For more than a week Russia has been participating in operations against the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria. Previously, Russian law-enforcement bodies managed to achieve notable success in the struggle of our country against the terrorist threat to our country. However, some forceful methods won’t solve the problem. It is necessary to use the general public, including religious leaders, to achieve this aim. This was said today at a Moscow press conference on what contribution representatives of Islam can make in this common matter.
The first deputy chairman of the Russian Muftis Council, Rushan Abbyasov, who attended the press-conference, noted that today Muslim religious leaders "are working hard in the sphere of education.’’
"Islam is a religion of peace, creativity, but not destruction in any case. ISIS is trying to fight within this religion. The purpose of the organization is to create chaos, trying to scare people. This is a common problem for all of us,’’ he stressed.
"We have always supported our country's leadership in the fight against terrorism. This threat concerns not only residents of Syria. Our country is involved not in the invasion of Syria, but in the fight against global terrorism. Today we can see that monuments are destroyed, and people are forced to migrate in order not to die. This phenomenon must be stopped, because it threatens the entire world, including Russia and the North Caucasus. Muftis and imams are against this evil, giving their lives sometimes," the first deputy chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia said.
"We understand that it is necessary to carry out educational programs for young people. Our activity is not limited to preaching in mosques. We use a variety of resources, including the Internet. Being religious leaders, we spread the spiritual and moral values that exist in the Koran,'' Rushan Abbyasov said.
The head of the Center for the Study of Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Volga-Ural Region of the Oriental Studies Institute, Alikber Alikberov, drew attention to the fact that ‘’the situation is changing from year to year. Every time radicalism and extremism are changing their faces.’’
"The fight against extremism, based solely on religious terms, is doomed to failure. Islam has always played the role of a deterrent factor. The conflict is assumed to be about a Shiite-Sunni confrontation in Syria. Our ideological opponents are trying to represent the way that Russia is fighting against the Sunnis. We speak about using the Islamic factor. In fact, there is no Islam at all. What is Syria now and what country had it been? For whom is this situation beneficial? Exactly not for Muslims," Alikber Alikberov said.
