Thousands of Russian Muslims protest Beslan hostage-taking tragedy (library photo)

By Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, October 4 (IslamOnline.net) – More Russians are seen embracing Islam day in and day out, a tendency attributed by some sources to spiraling anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred.

"Around 20,000 people have welcomed Islam in the period from January to October this year in the capital Moscow alone," a source with the Council of Muftis of Russia told IslamOnline.net on Monday, October 4.

He recalled that the number went up from 15,300 in the same period of 2003 and 12,450 in 2002.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 60 per cent of the new converts are Russian nationalists who never embraced any religion.

He further noted that 75 per cent of them are young girls whose ages range between 17 and 21, who are seeking spiritual guidance.

"Russians read every day in the press of anti-Muslim bigotry and some see Islam as a minority religion facing mounting pressures," he said.

"The is also an undeclared campaign against Russian Muslims in the Russian media with every veiled woman being called a suicide-bomber."

The source said this campaign against Islam and Muslims "encourages more people to seek more information about this faith and when they do they eventually embrace it."

Muslims in Russia have become under increasingly racist and violent attacks in the wake of the Beslan school hostage-taking tragedy, Muslim officials in Moscow said Saturday, September 18.

Up to 40,000 Russian Muslims took to the streets to protest at the hostage-taking school tragedy in the southern city of Beslan.

Truth-hungry

The source said that when any truth-hungry person visits any of the four main mosques in Moscow he is given free booklets illuminating the tenets of Islam.

Russia’s major Islamic associations have laid the groundwork for a pan-Muslim body that will help spread Islam nationwide and clear any stereotypes about Muslims.

In April, Muslims set up the first ever rights  group that will defend their economic, political and religious rights and clear stereotypes tarnishing their image.

Russia has a Muslim population of 23 million, representing roughly 15 percent of its 145 million population, according to a 2003 census.

Two million Muslims are residing in the capital Moscow.