Geydar Dzhemal
1947–2016 · Russian philosopher, political analyst and Islamic activist of Azerbaijani descent
Heydar Jamal (Geydar Dzhemal; Moscow, 1947 – Almaty, 2016) was a Russian philosopher, political analyst and Islamic activist of Azerbaijani descent. He founded and led the Islamic Committee of Russia, and his path, which runs through Soviet dissident circles, esotericism and Marxism, makes him hard to pigeonhole.
He studied at the Institute of Oriental Languages of Moscow State University, from which he was expelled after a year for "bourgeois nationalism." In the 1960s and 1970s he moved in underground bohemian circles that read esoteric and banned authors. Over time he distanced himself from the occult, took up Marxism and embraced Islam, developing a personal outlook he called post-traditionalist.
In 1990 he helped found the Islamic Revival Party, which had followers across the Soviet Union. His political analysis has been read as a kind of Islamic Marxism, as fundamentalism, or as a mixture of both. He tried to bridge Shia and Sunni Islam, which he saw as parts of one greater whole.
His influence is felt mainly in debates over Muslim identity in Russia, though his positions were controversial and changed across his life.
Key ideas
- Post-traditionalism: after his years in esoteric circles, he proposed his own synthesis that went beyond inherited religious and political traditions.
- Political reading of Islam: he understood religion as a force of political and communal struggle, and his analyses have been read as a form of Islamic Marxism.
- Muslim unity: he defended the unity of Muslims above the divisions between Shias and Sunnis.
- Soviet Muslims: he argued that Muslims in the Soviet Union could act as a counterweight to the West.
Curiosities
A psychiatric admission
According to the sources, to avoid compulsory military service he claimed to be schizophrenic and was sent to a psychiatric institution.
A meeting with Khomeini's son
In 1993 he met Ahmad Khomeini, son of Ayatollah Khomeini, with whom he later exchanged views on Shia Islam.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.