Speaking "destiny", I do not mean predetermination of the Almighty. Here it will be a question of relationships of cause and effect that we ourselves create. In this sense the destiny of the separate person and the destiny of the whole nation lie in their own hands. Certainly, it is necessary to consider influence of external factors, including human. But these are only calls that should be accepted by separate people or nation as a whole. Answering these calls, we create our own destiny, our own history, our own way.
We cannot blame in everything some external causes and forget that we live in a difficult complex of relationships of cause and effect, and some of them are not subject to our understanding. It is also silly to blame in everything accident, as those do not happen. We reap the fruits of our affairs, but we also see what happens not on our will and led us to these or that decisions. This is interaction of human will and the divine power.
How should we treat history of our people and what happens to Muslims of Crimea today? Every year we recollect tragic events of the past — exile from the native land, murder of our brothers and sisters, destruction of our memory, our culture. Every year we speak about deportation and reprisals. Do we reflect on why it has happened? What induced some people to make the given decision, and others — to carry it out? Why we allowed that to happen? Why we did not have powers for prevention of this crime or its non-admission?
Studying our history, we ascertain the facts of Bolshevist or imperial terror, giving them moral estimation or explaining their motivation. Why? That descendants would not forget? Or that the pain gave power? To cause hatred, pity, repentance? These questions demand answers, too. Maybe someone manipulates these things in their interests? No, no, we do not suspect anybody and we do not accuse. We simply search for right answers to accept right decisions — that are really necessary for us, Muslims of Crimea. "Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned, that ((Allah)) may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from Evil)." (The Holy Quran, 30:41)
If you look at the purely physical side of our being, the Almighty provided all of us with everything necessary for existence in this world. Our earth feeds us and gives us energy for life. But the modern ecological situation testifies that many people are not able to appreciate and protect this gift of Allah. In Crimea soil, air, water and even sea are polluted. And after all we have no another Motherland, and we should struggle for it. Moreover, natural features of the peninsula — it's climate, sea, mountains, flora, fauna — played an important role in formation of character of our people.
Muslims of Crimea is a community generated in the course of long ethnogenesis. Many people settled here, bringing their culture, language, knowledge and religion. Since long ago on the peninsula territory lived the Greeks, the Armenians, the Goths, the Sarmatians, the Kypchaks, the Karaims, and the Slavs who converted to Islam. The Crimean Tatars incorporated representatives of all ethnoses between which there was no big difference in lifestyle and clothes. The language was not a dividing factor, too: the majority of ethnic groups in the Crimean Khanate spoke one, Turkic, language, even if many preserved their own one. We will find acknowledgement of all of it in researches of many historians, for example, Valery Vozgrin. The Crimean Muslims stood out by only one thing — their religion. Islam created these people, no anything else.
The culture of the Crimean Tatars was generated by Islam, having kept partly cultural heritage of the people which entered into this community. The statehood, the common history and that, what we can call historical memory, played in it a key role. Just imagine: if not Islam, what would be after wreck of the Crimean statehood? There would be no such people, as the Crimean Tatars without Islam. There would be ethno-cultural groups united only by the Turkic language.
We would not deny that in the strongest way on the Crimean Tatars influenced the modern culture, traditions and outlook of the people living side by side with us, and modern, so-called "Western", culture as a whole. In many aspects we are already not those Crimean Tatars that returned from the deportation, and, unequivocally, not these which we were before it. If to compare Muslims of Crimea of the times of Gasprinsky or Noman Chelebi Jihan, they differed from the Crimeans, for example, from the period of Gireys, too much. Indeed, the clothes, the food, the lifestyle and even the language and the traditions distinguish us from our genetic ancestors. But there is a common thing for all generations of the Crimean Tatars that keeps us as uniform — Islam.
Unfortunately, such concepts as tradition, traditional religion, customs, are quite often tried to be manipulated. Sometimes on ignorance, and sometimes from mean calculation. We speak about what age of this or that tradition to consider its primordial, national one? Nowadays some Muslims bring flowers on cemeteries, having adopted it from the Russians after returning to Crimea. Some customs of carrying out of religious meetings have arisen in deportation; something was imparted by communists and the Soviet power. To refer to certain traditions is a rather disputable course which cannot consolidate Muslims of Crimea. However, some things are indisputable. For example, that Muslims of Crimea were Sunnis, or that let not unique, but dominating Madhab on the peninsula is Hanafi.
The problem of primordial traditions can be compared to the long river flowing on the big territory. If we wish to find the purest water of this river, it is necessary to return there where it originates — to its source. And the beginning of our people is Islam. Accordingly, talking about revival of this or that cultural component, we should be guided by Islamic criterion, Islamic dominant. "Keep the Book of Allah and my Sunnah and you never lose the way", the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said.
Atypical example
Having addressed to the researches of the great Muslim scholar who is deservedly considered to be the founder of sociology, Ibn Khaldun, we will find out many important axioms. In particular, he writes, "The defeated always follows the winner in his way of life, customs, clothes, household and religion, perceiving victory of the winner as a sign of his superiority in everything. It occurs owing to glorification of the winner in the opinion of the defeated, and the last tries to imitate the new ideal in everything".
Nowadays we see how Muslims follow those who conquered them. It concerns the Arabian world, India, Africa and the Muslim people subdued by Russia. Muslims suffered utter defeat from the European powers — England, France, Russia — because those surpassed Muslims in science, technics, economy and organization. But it is necessary also to address to other examples, having asked a question why the first generations of Muslims won Persians, Byzantines, kings of the Pyrenees peninsula? After all, Muslims conceded to them in number, arms and practically in all material resources. Our ancestors were moved not by the worldly purposes, not by desire of power, riches and not by vanity. The matter is in the spirit, in faith, in fidelity to the duty of Islam.
Ibn Khaldun also marked, "If the people get under the power of other people, it accelerates their decline and involves destruction". We, Muslims of Crimea, the great and mighty nation some time ago, today we appear in the U.N. list of the people threatened with extinction. The reason for that is cultural pressure, assimilation, mixed marriages, loss of true values and secularization, withdrawal from religion.
We shall remind one more, atypical example — Mongol conquest of Iraq and Syria. What happens after that? Conquering Muslims, the aggressors converted to Islam. It is extremely rare cause when the winner completely adopts faith of the defeated. Why it did not happen in Crimea? In what way Muslims conquered by the Mongols differ from the Crimean Muslims conquered by Russia? That Muslims of Iraq and Syria, losing to the Mongols on the battlefield, surpassed them culturally and spiritually, morally and ideologically.
Common idea
Nowadays many speak about unity. One recalls words of Noman Chelebi Jihan about unity in language, duty and ideas. It is possible to agree with it, but there is a question: what is it, our common idea? In the Holy Quran we read, "Among you are some that hanker after this world and some that desire the Hereafter" (The Holy Quran, 3:152). Our people can only be in one of three positions: or all will aspire to the worldly blessings and then unity cannot be achieved for clear reasons, or the part will think of meeting with the Allah, and the other part will strive to enrichment and will indulge in passions. In this case unity will not be achieved, too. And the third variant, having chosen which, we will remain as the nation and we will save up peace and mutual understanding in Crimea... In my opinion, we should understand it, celebrating tragical day on May, 18th.
"If any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him" (The Holy Quran, 5:54). Let us ponder on this warning of Allah the Almighty which, maybe, gave chance to our people, having returned it on its native earth.
Seyran ARIFOV,
Master of Shariat Sciences
By the newspaper "Arraid"
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