The international scientific and practical conference "Islam: Tradition and Ethics", which was held in Egypt on May 18-25, 2007, aroused great interest in many countries of Europe and Asia, expanded the field for positive and new spiritual manifestations, and struck the conference participants as unusual. The range of issues discussed at the forum was very wide. The issues of cultural studies, political science, sociology, religious studies and many others were discussed.

The Forum was held first at the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo, and then at another Russian cultural center in Alexandria. Presentations were made by more than 40 historians, politicians, cultural and language researchers from different countries. The conference was held within the framework of the program of fundamental research of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Adaptation of peoples and cultures to changes in the natural environment, social and technological transformations". It was organized by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Roszarubezh Center, the International Association "Peace through Culture-Europe", the International Institute for Peace in the Caucasus, and the Eurasia Dialogue platform. Supporting organizations included the Ministry of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ain Al-Shams University of Egypt, Cairo University, and the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies.

The purpose, content and significance of the forum are reflected in the following topics: R. B. Rybakov (Russia) "The Era of ethics and the era of globalization"; Abd al-Aziz al-Khatib (Egypt) "Islam and peace"; V. Augustat (Austria) "On the way to planetary ethics"; V. A. Isaev (Russia) "The Middle East and the challenges of globalization"; L. I. Syukiyainen (Russia) "General Principles of Muslim Law as a reflection of the ethical values of Islam"; E. Funkhauser (Switzerland) "Culture, Ethics and Science"; Iman Abd al-Tawwab Halawi (Egypt) "Achieving unity between Muslims and Europeans in the Mediterranean Sea - an attempt to develop the basis for dialogue (history - religious morality)"; R. M. Sharipova (Russia) "Islamic education in Russian society: problems and prospects"; M. Yu. Roshchin (Russia)" Traditional Muslim upbringing and education"; Yu. S. Sidakov (Russia)" Islam without weapons"; Fasih Baderkhan (Russia) "Sufi traditions in the North Caucasus, their interaction with the wisdom of mountaineers and their role in educating society in history and modernity"; V. I. Sotnikov (Russia) "The problem of the" Islamic bomb "in the light of the promotion of the Iranian nuclear program"; Bekir Karliga (Turkey) "The Need for Global Ethics and the Philosophy of Islamic morality"; R. M. Ziganshin (Russia) "Some Features of Russian Islam"; Yu. V. Lyubimov (Russia) " The Image of the Other: from Confrontation to Dialogue (experience of Russian History)"; I. V. Zaitsev (Russia) " Muslims in the Moscow State: legal incidents"; A. Z. Egorin, G. Mironova (Russia) "Formation of Islamic Ethics of the Libyan Bedouins"; I. Polutina (Russia) "Islam and Egypt - understanding from the European perspective"; Aslan Adnan (Turkey) "Morality, rationalism and society"; G. Gareeva (Germany) "Christian-Muslim dialogue in the modern world".

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Europe. Some aspects of interfaith relations"; S. V. Prozhogina (Russia) " The Muslim woman in a multicultural society (Maghrebinka in France)"; D. Frey-Burgar (Germany) "Living Ethics as a social tradition-the foundation of a living cultural society"; Gundi Lear (Germany) " Public intercultural unity in tradition, in diversity and spiritual community"; V. O. Bobrovnikov (Russia)" Power, game and law in the traditional ethics of Muslim men's unions during the Caucasian War of the XIX century"; D. V. Mikulsky (Russia) " Traditions of military valor of the Muslim peoples of Imperial Russia. Caucasian Native Mounted ("Wild") Division in the First World War"; V. M. Akhmedov (Russia) "Army and political Islam in the Middle East"; A. Grauberger (Austria)" Ethics as a spiritual and qualitative foundation of internal and external harmony (health) in everyday human life"; N. Tootes (Russian Federation) "Ethics and Science of the future"; A. Alikberov (Russia) "Sufi ethics and traditions in the Caucasus under the Abbasids"; N. I. Prigarina (Russia) "The Living Ethics of Persian Classical Poetry"; E. E. Kormysheva (Russia) "The cultural heritage of ancient Egypt in the Early Islamic period"; N. A. Kormysheva (Russia) Viko (Russia) " Alchemy of Sufism. Key to the spirituality of the new era"; L. Y. Kelim (Russia) "Jain ethics in the era of globalization"; D. Khudonazarov (Russia) "Some aspects of the spiritual traditions of the Fatimids and Nasir Khosrov on the example of the Tajik Ismailis of the early XX century"; N. M. Yemelyanova (Russia) " Muslims of Tajik Badakhshan. The degree of Preservation and transformation of traditional Culture in the context of globalization"; E. V. Voikova (Russia)" Islam in modern Mongolia"; A. O. Filonik (Russia)" Environment and Development in the Arab world"; J. S. Kapoor (India)" The main path of development to a human-centered future"; V. E. Chagall (Russian Federation) "Oriental Studies: new innovative trends"; N. N. Nazarova (Russia) "On the training of Oriental specialists in the graduate school of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences"; O. O. Petina (Russia) "Review of Russian-language Internet resources devoted to Islamic topics, or a way of presenting the Islamic worldview in the Russian Language". www.ru".

