Sufi Tariqats in the Caucasus: A System-Communicative Analysis of Culturally-Complex Societies

Abstract

The recently collected historical data regarding contemporary Sufism in the North-Eastern Caucasus allow the authors to outline the main directions and trends of this phenomenon. Among these are various processes of interaction and divergence within the Sufi brotherhoods, their views on general issues of spiritual teaching, values and authorities, and a complex and often ambiguous attitude of the Sufis towards the political Islam. It is emphasized that Sufism cannot be opposed to political Islam; in certain socio-political conditions, Sufism itself can play this role.Thу article is written in the framework of the system-communication approach, which distinguishes between political, ethnic, religious and other forms of communication. The authors focus on the local forms of Sufism in culturally complex societies, their prevalence in local religious practice, the real content, methods and forms of ethno-religious communication, as well as the problems of the interaction of various Sufi traditions with other forms of Islam, including Islamic fundamentalism. A study of these problems shows that the processes of social transformation in the North-East Caucasus, which began after the collapse of the USSR, have probably already entered their final stage.