For the second year, Putin did not congratulate Russian Muslims on the advent of Ramadan

By Damir Ahmed, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, October 26 (IslamOnline.net) – With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan this year, two new Islamic magazines have been issued in the Russian Federation.

The religious Administration of Muslims of Nijni Novgorod in Central Russia, in collaboration with Mohie Nour Islamic School, issued the first edition of a magazine called “Peace City”.

Editor in chief of the magazine and the principal of the school Sheikh Dhamir Muhit Eddine said that Peace City aims to disseminate Islamic news and information among Muslims in the region.

The new magazine is a 12-page monthly publication, he added.

In Ingushetia Republic, south of Russia, the first edition of Nour El-Islam (Light of Islam) magazine has been published by the religious administration of the Muslims of Ingushetia.

Nour El-Islam focuses on news of Muslims in Ingushetia, in addition to educational materials. 10,000 issues of this magazine will be printed twice a month.

Meanwhile, in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan republic, a Muslim stronghold in Central Russia, Sheikh Elias Hadret, director and founder of the Islamic University in Tatarstan, said that the university has sent a number of third and fourth grade students to other Tatar provinces to give religious and educational lectures to ordinary Muslims during Ramadan.

“65 students have been sent to some 65 villages in the eastern and central regions of Tatarstan,” he told IslamOnline.net, adding that those students “will teach average citizens the rules and instructions of Islam.”

He pointed out that the said students will perform Tarawih prayers in the villages they are sent to.

Putin Ignores Ramadan

On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the second year running,  ignored congratulating the “Russian Mufti Council” on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, a Council official told IslamOnline.net Sunday October 24.

The source, that preferred to remain anonymous, added the Russian Mufti Council has so far received five cables of congratulations from the Russian Patriarch Alexei II, the mayor of Moscow and other government officials.

Yet, over ten days into Ramadan, the Council received no cables of congratulations from the Russian President's office, though such a procedure is a recognized official protocol.

The source pointed out that Russian Muslims resent being ignored like that, though there are 23 million Muslims, out of a total population of 144 millions.

“There is no single evident reason for Putin to ignore congratulating Muslims on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan,” the source said, adding that staff of his office might not tell him of the necessity to send a congratulation cable to Muslims.