Paul Goble
Staunton, Aug. 2 – Talgat Tajuddin, head of the Central Muslim Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Russia based in Ufa, says that a call issued on his organization’s letterhead urging Muslim republics to struggle against what it called “extremely aggressive intolerance” toward them by Russian communities in them is “a fake” and should be treated as such.
He continues by pointing out that “the Central MSD for all its 225-year history has considered it to be its holy duty and primary task to display concern about the spiritual and moral rebirth of the peoples of our country and the preservation and strengthening of inter-religious peace and concord” (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=118658).
That the last senior Russian mufti appointed before the collapse of Soviet power should take this step – he has often drawn fire for his slavish obedience to the Russian authorities -- and make this declaration is not surprising. But what is intriguing is that the original statement was issued the way it was and that Tajuddin took so long to denounce it as a fake.
Not surprisingly, however, were the mufti’s decision to blame outside and even foreign “forces” for the appearance of this appeal and his suggestion that all Russian citizens should “carefully check all information, especially that disseminated through social networks” lest they take actins that will harm themselves and their neighbors.
It is possible that both the original appeal and Tajuddin's disowning of it are a sign that some in both the Russian umma and the Russian government think that it is time to push the 75-year-old mufti out of office and have worked together to create the kind of scandal that he may find it hard to counter.
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