THE SOVIET SHARI‘A. USHIR-ZAKYAT IN THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL PROTECTION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1920S (CASE OF ADYGEYA)

Abstract

The article deals with the practice of transferring the Ushir-Zakat to peasant committees of public mutual assistance in Adygea in the fi rst half of the 1920s. The author analyzes the new Soviet practice in the context of the formation of the state system of social mutual assistance, as well as changes in the social status of the Muslim clergy in the 1920s. The author outlines the reasons for the unpopularity of peasant community mutual assistance committees among the Adygs, as well as the reasons for the rejection of new practices by the Muslim clergy. It is emphasized that the transfer of Ushir-zakat was not so much a means of replenishing the funds of mutual aid committees, but rather a tool for limiting the infl uence of the clergy. Non-payment of zakat is characterized as a hidden form of protest against the anti-religious policy of the state and collectivization. Throughout the campaign for the transfer of the Ushir-Zakat to KKOV, the emphasis was on the economic component of the Ushir, its transfer to KKOV was seen as the liquidation of the economic dependence of the poor from the clergy, thereby emasculating the spiritual meaning of one of the “pillars of Islam” that prescribes to help the poor and needy.