TALLINN, Estonia -- Two mullahs won election to local government councils in Russia's Saratov oblast, or region, March 12 Sunday not by relying on the strength of the Muslim voters -- who in any case make up fewer than a quarter of the electorate -- but rather by reaching out to and winning the support of the non-Muslim majorities in their districts.
Imam Shavkyat Karimov, the leader of the Muslim community of the Ozinskiy district, was elected as a deputy to its council, handily defeating his chief competitor, the former head of Ozinskiy area, Vladimir Agafonov, the Islam-Info.ru news portal reported Thursday.
Also Thursday, Ramilä Mustafin, the imam-khatyb of the Ivanteyevsk mosque, won election as a deputy to the Ivanteyevskiy district assembly. Mustafin talked about both the election and his plans for the future with Asya Kapayeva, a journalist who works for Islam-Info.ru
Asked whether "the Islamic factor" had played a role in his election, Mustafin said he did not think that it had, noting that among the residents of his district, Muslims formed "less than 25 percent." As he won 86 percent of all votes, Mustafin pointed out, he clearly had gained the support of "the Russian-language population" of many villages.
The imam said that in his new position, he planned to focus on social and cultural problems afflicting all residents there. When pressed by Kapayeva as to whether he would defend the interests of Muslims in the region, Mustafin replied that "of course" he would, saying that "this also as one of my main tasks."
Five of his students were studying either in the Russian Federation or abroad, he said, and he wanted to "prepare the ground for their return to their motherland so that they will be able to take an active role both in religious and in social-political life." By doing that, he continued, he would be doing "a great deal" for the rebirth of Ivanteyevsk district.
Asked if he would be able to combine work in the district council with responsibilities at the mosque, Mustafin said that "there could not be any question" about that. Indeed, he continued, he would not only be working as imam but also completing his second "already secular" higher education at Moscow's Contemporary Humanitarian Academy.
Although Muslims do not at present form a majority in Saratov region, Islam-Info-ru's Kapayeva pointed out, their numbers are increasing; and in the meantime, they are assuming an ever more high profile role in the social and political life of that still predominantly ethnic Russian region.
Two months ago, another local imam was elected head of the regional administration in the village of Verkhazovka in the region's Dergachevskiy district. And the head of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate, Mufti Mukaddas Bibarsov, has by his frequent public appearances won a spot as one of the most influential people there.
According to one list published recently by the "MK-Saratov" newspaper, the mufti is now ranked as the fourth most influential personage in the region, behind only Governor Pavel Ipatov, the former vice governor and now Vice Speaker of the Russian Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, and the regional procurator Anatoliy Bondar.
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(Paul Goble teaches at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia.)