Abdulkarim Taras Cherniyenko, a Russian scholar and researcher, spoke at an academic session titled “The Quran and the Challenges of the Contemporary World”, organized by the World Assembly of Shia Studies in Qom on Tuesday.  

Cherniyenko traced the evolution of Islamic culture through history, including what he described as a patriarchal traditionalism during the Safavid era.

He said parts of Islamic history saw an Islam mixed with superstition and pre-Islamic beliefs. “Of course, you cannot call that Islam, but it existed in the past, and unfortunately some Muslims were drawn to it,” he said. “In truth, before the Islamic Revolution, we did not see pure Islam in its original meaning.”

Turning to the West, Cherniyenko said the Quran instructs believers not to insult others’ beliefs so that their own beliefs are not insulted—but that some Western politicians lack this understanding. He cited France, where he said migrants are accepted only if they set aside certain beliefs, and where headscarf-wearing Muslim women face pressure to adopt a form of dress that removes their hijab.

He said public prayer and Islamic practices are not easily permitted in some European countries. In Belgium and Germany, he said, the situation is no better. He recounted an incident in a European country where a woman wearing a hat—not a traditional Muslim garment—was confronted and prevented from wearing it.

Cherniyenko raised the question of whether civilizations should pursue dialogue and peaceful coexistence or civilizational confrontation. He noted that Francis Fukuyama raised the idea of a clash of civilizations, while Iran spoke instead of a dialogue of civilizations. “But the truth is that Western civilization does not take the peaceful path,” he said.

The Russian scholar criticized the global capitalist system, arguing that the money circulating in national economies is in fact debt owed to the global capitalist financial system.

“Even if a person says, ‘I have not gone to a bank or taken a loan,’ in reality the total debts of people and governments exceed the total money circulating in a country’s system,” he said.

He argued that capitalism, through advertising of luxurious living, has brought debt and loans into people’s lives. “They advertise in a way that tells you to take loans so you can live luxuriously and in the moment,” he said. “This is a satanic way of thinking, because Satan knows he must seize the moment now since he has no opportunity on the Day of Judgment.”

He added that in Germany every citizen is born with 50,000 euros of debt, which grows over their lifetime. “The way out is a return to real Islamic banking,” he said. “People in the West are not familiar with the Islamic system. If they became familiar with it, they would certainly become Muslims—without force or violence.”

Cherniyenko said the usury-based financial system traces back to the ancient idolatrous world. “Some want us to remain Muslims only on paper—to perform certain Islamic rituals outwardly but pay no attention to the inner meaning of Islam,” he said.

He said that more than 80 percent of French people are either secular or followers of emerging pseudo-mystical sects. “People have been brainwashed and are infatuated with liberal culture, while they do not understand what dangerous trap they have fallen into,” he said.

Cherniyenko said the Quran offers solutions, including the idea that people should live with purpose. Otherwise, he said, a luxurious life becomes repetitive—and achieving it requires constant borrowing, with new loans taken out to pay off old ones.

“The solution is a return to the Quran and global unity,” he said. “If someone is a Muslim in America, Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world, they are our brother—not only those in our geographic region.”

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He said the Quran instructs believers to hold fast to God’s rope. “Right now, Muslims in America, Europe and Islamic countries are thinking about their own problems,” he said. “Even Muslims in the Persian Gulf states, despite having good incomes, do not enjoy personal and social freedom.”

He argued that Muslims are living like slaves and that the Prophet’s (PBUH) way of life is not visible in their daily conduct. “In such conditions, how can we promote a culture of brotherhood?”

He praised the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, saying its greatest achievement was the implementation of pure Islam. “People have come much closer to the Quran than before the revolution, but this process is not complete,” he said. “We must promote Quranic culture more. This is a very important duty, and we should not be satisfied with our current level of being Muslim.”

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