Dear delegates of the 7th Congress of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation,
my dear brothers and sisters,
dear honored guests of our Congress and anniversary celebrations,
I offer up prayers to the Lord of the Worlds Allah Subhanahu wa Taal for the coordinated and fruitful work of our congregation, so that its results would be the further strengthening of fraternal ties and the unity of the ummah, as well as the consolidation of the clergy. I prayerfully ask Allah to allow us to take today those decisions that will benefit the Russian Muslims, and indeed the whole of Russian society, to allow us to progress to new stages, and to serve as the basis for future promising endeavors.
As you know, we have gathered in the capital of the Russian Federation, the city of Moscow, decorated with gold domes of not only Orthodox churches, but also the Cathedral Mosque, at the reporting and elective Congress in honor of the 25th anniversary of our Religious Board’s successful work, created on the spiritual and civilizational foundation of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, which in turn has more than 115 years of history.
Our Religious Board inherits the centuries-old traditions of the development of Islam and Muslim religious life in the Russian capital; over the past century they have been embodied in our Moscow Cathedral Mosque, which unified Muslims during the USSR epoch not only in the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic), but in all the Soviet Union republics, serving as the only open Muslim temple on vast territories of the Central European part of Russia.
The constituent assembly of the Religious Board was held in January 1994 and was soon presented to the general public. In order to refresh the memory of the atmosphere in which our Religious Board was created and what goals it set for itself, I ask you to look at the stock shots from January 29, 1994, when the presentation of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Central European Region of Russia was held in the cinema “October” (Moscow Muftiate), and our organization took its first steps in the capacity of a religious board in the capital of a federal state, that is the Russian Federation:
Principles
Dear delegates and guests of the Congress, today it will be appropriate to summarize the achievements of our Religious Board not only over the five-year period, but over the entire 25-year period of existence. I want to emphasize: over the past quarter century, despite the various ordeals that have fallen on the lot of Russian Muslims, we have not departed from the path that we outlined at the very beginning of our journey with the founding communities of the Religious Board. Conceptually, we remain on the same platform:
- Firstly: we return the religious, intellectual, cultural heritage of Russian Islam from oblivion and involve our contemporaries in it;
- Secondly: we are patriots, convinced supporters of constant interaction and communication between the state and the Islamic institutions, in which Muslim organizations and Muslim clergy are allies, assistants to their chosen secular leaders, and the government, in its turn, hears and takes into account the opinion and interests of Muslims, holds dear the values of unity of the civil nation, interethnic and interreligious world;
- Thirdly: we uphold humanistic values, we consider dialogue the most faithful principle of social relations, and we regard pluralism, including the pluralism of intra-confessional interpretations, as a concept, which exists in accordance with the God's plan for the world order.
For dogmatic and normative purposes, we adhere to the madhhab of the imams of Abu Hanifa al-Kufa, Abu Mansur al-Maturidi and Bakhautdin al-Naqshband. In intellectual and methodological terms, we inherit the traditions of the founding fathers of Jadidism, Shihabutdin al-Marjani and Khusain Faizkhanov through our religious center, the guiding beacon of the Ummah, the Moscow Cathedral Mosque.
Structure
At the time of establishment, our Religious Board included no more than 40 communities, i.e. mahallas; nowadays, their number reached two thousand. Today, under the direction of the Religious Board, more than 1000 mosques, Muslim cultural centers, prayer houses, and educational institutions have been built, returned and restored, opened and equipped, which have become centers of moral instruction, religious self-perfecting, strengthening of brotherhood, and religious enlightenment.
Considering that most of these mosques are located in urban centers, and are often the only Muslim institutions accessible to urban Muslims, the number of our co-religionists who receive spiritual food, enlightenment, and social support in our mosques is reckoned in millions people. It is enough to indicate that in Moscow alone the number of Muslims today is more than two and a half million, at least a million of our co-religionists live in the Moscow region and in St. Petersburg. In the Yekaterinburg, Perm, Tyumen, Omsk, Rostov agglomerations, the number of Muslims is estimated at hundreds of thousands people. These are very large social organisms, for which our religious organizations play the role of spiritual and moral guidelines. Cultural and educational centers, madrassas, and Islamic universities play a significant role.
