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"We can see a revival of
spirituality," said Gaziyeva.
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CAIRO — After decades of not being able to
regularly attend prayers in Moscow's five mosques, life is becoming
easier for the sizable Muslim community in the capital, the
English-speaking Moscow Times reported on Tuesday, November 14.
"We can see a revival of spirituality,"
said Gulnur Gaziyeva, Press Secretary of the Muftis' Council in
Russia.
"More people are coming to the mosques,
because earlier it was forbidden -- from the '30s to the '50s, until
Stalin's death just keeping at home religious books written in Arabic
could get you a gulag sentence," Gaziyeva said.
On Fridays, usually there is not enough room in
mosques and worshipers spill out into corridors and anterooms, some
praying on newspaper outside.
The capital's largest mosque, to accommodate 5,000
worshipers, is being built in the shadow of Moscow's Olympic stadium.
Set to open in September 2008, it will be second in
Russia only to a mosque in Makhachkala, Dagestan, and the religion's
headquarters in the country.
Although they are no official figures, Moscow is
estimated to be home to a sizable Muslim community of two million,
including 700,000 Tatars.
Although there are nearly 7,000 mosques across
Russia, Muslim Muscovites are served by just five.
The Otradnoye suburb is home to Yadryam Mosque,
opened in 1997, and a mosque financed by late Azeri president Heydar
Aliyev, opened in 1999.
Near the site of the new mosque is the Sobornaya
Mosque, which opened in 1904.
It is the longest continually operating mosque and
was the only one that remained open throughout the Soviet period.
The oldest is the Historical Mosque which was built
in 1813 to reward the Tatars living in Moscow for their contribution
to the victory over Napoleon.
Services
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Moscow's two million Muslims are
being served by only five mosques.
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Muslim Muscovites are being offered new services in
stores, patronized by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
For those who want to learn Arabic, the language of
the holy Q'uran, lessons are offered at the Moscow Islamic University.
Muslim women can find long denim skirts,
full-length jackets and scarves with blocky bronze patterns,
reminiscent of Versace designs.
White caps inlaid with gold, which many men prefer
to wear, and velour prayer rugs can be bought at stalls set up by
mosques on Fridays.
There are also two factories in the Moscow region
that produce halal meat from animals slaughtered according to
Shari`ah.
The booming business is attracting non-Muslims as
well.
"Here we have not only Muslims, but Orthodox
and Jews," said Idris, the owner of a two-year-old butcher shop
selling halal meat. He sells meat at a comparable price to non-halal
meat.
Muslims also have their own choice of
entertainments.
The Tatar Cultural Center runs language and
painting classes while some Muslims sometimes hire out swimming pools
so they can be used with genders segregated.
Nonetheless, life in Moscow is particularly
difficult for Muslim women.
"It is more difficult for women, of course,
because of our clothes," said Elmira Gainutdinova, a 23-year-old
law student who works as a secretary at the Sobornaya mosque.
"Sometimes people cry shakhidka [a female
martyr]. It's the most famous word in all of Moscow."
Moscow Duma is making some effort to combat
racisms, setting up a new Committee on Interethnic and Interfaith
Relations in February.
Russia’s major Islamic associations have launched
the National Association of Russian Muslims, a pan-Muslim body to help
spread Islam nationwide and clear any stereotypes about Muslims.
Muslims in Russia also have a right group to defend
their economic, political and religious rights and clear stereotypes
tarnishing their image.
There are some 23 million Muslims in the Russian
Federation concentrated in north of the Caucasus, representing roughly
15 percent of Russia's 145 million population.
Islam is the country's second-largest religion,
behind the Russian Orthodoxy.
