moscow,
shiism,
migration,
islam,
post-soviet period
Abstract
The article examines the problem of “parallel communities” drawing upon the example of Moscow Shiite (Imamite) groups. They include immigrants from different regions and belong to different cultural areas and “ethnic groups” from Transcaucasia, South Asia, etc. They do not constitute a single “Moscow Shiite Jamaat” but rather exist in “parallel planes” already in relation to each other. This is largely similar to the groups of followers of Shiism-Imamism existing in Europe and America. Having appeared as a result of post-Soviet migration, Shiite communities were able to settle and gain a foothold in the Moscow region. They mostly relied on their own resources and organizational activity; they created their own (Shiite) religious spaces (mosques, hussainiyas, prayer rooms); they entered translocal Shiite networks (Iranian, Azerbaijani, Afghan, etc.). The Shia Muslim communities have no intersections with the Russian Sunni Islamic field, which allows us to talk about “autonomy” or even “invisibility” of Moscow Shia Muslims. Nevertheless, the Moscow Shiite jamaats use various techniques characteristic of subcultural communities: the presence of their own spaces, cultural codes and networks of sympathizers.