The subject matter of the speeches proves the validity of the words that were often heard at the conference:"...it is necessary to look into the past, look around in the present and try to look into the future"; " stability in the world can be achieved through a tolerant attitude to the diversity of traditions, cultures, mentalities, and heritage."

As many speakers have pointed out, since the early 1990s of the last century, along with the new global challenges of the time, Russia has been experiencing a process of religious revival, including Islam, Orthodoxy, and Buddhism, as well as a fascination with various occult teachings that have occupied an empty niche after the collapse of the communist ideology as a state doctrine in Russia. Director of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences R. B. Rybakov emphasized that new challenges of the time - man-made and demographic threats, violence are becoming global in nature. The speaker sees a way out of this situation in returning the value orientations of humanity to the moral and ethical attitudes of those times when religions helped save the world from potentially possible self-destruction. R. B. Rybakov assigns a significant role to traditional religions. Despite all the external differences, he noted, the religions of humanity share their ethical core. The moral principles of all religions are basically the same, and they can and should become the unifying principle.

President of the International Association" Peace through Culture - Europe " V. Augustat also devoted his report to this topic. He believes that various disciplines of sociological science should pay special attention to ethical principles, the source of which is the considerable potential of world religions, in order first of all to avoid clashes and even more so war due to imaginary contradictions.

N. Toos noted in her report that the gap between science and religion should be bridged now. Ethics, in her opinion, is the link that connects them together. It is inherent in life itself, in the general and particular laws of nature, and is the key to the sustainable and harmonious development of both the individual and society as a whole. The problem of using scientific knowledge is often separated from ethical evaluation, and the moral good is considered as irrelevant to scientific knowledge. Science and ethics will help society to understand the unity of knowledge and goodness as soon as possible. Science, N. concludes. Toos should become ethical, and ethics should become scientific. Ethics and the science of the future are their union.

Yu. V. Lyubimov, as well as a number of other speakers, drew attention to the fact that the position of Islam in the world is largely determined by stereotypes, which are largely committed by Muslims.-

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but they do not correspond to the real state of affairs. This is due, in his opinion, to the lack of full-fledged knowledge about Islam in society, and the positive cultural potential of Islam remains the domain of specialists only. A paradigm shift and the interpenetration of cultures could start a fruitful dialogue, not a clash, but a mutual enrichment of civilizations, they believe.

In a number of reports, considerable attention is paid to Islamic ethics. Thus, V. E. Chagall devoted his report to such an important component of Eastern ethics as Oriental etiquette. In particular, he emphasizes that the Arabs attach great importance to behavior, i.e. respect for the rules of politeness in relations between people. Along with everyday life, business etiquette was born and spread in the Arab world, which is perceived as a standard of behavior and as a ritual of communication. The lawmaker of the rules of etiquette in the Middle Ages was the Koran, which contains instructions to Muslims. As in the Middle Ages, the Arabs prefer to use expressive means of language extensively, often using various kinds of oaths and assurances in colloquial speech, calling Allah himself as a witness.

Adnan Aslan drew attention to such a Muslim tradition as the concept of justice and injustice. B. Karlyga noted that the attack on Iraq and its occupation by the coalition forces led by the United States and Great Britain undermined the confidence of Muslims in the common human values that were developed during the centuries-old historical struggle and created the modern world, which leads humanity to a global catastrophe. The principle of "law is not in force, force is in law", in his opinion, is again violated. I. Polutina noted that Egypt, along with India, should be considered as the homeland of numerous traditions. Throughout the rich and diverse history of these countries, which spans almost 10 thousand years, the synthesis of these traditions and the fundamental foundations of Islam can activate the trend towards a worldwide cross-cultural and spiritual community of humanity. E. E. Kormysheva believes that the highest Islamic authorities in Egypt have always treated Christian shrines with respect. This respect is based on one of the tenets of the Islamic religion, but in her opinion, it really and multilaterally manifested itself on Egyptian soil.

S. V. Prozhogina considered such a complex issue as the socialization and cultural identification of Muslim women in France and such an urgent problem as the inconsistency between the norms of Sharia law in relation to women and the modernization of society.

