6th 'Islam in a Multicultural World' Forum Held at Kazan University

This year's forum is dedicated to interconfessional dialog and radicalism prevention.

Director of the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies Ramil Khayrutdinov commented, «This forum has been held since 2011, and for six years now it has been a platform for leading Russian and overseas researchers of Islam. Among the organizers are the Muslim Spiritual Administration of Russia, Muslim Spiritual Administration of Tatarstan, Russian Islamic Institute (Kazan), Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS, and Center for Islamic Studies of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences».

For the second year in a row the forum presents a summary of Muslim religious situation monitoring. The previous report included Volga and Ural regions, Crimea, Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, and Central Russia. The second one added Siberia and Far East in Russia, and some other countries including Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan.

Kazan University has traditionally been very active in Islamic studies. Vice-Rector Linar Latypov said that he was glad that the conference grows year-to-year, and specifically mentioned the success of the Islamica Resource Center.

Among the opening reports was one by Vitaly Naumkin, Head of the Islamica Resource Center of KFU and Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS.

«It's very important that a many scientists, experts, clerics from different regions and countries have gathered here. This is a sign that Kazan becomes a center of Islamic and Oriental Studies. The mere fact of making this research area a separate discipline is a step forward for Russian and Tatarstani science. The multifaceted importance of this conference is evident», said he.

The two-day weekend event includes four panel sessions and seven roundtables. Several new publications are being presented, such as a new encyclopedia “Islam in Tatarstan”, a situational analysis report “The Current State of Russian Ummah”, a collective monograph “Radical Islamic Movements on the Contemporary World Map”, and others.