The end of last week was marked by an activation in the information field of the Council of Muftis of Russia (CMR) and a number of its iconic regional structures. Ravil Gainutdin made another loud statement about the number of Muslims. This time, however, he was not talking about Russia, but only about Moscow, where, according to his statement, there are up to 4 million Muslims, who, of course, lack the existing mosques. The information effect of the mentioned figure was traditional, as we have written before.
On the positive side, Ravil Gainutdin called a spade a spade when it came to the reasons for the lack of a mosque in Ekaterinburg: «In Ekaterinburg it was not the residents but the authorities who refused us, Muslims, to build a mosque on the site where a congregation had been working for over 10 years and 1,500 believers came to pray in their temporary mosque. The local residents did not object.
In turn, the head of the Moscow branch of the CMR, Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, expressed «concern and vigilance» in connection with the arrests of Muslim human rights defender and lawyer Dagir Khasavov and «Chernovik» journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev. His statement says that «harsh arrest methods and serious accusations always raise many questions. Therefore, even those who «do not rule out a political motive in such persecutions» are concerned, while others «associate these arrests with the activities of the suspects». The Mufti himself expresses hope for «a fair and open investigation of these and similar cases» because citizens «should feel that they live in a country where the rights of all people, without exception, are respected».
The statement of the Saratov branch of the CMR — the DUMSO — was more specific and harsh. Its presidium expressed «strong condemnation of the continuing practice of banning classical Islamic literature, which has been the basis of Islamic education and upbringing for many centuries, namely the interpretation of the Qur’an and the collections of Hadiths, which constitute the written heritage of the Sunnah — the second source of Islam after the Qur’an». The statement said that «the persistent unjustified persecution of such books, based on insignificant conclusions of incompetent experts, leads to social tension and growing dissatisfaction among Muslims, and undermines the work of muftis and imams in educating and nurturing Muslim communities. In this regard, the Presidium of DUMSO did not hope for justice from the existing «judicial» system of the Russian Federation, but called on «responsible persons to start discussing the existing problem in order to transform the current system of evaluation of religious literature».
Overall, it is worth noting that against the backdrop of blatant sycophancy on the part of the puppet DUM and some «Muslim public figures», even such a cautious raising of the voice on behalf of Muslims and criticism of their persecution inspires optimism. It is hoped that in the future they will become the basis for concrete political decisions aimed at improving the situation of Muslims. For there have been numerous statements in the CMR in support of them or against their vilification. And then… support for the current government in the elections followed.
Let us hope that in the future the CMR will be more consistent in its assessments and actions.