F. Baderkhan devoted his report to Sufism, which, in his opinion, brought to the North Caucasus a culture and ethics that coincided with the culture and ethics of the patriarchal society that existed there. He believes that it was precisely this teaching that was able to introduce a new monotheistic ideology into the consciousness of the local population, despite the diversity of their pre-Islamic religious substrate and complex tribal customs ('adat), to turn pagan sanctuaries into Islamic places of worship.

Mikhail Roshchin noted that literature has played an important educational function in the Arab-Muslim world since ancient times. Adib (writer) was supposed to be and often was a well-educated person. In this sense, he was different from Alim (the scholar). Thanks to adab (literature), in his opinion, the Muslim intelligentsia gradually emerged and formed, which played an exceptional role in social and cultural life in the classical period of Islamic civilization. In the traditional Muslim education system, memory is mainly developed, i.e. the basics are based on memorizing the Koran, hadiths, various commentaries on sacred texts, etc.

R. M. Sharipova devoted her report to the problems of Islamic education in Russia. Despite the growing number of mosques and religious schools, the quality of Islamic education, in her opinion, leaves much to be desired. With a fairly high level of general education of Muslims, especially young and middle-aged people, religious schools attached to mosques and even Islamic universities provide the same knowledge that was offered by such educational institutions before October 1917, when absolutely illiterate people came there.

Each report is significant and interesting in its own way. Of course, it is impossible to give a complete picture of the listed reports with this brief overview. Abstracts can be found in the collection " Islam: Tradition and Ethics. International Scientific and Practical Conference. Proceedings of the Conference, Moscow, 2007. They can also be found on the Internet, on the official website of the Institute of Oriental Studies, at: http://www.ivran.ru/library/view_edition.php? edition_id-103&chapter_id-258.

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The undoubted achievement of the conference itself was to demonstrate the efforts of Russian Oriental studies to study various aspects of life in the Middle East. The conference demonstrated the ongoing process of this study and, rejecting the syndrome of negative attitudes towards Islam, gave a tangible impetus to further activation of scientific research not only in Russia, but also in the Arab countries. The relevance of this conference is determined by the growing role of Islam in the modern world. The Islamic world is one of the most significant poles of power in the context of globalization and a unipolar world. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account that in Russia itself, according to the latest data, there are about 20 million people. It also participates as an observer in the work of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Russia's image in the Muslim world was largely shaped by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Chechen military campaign. There is still an opinion in the Muslim world that Russia is at war with Muslims in Chechnya, that by helping Chechen militants financially, Muslims all over the world are helping the Muslims of Russia. This was reflected in the remarks of representatives of the Muslim world (by the way, not extremist radicals, but honorary and respected representatives of the enlightened scientific elite) and in conversations with them on the sidelines of the conference. They found it hard to believe that the overwhelming majority of Russian Muslims were loyal to the central government in the country and supported its policies. R. M. Ziganshin's report "Some peculiarities of Russian Muslims" on the traditional loyalty of the central government and the patriotism of Russian Muslims, as well as the reports of F. A. Kolesnikov. Baderkhan and D. V. Mikulsky, caused the same reaction of Muslim forum participants.

It is not surprising that the conference aroused interest among the Egyptian public. Articles appeared in the press that covered the work of the conference, gave an assessment of the reports, sometimes retelling their content in some detail. For an example, it is enough to cite at least a few excerpts from an article by an Egyptian journalist F. Ibrahim, published in the popular Egyptian newspaper Al-Jimhuriya on May 24, 2007 under the title "Russians at their Conference on Islamic Morality in Cairo": "A conference dedicated to the problems of Islam, its traditions and morality... they came as a surprise in all respects... The core of the forum was to discuss the significance of Islamic civilization, its contribution to world development in the past, as well as its current potential. The assembled scholars especially pointed out those forces that seek to present Islam as a religion of terrorism, highlighting and inflating negative phenomena, while claiming that this is the essence of modern Islam... It should be noted that various discussions and dialogues took place at the conference, which, of course, are of great importance..."

In fact, this conference showed what changes are taking place both in the theory and in the practice of relations between different religions. Many reports have shown that their authors have made serious progress in the study of Islam, that they are determined to continue their reform activities in the field of science, to which they have devoted more than one year of their efforts, proving not only in words, but also in deeds the expediency of Russia's compatibility with Islam.

The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which held such a conference abroad for the first time, has become an important research center that pays considerable attention to developing new approaches to the processes taking place in the Muslim world in general and in the Arab countries in particular, thereby contributing to creating favorable conditions for Russia's interaction with the world of Islam.

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