E. I. ZELENEV Doctor of Historical Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics-Saint Petersburg Keywords: fitna, fitnah, "Arab spring", jihad, Saudi Arabia, Syria, caliphate, minority, majority Methodologically, there is no minority without a majority, and, conversely, the discovery of a majority is inevitably accompanied by the identification of a minority. In almost all Arab countries affected by the crisis processes of 2011-2012 and later, the conflict along the "minority" - "majority" line defines the overall political landscape. This type of conflict manifests itself within the framework of a political identity crisis, pushing the individual to ally with a particular political force, including a non-dominant one. The same type of conflict divides society along the borders of religious, ethnic, social, cultural and other groups. Overcoming this type of conflict with the help of recently very effective methods of ideological consolidation, such as nationalism and patriotism, is becoming more and more difficult, as the states of the region are increasingly losing their real influence and ability to manage the society of their countries by civilized means. Under these circumstances, the opposing sides - the authorities and the opposition - are trying to avoid bloodshed and collapse of the entire political system. Increasingly, internal political conflicts are taking on religious forms that are familiar to the Arab-Islamic political culture. In a number of Arab countries in 2011-2012, as a result of the change or weakening of state power, Islamic political parties turned into leading political forces - the Islamic Renaissance Movement (Harakat Ennahda al-Islamiya) in Tunisia, the Muslim Brotherhood Association (Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun) in Egypt, the Islamic State (Ad-Dawla al-Islamiyya) in parts of Syria and Iraq, some others. Therefore, it is not surprising that religious circles have taken up the issue of the legitimacy of the events that took ... Read more