About fifty units of Muslim infrastructure, such as mosques, prayer houses, cultural and educational centers, have been opened since our last Congress in 2014. During this period, more than 126 new religious organizations are registered in the structure of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, 14 new centralized religious organizations are established in the form of regional muhtasibats.
The Religious Board has its own organizations in each of eight federal districts, and operates in 53 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Significantly strengthened is the interaction between regional organizations and the central office. Several factors served this at the same time: the launch of a local staff development program, the effective work of the staff, regular trips of employees to the regions, and the establishment of the institute of plenipotentiaries of the Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation in the federal districts.
Science and education
As it was said 25 years ago, the registration of a religious organization and the construction of a mosque do not end, but only starts the religious life, that is its constructive and meaningful part.
In 1994, we experienced a shortage of imams, but then the shortage of spiritual cadres was put at dozens of people, and today the number of religious organizations goes as high as to hundreds and thousands. The procedure of providing religious organizations with qualified personnel continues; it is far from being over. However, we can say with satisfaction that with the help of the state and the direct support of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, a three-level system of Islamic education (bachelor's, master's, post-graduate and doctoral programs) is being evolved in Russia, which is actively developing and progressing. Qualified cadres are graduated not only from 17 educational institutions working in the structure of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Council of Muftis of Russia, but also secular partner universities, where we send our students. Of these, 7 educational institutions implementing programs of secondary and higher religious education are directly included in the structure of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation.
Moreover, if in 1994 no more than a dozen students studied at our Moscow Higher Islamic Theological College, today the number of students at educational institutions of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation only approaches to 1,000. During the reporting period, continuing education courses were organized for 40 student flows totaling more than three thousand people.
Many of us found the end of the 1980s - the beginning of the 1990s, when the publication of the Quran or a new book on the basics of religion was quite an event for the Ummah. We remember a rapture, as if we had fallen to the source of pure spring water, with which many of our fellow believers read the first poetic translation of the meanings of the Quran into the Russian language of our sister Valeria Iman Porokhova, may Allah have mercy on her soul and honor her with a place in the Gardens of Eden.
Nowadays we publish hundreds of books every year and have the opportunity to send them to community libraries. An important detail: due to the lack of own scientific personnel and wide access to the domestic theological heritage, at a certain moment most of the Russian-language literature on Islam was translated works published by foreign Islamic centers.
Nowadays we publish the literature that meets the highest criteria, which is in demand not only in our country, but is also distributed and finds its interested reader, especially in the intellectual environment, all over the world. Information in more detail is set forth in the Working Papers that are published for the Congress and commemorative events. I think you will agree with me that during the five years for which we are reporting today, the Religious Board of Muslims has reached very high rates of development comparable to the rapid religious revival and construction in the 1990s.
By the grace of Allah, we are rapidly growing a strong tree of Religious management. Its root system is our communities, i.e. local organizations. Our tree is nourished from the rich scientific and theological heritage of our ancestors, who, by good faith and with all sincerity, converted themselves to Islam 14 centuries ago and retained faith in the most tragic periods of history. The fruits of this tree - in the form of scientific, cultural, and social projects and achievements - serve by far not only for Muslims; they constitute the cultural and public domain of our entire state and the world.
The dialogue between the state and the Islamic institutions
During all of these 25 years, the good will of the Russian leadership was necessary in order to overcome many of our problems and achieve many goals. If you look back, over the course of 25 years, the bulk of the fundamental requests of Russian Muslims have been satisfied. This is not about the projects of our Religious Board of Muslims or the Council of Muftis of Russia, but about a number of conceptual interests of Russian Islam.
Among them, I would name the official recognition of Russian Muslims as part of the global Muslim community and Islamic civilization, expressed as our state entering the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as an observer country. The great mercy of the Almighty and the merit of our late brother Akhmat Haji Kadyrov was the achievement of peace in Chechnya and the political will to allow the Chechen people to rebuild their republic in accordance with their traditions. There are seven republics in Russia, in which the majority of the population considers themselves Islamic and belonging to Islam historical and cultural heritage.
