Russia's Mistakes in Dealing with Muslims (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Recently, a local radio station conducted a survey: “Are you afraid of Islamization?” 70% of Muscovites said they fear the rise of Islam. At the same time, our liberals, representatives of the authorities and even the patriotic movement unanimously speak about the “centuries-long experience of cohabitation of Christians and Muslims in the Russian Empire” as the ideal of cooperation between two civilizations. The Eurasian ideology is put forward about the proximity of two worlds - Islam and Orthodoxy, supposedly opposite to Western civilization. 

At the same time, public consciousness is torn apart by two mutually exclusive ideas: on the one hand, myth about the “peaceful coexistence of two faiths that believe in One God,” and on the other, the obvious fact of mass Islamic terrorism throughout the world. Therefore, it is worth saying a few words about our history. After all, what we observe at the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity has already happened more than once in our country.

Indeed, Orthodox Christians and Muslims have been living together on Russian territory since the 10th century, when Volga Bulgaria was converted to Islam. And all this time, not a single century passed when a war was not waged with the world of Islam. There were centuries when Christianity triumphed, and there were also dark centuries of Muslim rule (the Golden Horde converted to Islam in 1314). This “peaceful coexistence” cost the Russians several million lives, either killed during raids or sold into slavery. Thanksgiving should be offered to the Mother of God that the Orthodox in Russia defeated the “godless Hagarians” (as our liturgical books call Muslims). 

It was thanks to the military victory of Christians that the coexistence of the two worlds became possible. In those Orthodox countries where Islam was victorious, Christianity more often disappeared, because its bearers were literally slaughtered. So Russians have a lot of experience in contact with Muslims. This includes war (it is no coincidence that “busurman” in Russian sayings is a synonym for the enemy), and captivity, and the pacification of uprisings, and the faithful service of some Muslims under the rule of the white Tsar, and, most importantly, mass conversions of Muslims to Christ. 

There were also times when Christians faithfully fulfilled their duty and brought good news to the lost. One can cite as an example the Kasimov Khanate, where many Tatars accepted Orthodoxy, and the preaching of Christianity in Kazan and Astrakhan after the conquest of these territories by Tsar Ivan IV, which brought abundant fruit.

But during the reign of Catherine II, of ill memory, the policy of the empire changed in many ways. Instead of fulfilling what God had already assigned to St. Constantine's duty to protect the Church and facilitate the accession of new children of God to it, Russian emperors began to promote the spread and strengthening of Islam and other false beliefs (Buddhism and Western heresies). It was the Russian emperors who were responsible for the fact that the Kazakhs converted not to Christianity, but to Islam (Catherine II invited mullahs to the Kazakhs). It was the policies of Catherine and her successors that led to the emergence of the Chechen problem, when propagandists of Islam were allowed into the Caucasus and seduced the pagans. The very next generation of converts unleashed a wave of terror that led to centuries of war. 

Thus, flirting with unbelief and lies, carried out ostensibly for the good of Russia, led to great troubles for the country. And this is no coincidence: God does not support those who neglect heavenly blessings for the sake of earthly good. He has his own people among the Tatars, Kazakhs, and Chechens, but the betrayal of the Russian tsars, who erected mosques where Orthodox churches could be built, pushed them into soul-destroying Gehenna.

This is precisely the worst thing that the Russian tsars built mosques for Muslims with their own money, confirming the followers of the Koran in their error. We cannot imagine that a Byzantine emperor or a Moscow Grand Duke would build a mosque or a pagan temple. But this is what secularized emperors, taught by Western humanists, did, as if God were indifferent to people’s faith. This is how the Russian authorities behave now. And the result is the same: this is the growth of Islamic terrorism and the strengthening of Islamic propaganda, including among Russians (the “Russian Islam” project is gaining strength). Unfortunately, now something has happened that has not happened in all centuries in the Church: not only the authorities, but also some church people are confirming Muslims in their error, saying that we believe in one God. This statement is heresy and deception towards Muslims.

What do we do? The answer is obvious. Muslims are seduced by their ancient enemy - Satan, and therefore it is possible to come to an agreement with them only for a while. Practice shows that they live in peace only when they feel strong state power over them. This is the only way to pacify them within the state. But the Church has a much more powerful way of influencing the erring: this is an uncompromising witness to them of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Savior of people. In Him is the reconciliation of nations. Our mission among Muslims is the only real opportunity to live normally with Islamic peoples both in this and in the next century. After all, having turned to God and accepted holy Baptism, they will become our brothers, and how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together (Ps. 133:1).