article is to defi ne the position of Hadith Qudsi in the framework of the abovementioned concept and to reveal the place of these texts in the Sufi ’s system of knowledge in general

Quran on internal confl ict on the example of the concepts “shakk” and “rayb”

The multiplicity of new challenges facing society actualizes interest in religious sources, which become the object of research for specialists in various fi elds of knowledge. In this regard, the Quran contains valuable information that expands the understanding of intrapersonal confl ict in terms of the study of the state of doubt “shakk” and suspicion “reib”, as well as factors contributing to the emergence and overcoming of these states. The study of “shakk” and “raib” was carried out as part of the case study of the Quran, which takes into account both the scientifi c and theological methodological basis, developed on the analysis of the Tafsirs by Tabari (839–923), by Zamakhshari (1075–1144), by Razi (1149–1209), by Tantawi (1928–2010). The article is intended to contribute to the development of the Quranbased Confl ictological Studies, as well as to emphasize the relevance of integrating scientifi c and theological knowledge into the fi eld of searching answers to pressing questions of our time.

Confessional policy of the Bolsheviks in the Сrimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1920-1930s

The article examines confessional politics in one of the most diffi cult periods for religious organizations that are the 20–30s of the XX century. At this time, active anti-religious work was carried out, so there were created some special organizations supposed to get rid of any manifestations of religious consciousness among the Soviet citizens. All the diversity of this policy is discussed on the example of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The policy that revealed the relation to the Orthodox and Muslim populations and took into account the national specifi cs of the region varied from relatively loyal attitude towards religious organizations in the 1920s to the events of the Great Terror of 1937–1938. The Crimean ASSR was multi-confessional. The authorities faced the need to compromise between the fi ght against religion and the desire not to aggravate confl icts with national minorities. The anti-religious policy was not supposed to confl ict with the policy of indigenousization. Throughout the pre-war twenty years, anti-religious work in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was not fully implemented and was poorly organized. The slowdown in the implementation of the anti-religious line was caused by both unsuccessful selections of the personnel and insuffi cient funding of the anti-religious activities carried out.