Immigrants from Central Asia have Profoundly Affected Muslim Community in Russia, Leader Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 21 – The Muslim community, both its composition and its leadership, have been “transformed” by the influx of migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus over the last two decades, according to Muslim leaders and experts on religion and society in the Russian Federation.

            Mufti Rushan Abbyasov, the leader of the Muslim community in the suburbs of Moscow, says that 25 years ago, most Muslims in his parishes were Tatars or Bashkirs; but now, the ethnic composition not only of the believers but of their leaders is far from diverse, reflecting the influx of immigrants (profile.ru/society/prikrylis-nikabom-spor-o-religioznom-dress-kode-obnazhil-fundamentalnye-problemy-rossijskih-musulman-1551378/).

            The religious infrastructure that was set up in the 1990s and early 2000s, he continues, “turned out to be not prepared for such an influx of believers.” There are too few mosques and so many immigrants instead of attending them are forming their own “illegal prayer rooms.” That too is “a source of tension.”