Bridging the Gap: Studying Classical Muslim Philosophy in Russia

The article describes the history of the study of Muslim philosophy in Russia. Before the October Revolution, research in this field occupied a secondary position compared to religious studies and the study of the political and social history of the Muslim East, in particular the regions whose influence extended to Russia or which were part of the Russian Empire. The main centres of Oriental studies were St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan. The first work in Russian devoted to the philosophy of Islam was the monograph by Panteleimon Zhuze. Based on the data presented in the article, the author comes to the following conclusion: philosophical Islamic studies in Russia, having overcome the crisis of the 1990s, is developing in line with modern trends in world science, abandoning the dogmatic ideas of the Soviet school.

classical Muslim philosophy, Islamic studies, Oriental studies, Russian Islamic studies, Muslim theoretical thought.