Talgat Tadzhuddin: ‘Friendship and love between countries and peoples are gone’
At the forum, Tatar religious figures talked about the role of the family and called for at least ten children to be born
The XIV All-Russian Forum of Tatar Religious Figures “National Identity and Religion”, which began on Friday with a visit to the Russia Halal Expo 2024 exhibition, continued on Saturday with a plenary session at Kazan Expo. They talked about family values, education, and as an example they presented the Garifullin family, whose representatives are scattered throughout Russia on spiritual matters: they all work as khazrats, imams, and their children speak Tatar. That day, the delegates went to the Izge Bolgar Zhyeny.
2024 is the year of Muslim family
Opening the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Vasil Shaikhraziev said that 1,016 people were in the hall. He also noted that the founder of the Muslim community of Kaliningrad Oblast, Hakim khazrat Bikteev, died in February this year. After that, the surahs from the Koran were read by Muhammad khazrat Bikbayev, the young imam of the Rauza mosque, and the dua was pronounced by the Mufti of Tatarstan Kamil khazrat Samigullin.
The high guest of the event was Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin, who was congratulated on continuing his work in this position. Khusnullin concluded his speech in Tatar, stressing that the forum strengthens the unity of Russia.
The muftis who followed him actively talked about the role of the family in Russian society. In particular, the head of the Muslim Spiritual Board of the Russian Federation, Ravil khazrat Gainetdin, recalled that his muftiate, following the President of Russia, declared 2024 the year of the Muslim family.
“If family values disappear, our language and our traditions will disappear," Gainetdin said. “Therefore, I express my gratitude to the khazrats who came here and stayed in the communities, who create large families with many children and grandchildren, giving them national and religious education, teaching them how to separate black from white, sinful from spiritual.”
Gainetdin also recalled that next year marks the 200th anniversary of the Historical Mosque in Moscow, clearly drawing parallels with modernity:
“When the Tatar-Bashkir Cossacks reached Paris and defeated Napoleon's troops, the emperor by his decree allowed us to build the Historical mosque, allocated money for Tatar cavalry regiments to buy land.
Preparations for the celebration are underway: “Rustam Nurgalievich, after looking at the mosque, said that they would not stay away, we remember these words.”
A center of four religions will be built in Kommunarka
“The world is at a loss," said Talgat khazrat Tadzhuddin, the chairman of the Central Spiritual Board of Russia. “The confrontation between the countries has reached an incredible level. Maybe the Day of Judgment has come, people ask. We can't answer that," the mufti pointed out, recalling Jabrayil's answer to the prophet: they say, I can't say more than the questioner.
“Before the Day of Judgment, friendship and love will be removed first," Tadzhuddin continued. “Friendship and love have gone between countries and peoples.
The head of the Muslim Spiritual Board of Russia, Albir Krganov, announced the good news: at the initiative of his muftiate, an interfaith centre is planned to be opened for four traditional Russian religions (Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism) in Kommunarka. There will be a park, an Islamic complex named after the first Russian Mufti Mukhammedzhan Khusainov, a museum, and a scientific centre. In November, Vladimir Putin approved this project.
Chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Board of the Asian part of Russia Nafigulla khazrat Ashirov devoted his speech to the census, pointing out the sad figures for Tatars, adding, either jokingly or seriously:
“I don't know, maybe Kamil khazrat needs to issue a decree: all muftis, imams need to have at least ten children?"
Kamil khazrat Samigullin himself spoke about education:
“There are not enough specialists in the Tatar-Muslim world. They are being trained, but the emerging demand does not cover it. In this regard, I invite you to Tatarstan to get an education.
The khazrat recalled that last year experiments with Islamic finance began in four regions, related to mortgages, bank cards, separate payments, factoring, leasing, halal investments, and a pension fund. All this, of course, also requires specialists.
Mosques in the trenches and poems by Rakhima Arslanova
The most vital speech turned out to be the speech of the chairman of the MSB of the Donetsk People's Republic, Rashid khazrat Bragin: here is the story about the watchman of the main mosque, who was left without legs at work, and the specifics of Friday services. The priest calls Bragin and says: I have 15 people here who can't take communion with everyone, they are Muslims. And the place of the call is 1,000 kilometers away.
“We built mosques for them," Bragin said, then hesitated: “Well, as mosques, you can't call them that. We put plates in the trenches with a crane, put mats. Our imams go when they have time, and hold Friday prayers.
The plenary session finished with the appearance on stage of the Deputy Plenipotentiary representative of the MSB of Russia in the Primorsky Territory, Aidar khazrat Garifullin. His whole family are religious figures, they live in different regions, but they support each other and raise children.
“I don't have a family yet," the khazrat smiled. “But nikah is going to be in 2 months, inshallah. But now I would like to invite the middle son of the elder brother Ahmet to the stage.
The nephew, after reading one of the surahs of the Koran, moved on to a poem by Rakhima Arslanova: “I am the son of Tatars”: “I am a Tatar, Tatar blood Flows in my roots. The legacy of my great-grandfathers, the Tatar language is in my soul.”
“We are on the right track," the rais of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, concluded. “If it weren't for mosques, religious figures, would we have such a guy? We wouldn't. Our mainstay is religious figures. We will preserve ourselves through faith.”