We are still potential extremists for them

Coming back to the topic of building mosques in the Russian Federation, I would like to once again recall the figures characterizing this process. There are almost 1200 churches/temples in Moscow and only 4 mosques. You can see the contradiction. Looking at Tatarstan, we see, it seems there are more mosques here. But still they are not enough to the desired amount. “Desired” means such that would satisfy the religious aspirations of the Muslim Tatars in all cities and villages of the Republic. Few people will oppose if a mosque appears in their locality. Even Tatars who do not attend the temple will not protest in any way against the arranging a building for the performance of Islamic religious rituals. Everyone in Tatarstan knows that the mosque does not pose a threat to anyone. It does not call anyone to illegal deeds or violations of secular laws. It is true, such an opinion is widespread among the Tatars. Local Russians fear that mosques can incite Muslims to bad deeds. Unfortunately, it is difficult to prove the opposite to Russians living in the Republic of Tatarstan. Either they don’t believe or they don’t get it. Apparently, this is why they prefer to act “on the pre-emption”, having previously recorded Muslims as extremists, terrorists, fanatics.
Read More