The research is devoted to some contemporary issues of sociological analysis of the status of religious commitment of the population. One of the problems considered is that in such research philosophical methodology may not be sufficiently applied. The author focuses on the concepts of “people’s” Islam and mass religious consciousness, bothhaving a philosophical content. An attempt is made to attract the attention of sociologists to a specifically philosophical understanding of mass consciousness. The author shares his experience of applying the philosophical method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete in the practice of sociological research of religiosity in the republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, and Kabardino-Balkaria and concludes that the use of this method contributes to a more specific, complete and systematic study of the characteristics of religion. In particular, such approach helps to identify the indicators of extremity in Islamic consciousness. The author believes that the absence of generally accepted criteria of religious commitment leads to different assessments the religious factor role in the contemporary Russian society and is associated with a lack of critical attitude to positivism in sociology.