Author: Interview by Daria Melekhova, exclusively to VK
On the eve of the World Day for Tolerance, celebrated on November 16, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Mufti Council Rushan hazrat Abbyasov told VK about the traditions of tolerance in Islam.
- What is the role of Islam in the development of tolerance in modern Russia?
- Islam is one of the constituent religions, along with Orthodox Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Islam is a religion that brings together a large number of people in our country. Allah in the Holy Quran urges us to get to know each other. Muslims, being an active part of our civil society, contribute to the development of peace and harmony in multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. Islam is the religion of kindness and peace, which calls for kindness and neighborliness. Today Muslims should as much as possible promote the Islamic traditions of tolerance by their personal example in order to try to get to know each other. This is the best sermon, best appeal to Islamic values. When people try to turn the domestic conflicts into national or religious ones, it is a dangerous trend for our country. Therefore, Muslims should be active participants in civil society. Islam promotes high, spiritual, moral values of peace and good neighborliness. If we look through the Holy Quran, we will see a lot of appeals for Muslims to spread peace and good. This is our main appeal.
- What events are planned for the day of tolerance?
- Coincidentally, these days the Muslims are celebrating the great feast of Islam - the holiday of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, when Muslims try to get closer, kinder, more tolerant. Although I do not quite like the word «tolerance», I think that in Russia there is still more common neighborliness between different traditions and cultures. Our Muslim communities actively hold scientific conferences, distribution of charitable gifts and the meat of sacrificial animals to the needy. One of these major events that will take place in Moscow (it is not religious, but it has cultural significance) is a holiday "Circle of friends." Muslims invite all those interested in good neighborliness in our society. We want to show the people's creativity of our people, who today have a very rich culture, traditions and representatives of various nations, and there will be no fear of each other. This will be the event in the Kremlin, which is held for the first time on such an important area of our country, and it will contribute to the preservation and development of peace and good in our country.
- What do you think of the hijab in school?
- The Council of Muftis of Russia has expressed its position on this matter. For Muslim women wearing the hijab is not just promoting any religious symbols; it is a symbol of faith, and perhaps an obligation. We do not call for the protrusion of religious values, on the contrary, we want to say that in today's society, when Western values are imposed on us and when, unfortunately, we see a kind of immorality in schools where there is no specific uniforms, when the girls dress up in very different ways, when different subcultures make some adjustments, that's wrong. We want to say that there are common moral and spiritual values in all religions - both in Christianity and Judaism and in Islam. Do not be afraid of the word "hijab", which is a foreign word for us. This is an Arabic word. But wearing the headscarf is a tradition of our people. And if you look at the costumes of different peoples of our country, we can see that it is the personification of modesty and good behavior in society. It is said that the Muslim community wants to impose some of its values. By no means! These are common values, common traditions and customs. After seventy years of totalitarian rule, when religion was banned, spiritual values were banned, we're just at the stage of recovery. After all, before the revolution, we have seen that not only Muslim women wore headscarves in schools, but also Christians, and this tradition exists in various denominations.Today we are a democratic country, we have a constitutional right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, and we understand th Today we are a democratic country, we have a constitutional right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, and we understand that the school is a secular institution. But, in our view, today this should be measured, and, of course, we need to carefully approach the aspirations of people of faith, not only in Islam, because these are traditions of our people. In principle, this is expressed in national costumes of both Russian people and Tatar people or peoples of the North Caucasus.
