On 3 October in Assisi Pope Francis will sign his third encyclical “Omnes fratres. On brotherhood and social friendship.” The content of the new encyclical is still unknown, but it is expected to be devoted to the “style” of human co-existence during and after the Coronavirus pandemic. The Vatican says that the Pontiff’s missive will touch on many themes that he discussed throughout the year, one of which is interreligious dialogue.

The Muslim world has suffered a great loss - the earthly life of our elder and wise brother Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Tashiri has ended. He devoted many years of his life to the activities of the World League for the Rapprochement of Madhhabs, and all recent years was an adviser to the supreme leader of Iran on issues of the Islamic world. Ayatollah Tashiri was loved and respected in the Islamic world as a theologian who made an enormous contribution to the intra-Islamic dialogue, to overcoming the mutual alertness between Muslims-representatives of various sects and madhhabs.

Mohammad Ali Tashiri was well known among Russian Muslims and our brothers in the Commonwealth of Independent States. I can confidently say that he loved Russia and the Russian Ummah, because he invariably responded to the invitation of Russian Muslims to take part in one or another significant scientific or theological event. His last visit to our country took place due to the invitation of Mufti Gainutdin to the VI International Scientific and Practical Conference "Fakhretdinov Readings" on the topic "Islam in the Global World: Muslim Heritage and Intercultural Dialogue" in September 2019. He invariably delivered a message about peace, dialogue, mutual love and harmony. The authority of Ayatollah Tashiri in the dialogue between madhhabs and Islamic movements will certainly be lacking.

Another issue of the international journal “Minaret of Islam” has come out. It contains the main results of one of our traditional annual meetings, the 15th Muslim International forum, which took place from 9-11 December 2019 in Berlin.

The commemorative event, which brought together eminent guests from practically all corners of the world, dealt with one of the most important themes of modernity – the interaction between secular and religious identities and how they coexist in contemporary Western countries. Europe is on the verge of great transformations. Muslims are becoming an active part of society with their right to vote and are displaying a lifestyle that is somewhat untypical for European society, thus giving a positive answer to the question: is there a new stage after secularism?

The materials from the conference published in this issue are devoted to analyzing this phenomenon, examining its historical premises and forecasting the future. In particular, one can read the presentations of Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin; head of the department of religious affairs of Turkey, Ali Erbas; head of the department of fatwas at the Dar al-Ifta in Egypt, Dr Ahmed Mamduh; muftis Mevlud Dudich, Serikbay Oraz and Yusuf Murad; the now deceased president of the union of Islamic communities of Spain, Riyaya Tatari Bakri; and other prominent figures from religious and academic communities.

The new issue will soon be available on the official site of “Medina” publishing house: www.idmedina.ru

On August 4 in the evening, in the area of ​​the seaport of Beirut near the Lebanese naval base, thundered a powerful explosion. According to preliminary data, more than 100 people died, the number of victims exceeded 4 thousand. The blast wave damaged buildings in the surrounding areas of Beirut within a radius of several kilometers. The building of the Russian diplomatic mission was also damaged. The Executive Secretary of the MIF Damir Mukhetdinov expresses his condolences in connection with the tragic incident:

On behalf of Russian Muslims and myself, I express my deepest condolences in connection with the tragedy that shook the capital of Lebanon. As we know, the states of the Middle East, which once became the cradle of the three great Abrahamic religions, in recent decades, unfortunately, have been engulfed in ruthless and all-destructive military actions. Coupled with the situation of the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected the entire planet this year, what happened on Lebanese soil finds a particularly woeful response in human hearts. The loss of loved ones and injury is truly the hardest test.