The Russian capital is home to about 10 million people, of which 15 percent are Muslim. But in Moscow, the entire Muslim population of about 1.5 million can worship at only five mosques—one of which is located in the Iranian Embassy.
Mosques are so controversial that no new mosque has been built in the capital in more than a decade, and opponents of the new plan for one have pledged to send an appeal with about 2,000 signatures to President Dmitry Medved-ev in an effort to bar construction.
Many fear the mosque will cause parking congestion and noise pollution, standard complaints heard in the United States. The Moscow opponents say a mosque may even inconvenience dog walkers, who might be restricted from walking their pets near the mosque. Others complain that the mosque is set to be built in the area’s only green zone, which is supposed to be reserved for parks.
“Moscow is the only place in the world where over one million Muslims are served in only four mosques,” said Ildar Alyautdinov, the imam of the main mosque in the Russian capital. “We lack premises for praying. Muslims are allowed to conduct their religious ceremonies in Orthodox churches, but we would rather avoid this extreme measure,” he told the Russian daily Ayautdinov Metro.
Muscovites gathered on the anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks to defend a grassy patch the length of a city block. “It’s the only green place here,” Margarita Khetvani, 29, told The Washington Post. “A mosque should be somewhere far away.”
Khetvani, who circulated a petition opposing the mosque plan, said she wasn’t the only one who opposes the project. Khetvani said her Muslim neighbors even opposed the plan because of the potential noise and traffic. “My son will have to listen to their shouts,” Khetvani said of Muslims at prayer.
Just two days before the anti-mosque demonstration, Muslims crowded the Central Mosque, built in 1904, to observe the end of Ramadan. In response, those opposed to the mosque project waved signs reading: “Do we need this?”
Others, however, noted how congested the main mosque got with congregants packing the limited space, and said Muslims in Moscow needed an additional place of worship. Imam Alyautdinov told the Post, “Let us build a mosque. It doesn’t have to be there. Any place is fine with us. We need a mosque. We should have 10 at least.”
But Alyautdinov said city officials continue to promise the Muslim community different locations to build their mosque to no avail.
“Such a crowd is not manageable,” Alyautdinov, a 32-year-old Tatar and native of Moscow, said. “We want this load off our shoulders. We have lots and lots of people coming from a different world,” he said referring to rural Muslims. “We have to support them spiritually. We have to teach them, or we will lose them.”
But Muscovites fear new Muslim immigrants from southern neighbors like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will bring the violence occurring in Muslim places like Chechnya and Dagestan to the streets of Moscow. Others fear that more mosques will encourage more Muslim immigrants to the Russian capital, and with more Muslims, many fear there will be more terrorism and violence on their streets.
The Central Mosque was founded by Tatar Muslims who have lived in Russia and neighboring countries for centuries. St. Basil’s Cathedral, the famous Russian Orthodox cathedral erected on Red Square in Moscow in the mid-1500s, was actually built to commemorate the subjugation of the Tatars under the rule of Ivan the Terrible.
Roman Silantyev, an Orthodox Christian professor of religious history, told the Post, “People want to have guarantees that a new mosque will be a place of prayer and not a place for accumulating terrorists.”
The Orthodox Church, which currently has 400 parish churches and 200 new ones in line in Moscow, said it believed that more mosques are needed to accommodate the Muslim community, but it blamed Muslim leaders for not discussing plans with local communities.
“I am absolutely sure there is enough land in the city to build new mosques,” Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the church’s department of external relations, told the Post.