“I will make you a successful muslim”: the role of online coaching in shaping neoliberal subjects in Russia
Abstract
In this paper, I consider Muslim online coaching in Russia, trying to determine how new neo-liberal subjects are constructed. Considering the case of “Trillionaire” project by the imam of Moscow’s Memorial Mosque Shamil Alyautdinov, I identify specific linguistic strategies used to construct an image of a “successful/harmonic” Muslim. This image serves as a central motif in the discourse of Muslim coaching. While the project primarily focuses on financial well-being, it is a comprehensive ethical program, where financial stability is viewed as a natural consequence of pious behavior. Online coaching based on Protestant activist ethos turns out to be a new way to entrain the Muslim subject—the “new” modernized Muslims as well as imam-coach as a new type of religious authority – that combines neo-liberal values of entrepreneurship and self-help with Islamic virtue. I discuss several factors that make this project highly in demand among contemporary Muslims based on cultural consumption argument and the convenience of secular translation of Islam within the global neo-liberal agenda.
About the Author
S. А. Ragozina
Institute of Oriental Studies
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Sofya А. Ragozina, Research Fellow
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Review
For citations:
Ragozina S.А. “I will make you a successful muslim”: the role of online coaching in shaping neoliberal subjects in Russia. Islamology. 2024;13(1):39-53.
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