Paul Goble
Staunton, July 21 – One of the sources of confusion among Muslims in the Russian Federation is that the heads of Muslim Spiritual Directorates are typically called muftis even though they are not and do not have the right that those recognized as such have to issue legal opinions or fetwas, Kazan Mufti Samigullin says.
In the course of a wide-ranging interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Samigullin says that people need to remember that “mufti means ‘he who gives fetwas’” and only those recognized by scholars are such and also that this has been somewhat obscured because nearly all MSD heads are called that even if they don’t have the necessary authority (ng.ru/ng_religii/2026-07-21/7_9542_rel01.html).
The faithful should check things out concerning fetwas just as they would get a second opinion from doctors in the case of a possible operation, the Kazan mufti says; and they should certainly recognize that there is absolutely no possibility that artificial intelligence will issue fetwas now or in the future.
Among the other points Samigullin made, the following are especially noteworthy:
· Islam came to Russia before Christian Orthodoxy and thus is not some new arrival but a core part of the country.
· The institution of councils of elders works with the MSDs to block efforts by officials to interfere in the life of the Muslim community in Russia.
· It would be good to have a single MSD for the entire country and that could happen if the state would agree to the convention of a single all-Russian Muslim congress.
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