Legal aspects of Muslim enlightenment in the first third of the 20th century in the North Caucasus

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the North Caucasus, the ideas of Muslim enlightenment, which penetrated here both from the Arab East and the interior regions of Russia, became widespread. The North Caucasian reformers-enlighteners (renovationists) faced the task of adapting the Shafi’i legal system to Russian reality. Having set the task of building a new society and educating a new person, as well as understanding the importance and relevance of legal issues for the formation of the internal image and worldview of an ordinary Muslim, the North Caucasian reformers-educators in their writings and through the organs of the reformist periodical press conducted extensive educational work to clarify issues of Islamic law. They were looking for new ways of progressive development of the North Caucasian Muslim society by integrating the Muslims of the North Caucasus into the Russian legal space with the preservation and potential development of national identity.