RUSSIA Russian Islam supports Putin’s war

It is an armed action against the fascists and parasites in Ukraine, according to statements by the Supreme Mufti of Russia. The speech takes up the propaganda rhetoric of the Kremlin. The positions are similar to those of Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Most of the Russian soldiers fighting against kyiv are of the Islamic faith.

Moscow () – The Supreme Mufti of Russia, Talgat Tadžuddin, celebrated the feast of ʿĪd al-aḍḥā, in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkortostan Tatar region. This holiday, which in Russian is called Kurban-Bajram, commemorates the sacrifice of Isaac. In his homily, the mufti openly supported the reasons for the Russian war in Ukraine. On the occasion of the conclusion of the great pilgrimage to Mecca, he declared that this war must be “fought to the end, so that no fascist or parasite remains on our side, because insecticides are not enough for them, it is like a brown plague , and we pray that the Most High will deliver us from it”.

Tadžuddin had already supported the war in recent months; for example, when he declared in March that Muslims around the world “are for peace, and no one is happy with war, but the special operation in Ukraine is a necessary measure.” Now the mufti has gone far beyond those statements, expressing himself in a particularly aggressive tone.

He specified that “when your neighbor is infested with vermin, a horde of nationalists and neo-Nazis, who in the course of no less than eight years (twice as long as the Great Patriotic War) have been systematically working for bloodshed and genocide in the long-suffering land of Donbass, we cannot sit back and watch, indifference would be unacceptable”. The use of specific terminology in the invective against the Ukrainians reveals strong pressure from the Kremlin. These declarations of Islamic patriotism also serve to counteract the situation of the Volga Tatars, whose separatist impetus has undoubtedly been reactivated by the Ukrainian war.

The leader of Russian Muslims attacked the United States, adding that all other Western countries bow to this nation: “This lying and envious tradition of the West against our great, united and powerful nation repeats itself practically every century.” In his statements, Tadžuddin far exceeded the proclamations of the Moscow Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev), who is now on the list of people sanctioned not only by the United Kingdom, but also by Canada.

On repeated occasions, the patriarch defended the Russian Armed Forces: he assured that Russian soldiers “are moved by feelings that are born of deep morality”, and that they act to defend the Russian people. And although he affirmed that “Russia has never attacked nor harmed anyone”, never openly supported the war as Muslims do today. The war reveals the degree of religious radicalism of the two major religions in Russia, Orthodox and Islamic. Considering that Muslim soldiers are the majority in the Russian army , this somehow seems to favor Allah’s reasons more than those of the Russian Christ.

The Grand Mufti concluded the salat-the collective prayer that marks Islam – with invocations for the fortune of the Russian people and the health of President Putin. He recalled that this year more than 12,000 faithful from Russia, including a group of Muslims from the self-proclaimed Republic of Donetsk, have fulfilled the ḥajjthe great pilgrimage that constitutes the fifth pillar of Islam, and highlighted the important role of Russia in the world panorama of the Islamic religion.