There is the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, the Republic of Adygea, and the Republic of Crimea, in which the Muslim component is also a culture-forming and meaning-forming factor both in regard of the historical perspective and at the present stage. The republics of North Ossetia and Crimea have had their fair share of hardships from the Almighty. Today, in our prayers, we commemorate the victims of the inhuman terrorist acts of Beslan, but at the same time, we thank the Almighty for the reconstruction and restoration of historical objects, for the Muslim renaissance in both North Ossetia and the Republic of Crimea. We are enthusiastically looking forward to the opening of the grandiose Cathedral Mosque of Simferopol, whose appearance will correspond to the prominent and highly significant role played by the Muslim Ummah and the fraternal Crimean Tatar people in the past and present of Crimea. In our prayers, we ask Allah the Almighty to also allow the Muslims of Adygea to get the building of the historical mosque built in 1907 in Maykop returned. In each of these republics (and the muftis from most of them have arrived at our today’s meeting) Islam is a very noticeable and important component of public life: capacious cathedral mosques have been built or are being built, Islamic institutes, universities, and academies are being opened, and as much as even media holdings are functioning.
Many historical mosques were restored, and at the same time mosques appeared even in a number of cities and towns, where they had never been before.
For the first time in the history of Russia, the state takes an active and meaningful part in training personnel through the implementation of the corresponding program, for the first time, the Islamic education system receives assistance from the state.
The opening of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque after reconstruction and construction is not a private achievement, but generally symbolizes the achievements of Russian Islam and the high level of cooperation between the state and Islamic institutions in the 21st century. We are grateful to the President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who supported the project for the construction of the Cathedral Mosque, made the corresponding political decision, and personally participated in its opening. Today, the Moscow Cathedral Mosque gathers hundreds of thousands of believers at one time on the days of the two largest Muslim holidays, as well as tens of thousands every week.
In many places of compact hotbed residence of Muslims, there takes place a revival of the institution of the local Muslim community, religious traditions, and tariqas. A new face and a new generation of modern Russian Muslim intelligentsia has taken shape; the cultural life of Russian Muslims is developing, the severity of the problem of prohibitions on the publication and distribution of religious literature has been removed.
We highly appreciate the fact that our state gives ear to the position of Muslims, it is ready for responsible decisions, ready to seek consensus in the natural process of competing interests and opinions.
At the current stage, the most important areas of the dialogue between the state and the Islamic institutions are as follows: the development of education and science, the creation of a dissertation council on Islamic theology, the revival of the national school of Islamic theology; finding a happy middle ground in the matter of maintaining the secular nature of the Russian school with strict observance of the principle of religious freedom; cultural integration and socialization of Muslims, especially those who join the urban Muslim communities as a result of migration processes.
Internal challenges
Let me go on to discuss the problems and challenges facing us today. I will start with questions and areas in which special attention, diligence, hard work, and goodwill of Muslims are required; moreover, we will focus not only on our organizations, but on the whole on Russian Islam and its institutions.
Although I spoke about the emergence of the Muslim creative class, the intelligentsia as part of the Russian ummah before, the general intellectual potential of our ummah requires further hard work. We need scientists, highly qualified specialists, and representatives of creative professions that share Islamic values, on which the ummah could rely in many areas - from self-presentation through modern media to the implementation of high-tech infrastructure projects. The issue of material support for the activities of communities remains a difficult issue, which cannot be fundamentally resolved without a whole layer of socially responsible Muslim entrepreneurs. They, as well as the growth of the Muslim intelligentsia, are the social basis of the future achievements of Muslims, the future worthy place of Russian Islam in Russian society and the world community.
We are also concerned about the social insecurity of the imams, the low material security of the communities, and, hence, the low integration of graduates into religious organizations. Even those who, after graduation, came to work in the religious sphere, after a few years, having got a family, children, are “washed out” from there due to the lack of prospects to solve housing and material issues.
The level of competitiveness of our educational institutions is still insufficient. Many young people tend to go abroad in search of Islamic education. For instance, only in one of the international universities of the Islamic world, at the International University of Medina, in particular, whose rector participates in our meeting, about 200 students from Russia are studying today, 170 of them are undergraduate, 15 are in their magistracy, and three are in doctoral studies.
Obviously, a certain part of them seeks to remain in the countries of the Islamic world for permanent residence, and this is their choice. But, one way or another, most will come back to us, while the mechanisms of their adaptation, integration, and, most importantly, nostrification, i.e. recognition of their foreign diplomas are not provided.
