In Moscow — the «capital of a multinational and multi-confessional state» — representatives of the second largest religion in terms of numbers, as well as the law enforcement and media-political establishment, have once again clearly demonstrated that they do not consider them equal citizens of their country, but rather a disenfranchised and hostile community.
Let’s start with a less obvious case — the law enforcement raid on a mosque in Kotelniki, where about 600 worshippers were blocked and detained. The regional branch of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia (headed by Ravil Gainutdin) responded to this disrespectful and humiliating event with a statement that reads, in part:
«The Spiritual Administration of Muslims in the Moscow Region fully understands the responsibility of law enforcement and security forces to ensure the safety of citizens. At the same time, however, the Spiritual Administration, like all Muslims in the region, is extremely outraged and concerned about the disrespectful methods used during such checks and raids.
In particular, during the recent raid, Muslims’ Friday prayers were interrupted, hundreds of people were blocked for several hours, and dozens of believers were detained. The whole situation resembled scenes of the arrest of particularly dangerous criminals.
Muslim centers are not high-risk areas; they are places of worship, spiritual and moral enlightenment, compassion, and assistance to people. Muslim communities are officially registered religious organizations acting in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and exercising their legal right to worship together as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
We call on law enforcement officials to respect these rights, show tact towards believers, and engage in civilized dialogue instead of using force during such «special operations».
Well done, at least in this case… However, we consider this case to be a less obvious example of disenfranchising Muslims for the simple reason that such raids on mosques have already become commonplace throughout the country. Moreover, let’s face it, in modern Putin’s Russia, law enforcement officials can do whatever they want to almost anyone except privileged groups, which certainly do not include the majority of Muslims in this country.
However, unlike many other similar routine raids, this case stands out because it was covered and approved by various networked media outlets, including pro-government law enforcement agencies and private military contractors, with comments such as «Do your job, brothers.
All of this was presented primarily under the guise of fighting illegal immigration, which is a deliberately deceptive move. After all, if you are going to identify undocumented immigrants, why not do it at the nearby market, which you know exists? Why invade and search a house of God? To show that it has no immunity, or rather the opposite? Is this how religion is treated in a country of «traditional values» and «spiritual unity»?
The second case that will be discussed clearly shows that the Islamophobic government in power in this country has no intention of distinguishing between newcomers and native Muslims, as well as between the «unreliable» and loyal subjects. This is evident from the persecution of the so-called «Aminov Jamaat» project, which aimed to create a Muslim settlement on the purchased land in Novaya Riga. The leader of this project, Amina Shabanova, presented it to the well-known Muslim journalist Ruslan Kurbanov.
The news was discovered by Sergei Mardan, a journalist from Simonovsky Russia Today, and it spread through major pro-government chauvinist channels, and eventually other chauvinist channels. Headlines of articles such as «Islamization of Russia. Suburban Jamaat» and «Construction of the Islamic State has begun 140 km from the Moscow Ring Road» allow us to understand their content, which includes calls to prevent the creation of a «Muslim enclave in the heart of the Russian world».
But what is most interesting about this case is that it is not just «guest workers» or «migrants» who are targeted, but Muslims like Ruslan Kurbanov who aspire to be part of the Russian establishment. Amina Shabanova is not some «banned» preacher, but a fashionable Instagram blogger and the founder of a Muslim fashion brand with hundreds of thousands of followers, promoting a purely «vegetarian» trend.
And it turns out that such loyal or successful Russian Muslims want to build a cottage community for themselves, rightly believing that they deserve nothing less than what the Russian elite, who have long been living in such communities, already have.
Rightly, but wrongly… Because, as it turns out (and as has been proven many times), ideological Muslims who identify themselves as «jamaat,» no matter how loyal, vegetarian, or successful they are, will never be accepted by the Russian establishment. If it were a project connected with the establishment of one of the Muslim republics or clans, they could close their eyes to it without attracting public attention. But if you call yourself a Jamaat and publicly declare Islamic goals and principles in any form, you will be perceived as an enemy — it’s time to finally understand this.
This is the reality of this «multinational and multi-confessional state» and its capital.