The Sufi Jamaat «Ismail aga» in the Territory of the Volga Region: Appearance, Distribution, Social Attitude

The article deals with the investigation of religious revival processes, observed in the post-Soviet period. The process of religious revival took place among the Muslims on the territory of the Volga region, accompanied by the emergence of new religious movements of Islamic origin, many of which had their spiritual centers in the Middle East. It is stated that alongside the emergence of Salafi groups, recognized as extremist and terrorist or-ganizations in the 2000s, the followers of various Sufi jamaats from Turkey also appeared – Ismail Agha is supposed to be one of the most pronounced. The peak of its activity in the region begins with Kamil Samigullin’s coming to the post of Tatarstan mufti in 2013, belonging to this Sufi community. He begins to appoint Ismail Agha murids to the posts of imams and mukhtasibs, simultaneously expanding his influence outside Tatarstan, meeting some resistance, both from the Muslim clergy and from government agencies in charge of the religious sphere in the region. At the same time, the process of strengthening the influence of this particular Sufi brother-hood is taking place against the background of a general shift towards Sufism in the Middle Volga region: today different branches of the Naqshbandi Tariqa are represented in the region, and there are also groups of murids of the Qadiri and Shazili tariqas. Such a variety of Sufism in the Muslim Ummah of the Volga region is caused by the fact that different centers of its historical area (Turkey, Central Asia and the North Caucasus) exert influ-ence through their murids. At the same time, the Sufis themselves are in no hurry to openly advertise their pres-ence, largely due to the minimization of conflicts with the Salafists, whose influence in the Islamic Ummah of Tatarstan is noticeably preserved.