We consider it very important to establish constant constructive interaction with the leadership of large universities of the Islamic world, where a large number of Russians are studying for the benefit of all parties, so that the Islamic knowledge acquired by our compatriots outside of Russia can find creative application in our country. We are grateful to the rectors and sheikhs of the world famous Islamic universities with whom our cooperation is developing.
The most difficult internal challenges of the Russian Muslim community include the disunion of Muslims. It manifests itself in several planes at once: this is organizational fragmentation with a tendency to deepen centrifugal processes, the organization of communities on a national, diasporal basis, and the deepening of internal religious contradictions of theological nature. In some regions, the Ummah is split, with each side claiming to carry the banner of Islamic orthodoxy that has been understood in their own way.
The sum of these factors creates the ground for some “blind” zones to appear on the Muslim landscape in the form of closed communities, fellowships, and circles, living their own separate lives and not participating either in the general Muslim life or in the life of civil society. We do not consider them to be radicals or delinquents by default, however such enclaves and marginal groups are ideal incubators for various kinds of destructive ideas.
Islam, by its nature, is a deeply social, open, and transparent religion. Our shortcoming, I believe, is the insufficient solidity of the internal structure of our Religious Board, we have to work on strengthening it, and, in this regard, I hope for the support of the Congress delegates. The revision of the Charter of the Religious Board, unanimously adopted during the Congress in 2014, is consonant with the Quranic ayat:
واعتصموا بحبل الله جميعا ولا تفرقوا
«Hold on tightly to the cord of Allah all together and do not separate» (Al-Imran, ayat 103).
Our structural unity, organization, and subordination are today a prerequisite for our subjectivity tomorrow. We must not allow the exchange of strategic goals and achievements of the entire Muslim community for local successes and regional independence. Despite the external attractiveness of freely associated structures, an alternative to a clearly structured, vertically organized federal center is the devaluation of the Islamic factor to the regional level, and the loss of its significance at the national level.
External challenges
Speaking of external challenges, I will start again with the threat posed by radical teachings and terrorist organizations. Praise be to the Almighty, recently terrorist activity on the territory of Russia has decreased by many times, this is the success of law enforcement agencies and special services, and our success as organizations working daily in the field of educating Muslims. But now’s not the time to relax, since the threat remains quite real.
I also attribute the lack of mosques and other Muslim infrastructure to external problems, since in the vast majority of cases it is associated with imaginary threats, phobias, and unwillingness to solve the corresponding problem on the part of local and regional authorities. It is rather light-minded and short-sighted that it is customary for us to associate the theme of mosques with the convenience or inconvenience of city dwellers. We hear from the lips of officials that the presence of a mosque in one or another city district will hinder local residents, although in the 21st century civilized people are able to agree on the rules of neighborhood and community life, especially in our country.
They also say that the hardships and inconveniences experienced by those praying in the snow and rain, in heat and in severe frost, in puddles, in the mud, are not worth our worries, because these people has come to us for the time being and will soon leave for their homeland. Of course, those of our brethren who, despite such severe hardships, stand prayers in the streets, are worthy of respect, they do this out of a desire to earn the satisfaction of the Almighty, and not because of a desire to carry out cultural expansion.
Expert data and forecasts on the increase of Muslims in the number in large cities, allegations of the need for labor migrants for our economy, warnings from experts that the religious needs of Muslims will not dissolve by themselves, but rather will be expressed in a closed-type infrastructure, voiced by me including from the rostrum of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, do not reach for some reason the attention of many of our officials.
I admit, in certain circles, there is confidence that demographic transformations can be compensated for by the forced assimilation of our fellow citizens, which presupposes marginalization, a change of religion, and a rejection of one’s religious code. It is possible that in relation to some part of the population such a strategy may be successful. But, for the rest of the people, it will cause just as equally vivid rejection and rejection, which is fraught with the destruction of the international and interreligious peace and the destabilization of society.
