Nail Nabiullin (pictured above), editor-in-chief of the Kazan newspaper «Türk Vzglyad», received a warning from the city prosecutor’s office for displaying the Azerbaijani flag and the inscription «Azerbaijan, our hearts are with you!» in Tatar and Russian on the front page of his newspaper. Islamophobes and Turcophobes of various orientations created a real hysteria in the media and social networks over the expression of public solidarity of a Tatar activist with the people of Azerbaijan, presenting it as a manifestation of the threat of pan-Turkism, the fifth column of Turkey in Russia, and so on.
This reaction is striking against the background of a continuous flood of calls by perhaps hundreds of prominent commentators and public figures, whether pro-government or opposition-oriented, for direct support of Armenia, including Russia’s involvement in the war on its side, which was not suggested by the Kazan newspaper in relation to Azerbaijan.
A similar reaction was caused this week by the widely circulated fatwa of the Russian Muslim Spiritual Directorate (DUM) from a year ago, which stated the prohibition for Muslims to marry non-Muslims, including People of the Book, with certain exceptions. We will not discuss the DUM’s fatwa in general or this particular one now, except to note that there is disagreement among Islamic scholars on these issues, specifically on who should be considered People of the Book and under what conditions marriages with their wives are possible or not, and that this position is one of the possibilities and is based on its own arguments.
Again, it is striking that an exclusively internal Muslim issue, considering the advisory nature of such fatwas, the question of their free choice in deciding whom to marry based on the tenets of their religion, provokes a formal hysteria with slogans such as «what do they allow themselves», «then they should be banned from entering non-Muslim countries, working for non-Muslims, attending non-Muslim schools, hospitals», etc.
What added spice to these calls was that in some cases they came from liberals, while in other situations they were known for their tolerance, for example towards the so-called «LGBT community». But why is it that when gays demand the creation and recognition of «gay marriages», which cannot be entered into with people of the opposite sex, they do not demand that they be banned from entering «heterosexual countries», «attending heterosexual schools, seeking treatment in heterosexual hospitals», etc.?
Nor do ethnic liberals create hysteria over the fact that interfaith marriages are condemned by Jewish rabbis, because in such cases, as is customary in their circles, «that’s different».
Let us also recall the hysteria caused when Khabib Nurmagomedov cursed French President Emmanuel Macron on his Instagram for his fight against Islam and asked Allah to disfigure his face. The plea and curse of a believer was presented as a justification for terrorism or a call for it, although it seems that the meaning here is clearly the opposite — he was asking Allah to punish his enemy, not calling on people to do it.
That is, as we can see from all these reactions, according to Islamophobes, Muslims in this country should not have the right to decide whom to marry or not marry — unlike other communities; nor to express simple solidarity with their fellow believers — also unlike other communities; nor to publicly say prayers or curses, which everyone else can do.
Moreover, let us emphasize once again — many in both the ruling circles and the opposition hold such views about the ideal status of millions of Muslims as powerless and silent inhabitants of this country. At the same time, it should be noted that Muslims in Russia are not immigrants, but nation-building peoples of the eight constituent republics that make up the country, in some cases Islam was adopted in Russia before Orthodoxy.
Such absolutely anomalous conditions should repeatedly prompt Muslims in Russia, especially among its citizens and indigenous peoples, to actively engage in serious (!) media and political processes with the aim of radically changing this situation. Russia as a country of Islam and Muslims, not only in words but also in deeds, regarding their rights and position within it. Either it will be so, or the Muslim peoples will see that this is a foreign country to them — with all the consequences that would entail.
Influential media, experts, commentators, etc., not only Muslims, but also those who want the Russian Federation to be preserved and developed through cooperation with the growing Islamic world around and within it, should begin to convey this to the consciousness of Russians. And Muslims who do not want to be powerless and silent should work towards this goal in whatever way they can.