The Phenomenon of Muslim Modernist Journalism in Russia (80-90 Years of The XIX Century)

The innovations that steadily penetrated the life of domestic Muslims (Tatars, Bashkirs, Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs, etc.) demanded religious sanctions for compliance with the canons of Islam due to the specifics of their traditional way of life. An important role in the formation of public opinion regarding the ongoing changes was played by Muslim and modernist-oriented Russian-language journalism, which was most clearly manifested in the 80-90s of XIX century. The aim of the research undertaken by us is to determine the main trends in the formation and development of Muslim modernist Russian-language journalism and to identify the range of the main issues raised. As a result of their analysis of the works by Muslim modernists, the authors came to the conclusion that Muslim publicists managed to bring Islamic modernist discourse to the all-Russian level, to convey in a common language to multiethnic co-religionists their call: to go beyond confessional limitations and join the achievements of world civilization. They turned to scientific argumentation in their justification along with the traditional appeal to sacred texts.