Recently, such a line has begun to manifest itself more and more clearly. We see in this an unkind will or misunderstanding of certain groups in society. These include an extremely harmful concept of the Tatars as a bi-confessional people, which is ridiculous from the point of view of historical validity, attempts to belittle the significance of non-Russian and non-Orthodox peoples in the history of Russia, to hinder their historical memory and national pride through the installation of monuments and memorable dates of nationwide significance. We consider such steps destructive, and above all, with regard to national security and stability. They undermine the confidence of non-titular peoples in their state, disrupt the strategy for the formation of Russian civil identity, and devalue the policy documents adopted earlier on the state national policy. While the whole history of Russian statehood, without exception, tells us that our Fatherland achieved the greatest power precisely in those periods when its supreme power relied on integration, incorporation of all the religious and ethnic diversity of Russia into the decision-making system and the development of the state, and respect religious feelings of all nations.
Yes, there are “Muslims” (in quotation marks) who are ready to accept any short-sighted actions regarding their fellow believers. We know what kind of support is provided to such organizations and their leaders, right up to the intellectual and methodological support from the bowels of religious organizations of other religions. For some, there is a temptation to go the same way.
But I think that before us, as believers, there is no need to spread for a long time, that any forgery sooner or later comes into the light of God. As Allah says about this in Scripture:
وَقُلْ جَاءَ الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا
«Say: “The truth has appeared, and the lie has vanished. Indeed, lies are doomed to perdition”» (Al-Isra, ayat 81).
Those who today cooperate with the obvious ill-wishers of the Ummah, with the champions of the assimilation of Muslims, with the destroyers of inter-religious harmony, will receive the curse of the Ummah and a corresponding assessment of future generations.
Another challenge is the buildup of the political situation in the country today, the development of revolutionary scenarios for Russia. We firmly stand on the position that all transformations in the political sphere should follow an evolutionary path, and be without shocks. We rely on the words of the Lord of the Worlds, who said:
وَلَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلَاحِهَا
«Do not spread wickedness on the earth after it is put in order» (Al-Araf, ayat 56).
Purposes and prospective
How do we see the future of Russian Islam and of our Religious Board in it? Let me present to you my vision of our development strategy not only for the next five years, but also for a longer term, conditionally until 2050.
In the next 5–10 years, we should aim to further strengthen the structure of the Religious Board, to expand our activities in 70 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and to develop Muslim infrastructure projects. For longer time distances, it is necessary to plan the construction of cathedral mosques in each of Russia's million-plus cities, as well as in the capital cities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The goals we are facing require a high degree of internal consolidation and subordination. And I hope that we will be supported in this regard by regional centralized religious organizations, whose formation took place in the ranks of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the heads of centralized religious organizations of the Council of Muftis of Russia will correctly understand my message and the single vector of development of our organization.
The task of my generation of imams, who have been brought up in Soviet times in Bukhara and Tashkent, who really did a lot to revive Islam in post-Soviet Russia, I consider the formation of working mechanisms for the transit of spiritual leadership to a new generation that is coming to replace us. It is very important that this process is not overshadowed by internal squabbles and the loss of stability of our organizations. For reasons of the solidity of religious centers, I also consider it necessary to increase the educational, qualification, and even age limit of persons applying for higher religious positions. In order to carry the title of a mufti, a person must have a minimum of 15–20 years of experience on the religious path, he must have written scientific and theological works, and have experience of mentoring.
In order not to get blended among this huge variety of peoples and cultures, we urgently need working institutions, i.e. religious, national, and social ones. The future of the institute of the unified Religious Board of Muslims, which will not be replaced in the coming decades and even centuries, is seen as a structure that, by its Charter and internal self-organization, was protected from troubles and disunions; and if there is a solid staff there, represented by scientists and theologians, their constant intellectual exchange and communication, it could be immune from all kinds of provocations.
In the field of science and education, we must reach the level of defense of dissertations on Islamic theology with the appropriate qualifications from the Higher Attestation Commission or state universities that have the right to independently award the degrees of doctors of theology. The scientific and theological environment of Russian Muslims and a continuous intellectual process must finally mature. The circulation of our theological, enlightening, and educational publications must be increased by several times, while the topics of research, whether these are graduation theses or dissertations, must answer the questions that concern Muslims of Russia and the world today.
The priority should be the education of the elite of Russian Islam and investment in human capital. It is crucial to instill a sense of responsibility in the young generation for themselves, their family, their kin, their nation, region and the country as a whole. A few weeks ago, the national love and sincere admiration of our fellow citizens deservedly won the captain of civil aviation Damir Yusupov. Muslims experienced genuine pride in him as a co-religion practitioner who regularly attends a mosque. We decided to award him the Order of Muslims of Russia "For Merit".
