"We declared Jihad against the Americans and we will raise funds to finance this Jihad operations, " said Tagudin

By Riyad Ahmad, Dhamir Ahamd, IOL Russia Correspondents

MOSCOW , April 3 (IslamOnline.net) – Thirty-three Russian Muftis on Thursday, April 3, declared Jihad against the United States over its invasion of fellow Muslims country Iraq .

"Russian Muslims will start their Jihad against the United States , " Head of the Russian Fatwa (religious edicts) Committee  Ravil Einudin told the Russian television.

Mufti of European Russia Tala't Tagudin preached some 4,000 Russian anti-war demonstrators, who rallied in the province of Bashkortostan to protest the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq .

"We declared Jihad against the Americans and we will raise funds to finance this Jihad operations…We will buy weapons to fight off the U.S. in addition to foodstuffs for the Iraqi people, " Tagudin averred.

"Russian Muslims do represent a pressure group on the U.S. ," he underlined.

On the stance of the Russian government, Tagudin said Russian Muslims are entitled to do whatever servers their interests.

"Religion is separate from the state in Russia ," he said.

Speaking to IslamOnline.net, Mufti of Asian Russia Nafieaullah Asherov underlined that "tens of thousands of Russian Muslims are willing to go to Iraq to fight the invading U.S. and British troops, while others are ready to provide the Iraqi people with foodstuffs."

The Jihad fatwa is the second of its kind to be declared in Russia over the 20th and the   beginning of the 21st centuries.

In 1941 during the World War II, Russian Muslims issued a fatwa declaring Jihad against the Nazi.

Russia 's Muslim community is divided into two strands, the first based in the central republic of Bashkortostan and following Tadzhuddin, the second based in Moscow and following Gainutdin whom the Kremlin regards as the country's senior Muslim scholar.