Repression of banned Islamic groups in Russia that operate freely in other countries, bans on Islamic literature, attacks on Islamic cultural centers and mosques – these are things that Muslims in Russia have long been accustomed to.
However, many still want to believe that «official mosques,» preaching, and Islamic education within them are protected from all of this.
Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is not the case.
Imam Rasim Dervishev of one of the mosques in Simferopol (Crimea) was fined 5,000 rubles for «missionary activity».
As reported by the MediaZona website, signs of such activity were found in his Friday sermon and prayers.
It should be recalled that the legal grounds for official repressions for «missionary activity» (previously law enforcement officers were forced to «find» drugs, weapons, and banned literature among their victims) were created by the so-called «Yarovaya Laws».
Today, however, Idel.Realii reported that two imams, Rafael Safin in the village of Mochalische and Farit Shageev in Krasnogorsk, were removed from their mosques in the Zvenigovsky district of Mari El under the same «Yarovaya laws.
The imams were accused of belonging to the «Suleymandzhilar» Jamaat, which they themselves deny.
The reason for such accusations was that they teach their parishioners «too much» reading and memorization of the Koran, which is a characteristic of this Jamaat.
Further comments are unnecessary. We simply note that even Friday sermons and Quran classes in official mosques are now considered violations of the law in Putin’s Russia.
To be fair, this now applies not only to Muslims — under the «Yarovaya Laws» it also affects not only Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are officially banned in Russia, but also members of various Protestant communities that are not formally banned.
At the same time, the current regime plans to introduce into the Constitution provisions on «faith in God» as a value of Russians.