I really hope that the example of Damir Yusupov will help our young co-religionists understand the very obvious thing: in order to strengthen the creed of Islam, to strengthen our ummah, it is not enough just to spend a lot of time in the mosque and wait for mercy from Allah, but without leaving a prayer, not approaching to haram, it is necessary to work hard and move forward, and, in the realities of earthly life, to be a professional in your field, to feel your responsibility for the world around us and the land on which Allah has placed man as governor and manager. How beautifully this idea was expressed by Mawlana Jalyaletdin Rumi:
“We should not be idle,
To strive is what it means to trust”.
Another striking example of a new generation of Russian Muslims is the athlete Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has achieved tremendous success in sports with his work and perseverance. Among Muslim theologians, various opinions are widespread regarding the permissibility of martial arts, because they are somehow related to hurting another person. But I personally believe that Khabib Nurmagomedov is Muhammad Ali of our time, who invariably and firmly raises his voice in defense of Islam, which earned the love and respect of millions of co-religionists around the world. At the same time, I urge our Russian Muslim youths to remember: your talent and professionalism are most needed in our Fatherland, there is no greater good in earthly life than serving the Fatherland and your own people. We need projects and long-term programs to educate the religious and civic identity of Russian Islam. We must educate a generation of believers who are aware of themselves as part of our country, its history and present, who are aware of themselves as citizens of Russia and who associate their future with it. There is no alternative to law-abiding, defending one’s interests with constitutional methods and instruments, no alternative to dialogue with representatives and organizations of brotherly religions. Denying this, we would lead our own people into the abyss of chaos, lawlessness, bloodshed.
These two components, which are the institutions firmly standing on their feet, having great development potential and the educated, motivated personnel — will allow Russian Muslims, as a historical, sociocultural unit, to set strategic goals, the so-called “long-will” projects, and achieve them without being distracted by the agenda which is being imposed with the external environment.
Another important social unit in the Islamic coordinate system is the institution of the family. In our mosques and cultural and educational centers, we should not work separately with men, women, and children, but we should find forms of work whose target audience is the Muslim family as a whole.
In the coming years, we are preparing to celebrate two important historical dates, i.e. the 75th anniversary of the Victory in World War II and the 1,100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the people of the largest medieval European state Volga Bulgaria according to the Gregorian calendar. I am convinced that these anniversaries, in addition to their comprehension and spiritual experience, should be filled with meaningful, useful social, scientific, cultural, and educational projects.
I urge all my brothers and sisters who are not indifferent to the fate of Islam in Russia to not doubt for a second the great mercy of the Almighty and never forget that Allah is with the patient.
Praise be to Allah the Almighty, in our prayers we do not forget our brothers and sisters who have contributed to the development and strengthening of the Ummah, but have completed their earthly path. These are such people as the academics Adgam Tenishev and Mirza Makhmutov, the translators of meanings of the Noble Quran Arabists Magomednuri Osmanov and Anas Khalidov, the Mufti Sayidmuhammad Abubakarov, the rector Maksud Sadikov, Sheikh Saeed Chirkeyskiy, the philosophers Arthur Sagadeev Geidar Jemal, the Imams Hafiz Hazrat Makhmudov and Abdolbari Hazrat Muslimov, the educator and mentor Rashida Abystay Iskhaki, the architect Ilyas Tazhiev, and the other prominent representatives of the Muslim community of Russia, may God forgive them all and bless them with Paradise.
In conclusion, let me once again express our heartfelt gratitude to the Russian leadership in the person of our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the Presidential Administration, the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as philanthropists and sponsors, charitable foundations supporting our activities, including the Islamic Culture, Science and Education Support Fund, to the leaders of the largest scientific and educational centers with whom it is an honor for our Religious Board to work and implement the projects needed by the Ummah.
I would like to end my speech with the prayer that our prophet Muhammad often liked to say: “Oh, Allah! Improve my faith that keeps my works; and improve this world for me, for I live in it; and improve my future, where I will enter; and fulfill my life with good!”
Moscow Cathedral Mosque, the 23rd of September 2019