Traditional Islam of Tatars in Russia
The religious and cultural character of Tatars is determined in many ways by the fact that, unlike any other Muslim people in the world, Tatars lived for a long time in a state where Christianity was the official religion. The continual conflicts between different groupings within the Tatar Muslim community, the ideological swerves, the sudden switching to support for elements which are alien to Russian Muslim communities, show that the Islam of Russian Tatars is still at a formative stage, following the assault of atheist Communism. Organizationally and ideologically it is still not firmly established and is easily affected by external influences and any internal impulse.