Posted on 12/20/2017 2:11:51 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
The Russian capital Moscow is growing increasingly Islamic, as the number of Muslims in the city has increased to over 1.5 million in the past decade, according to Russia’s chief imams.
There are hundreds of mosques in Moscow, but not enough to accommodate the huge number of worshippers, forcing many to pray on the streets.
In 2015, more than 160,000 Muslims attended prayers marking the Eid holiday, according to the Moscow police.
“A large number of labor migrants come to our mosques and during holidays our mosques -- there are only four of them in Moscow now -- of course they are overcrowded and most of our believers pray outside, in the rain, in the sleet,” said Iman Rushan Abbyasov, deputy head of the Council of Muftis.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia had only 100 mosques left. Some 8,000 were built in the past 24 years – but not in Moscow. The official census data from 2010 suggests there are over 400,000 Muslims living in the Russian capital.
According to experts the number of Muslims in the city has grown dramatically in the past two decades due to increased migration from predominantly Muslim Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Russia's North Caucasus.
“The real number is definitely higher,” said Alexei Malashenko, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment. “This includes both Muslims who live here as well as registered migrants. We simply do not have exact statistics.”
Muftis put the number of Muslims in Moscow at 1.5 million. If they are right, the Russian capital has the second-largest Muslim population after Paris which, with 1.7 million Muslims, hosts the largest population of any European city.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has ruled out building more mosques, saying would be "over the top." He added that Muscovites are becoming irritated by people who speak a different language and have different customs.
The statement provoked anger among Muslims.
The opening in September of the Cathedral Mosque, which was Moscow’s main mosque before it closed for renovations a decade ago, is not expected to solve the shortage of prayer space, Muslims say. They explain that, like the other mosques, it can accommodate no more than 10,000 worshippers at a time.
In contrast to mosques, churches in Moscow have flourished in recent years.
There are currently 383 active Russian Orthodox churches in the capital. Five years ago, the city launched a "200 churches" program, aimed at building churches in every district of the city.
Many of these new buildings often remain empty, while more and more Muslims are seen praying in the streets outside mosques.
Note to self: When building an Empire in the future, it might be a good idea not to include Muslim areas in said Empire.
They need to do some serious scouring.
wow! and I thought the Russians knew better!!!
apparently, the Muslim invasion is gonna take over Russia (as well as most of Europe) too
shockingly stupid of Russia and Putin, they should know better after all the horrible, murderous Muslim terrorist attacks Russia’s been hit with
Yes. They need to ship to Muslims back to the lands where they came from.
Idiotic sophistry on your part there. Russia has a large, centuries old, native moslem population. They view it as a problem, and restrict the number of mosques in Moscow to 4. They don’t let them take over city streets for mass “ass-in-the-air” prayer. And they don’t repurpose old churches into mosques.
Europe on the other hand is waving them in, and importing them wholesale...and bragging about ending white culture and being a new kind of Europe. The Euro cities have no excuse that Wales, Bordeau and Bavaria have a centuries old moslem population to deal with.
Your comment is like saying Denver has more Mexicans than any city in Japan.
Yes. They need to ship to Muslims back to the lands where they came from.
<<>>
Give ‘em 40 dunes and a camel.
Islamic Command Posts
To be fair, Russia historically has had an Islamic heritage alongside Orthodoxy especially the central regions... The two issues worthy of note now are: 1) Russia’s struggling economy relies on migrant workers, and 2) Russia’s low birthrate among the ethnic population.
I do not fear for Russia or even Europe. Islam is not always a “fixed” identity. People convert to Christianity and intermarry, or return to their native countries. Its actually incumbent on culturally Christian people to finally embrace their faith to save Europe.
What MY problem is: the people on these boards acting as if Putin is some grand savior of European civilization. When in fact he is the most allied with Islamic interests of all! His survival practically hinges on it because he has to keep his country (including Chechnya, Tatarstan) together and his allies are Iran, Turkey, and Syria!
See post 9.
Except most Muslims in Russia were converted to Islam centuries back. They are indigenous to Russia. In other words Muslims in Russia have been existence longer than when George Washington was president.
USSR had several predominately Muslims countries; Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and then the Muslim enclaves within Mother Russia herself; Abkhazia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and various native Muslim ethnicities scattered across the former union. We're not talking about migrants here, rather people who have lived under a Russian rule or Russian influence, many of whom were displaced under communism, moved around and relocated as Stalin saw fit.
Best solution? Deport them.
No different than the British and French Empires which were over many Muslim lands, now they’re reaping the whirlwind.
In Russia, this would primarily be Russia herself and former USSR countries.
And some Muslims convert to Christianity. My point is that it shouldn’t be a surprise that Putin is committed to 1) Muslim allies like Iran and Turkey, there is much historical precedent and 2) Muslim interests due to the migrant workers his economy relies on and 3) the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation which include the Muslim republics of Chechnya, Tatarstan, Dagestan et al.
That’s what happened in the US government as Obama embedded his crew....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JyJsbr-wTk
i just did not realize that Russia/Putin permitted them to migrate right into Moscow itself
Hi faith, indeed the visa-free migration policy for Central Asia is due to struggling economy and need for “cheap” labor and the labor shortfall caused by Russia’s demographic crisis.
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