Hazrat Albir Krganov: ‘The West sought to drive a wedge between Russia and countries of the Islamic world’
“The West sought to drive a wedge between Russia and countries of the Islamic world. But thanks to the Most High’s mercy, Russia destroyed centuries-old plans of Islam’s enemies. The recent attempts of aggravating public life in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, are they accidental?” said member of the Russian Civic Chamber Hazrat Albir Krganov when delivering a speech at a forum of Tatar imams. According to him, those who used to be against Islam are now trying to destabilise the international state of affairs by supporting neo-fascist regimes and warring against Russia. Read more in Realnoe Vremya’s report.
“Islam and our old traditions teach us compassion”
A forum of Tatar imams organised by the World Congress of the Tatars was held in the capital of Tatarstan on 20 May. Tens of muftis, imams and teachers discussed topical problems of the international, Russian and regional agenda.
“Islam and our old traditions teach us compassion and mutual help. Many of you, I am sure, have heard about the awful tragedy in Yuldus, one of 18 Tatar villages in Kurgan Oblast where the recent fire claimed human lives, destroyed 280 houses leaving just ash. It is a village with centuries-old traditions, it was the richest Tatar village in the region,” member of the Russian Civic Chamber Hazrat Albir Krganov started his speech precisely with this topic.
According to him, nowadays residents of this village need help. As Krganov said, imams went to the village to agree with local authorities to build a house for a family of teachers. Muslims of Chuvashia are raising money and other religious centres of the country could follow this example, he stressed.
Talking about teachers, Krganov noted another hot-button issue or, more precisely, a shortage of imams in many Russian regions.
“The conservation of our religious identity we talk a lot about is the second topical theme. Thank God, the biggest number of Muslim educational institutions is located precisely in Tatarstan. However, unfortunately, graduates of Islamic universities don’t want to go remote Russian regions. Many big regions lack imams,” he said.
According to him, provisions for young theologians have long been an unsolved problem. At the same time, representatives of Middle Asia and the Caucasus are ready to work even without a social package. The member of the Civic Chamber urged the audience to discuss this issue and find a common solution.
“Current politicians of the collective West united powers of evil around themselves”
At the same time, Kgranov touched on international issues too. As the expert noted, terrorism and those who used to be against Islam attributing just negative arguments to it, started to fight against Russia have disappeared from the public agenda since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
“You have probably wondered why the topic of the so-called Islamist terrorists has ‘mysteriously’ disappeared from the world agenda since the start of the special military operation. Suffice it to remember, for instance, ex-US State Secretary Mike Pompeo’s words in 2019 that ‘all Muslims are potential terrorists’ or the words of former US national security adviser Michael Flynn in 2016 that Islam is an ideology, not religion, and its main goal is to inspire fear and terror. Military campaigns of the US in the Near East and Afghanistan... Now the truth about those who attributed terrorism to Muslims has come to light. Now the performers and initiators of these misanthropic acts are busy with another thing — they are warring against Russia. Remember the numbers, mercenaries from 54 countries of the world funded by Russia’s opponents fought in Chechnya in the early 90s. How many are there now in Ukraine?” he claimed.
According to him, the death of hundreds of thousands of people at war has been a profitable business for the West. So, as Krganov explained, during the year of assistance provided to Kyiv, stocks of the military and industrial complex of countries of the collective West soared by 22%, while their capitalisation topped $705 billion, which is more than the annual budget of China, Germany and Japan.
“In fact, the current politicians of the collective West have united powers of evil around themselves, which contradicts the divine idea created by God. Unfortunately, the elites of the West became supporters of Iblis’s ideas, and our holy task is to defeat it altogether,” he emphasised.
“The enemy is seeking to drive a wedge between people, ethnicities, nations, religions”
Krganov highlighted once again the fact that the West was openly voicing its hatred of Russia for its determination to remain loyal to its authentic traditions. He says that today “the war in the world has not taking place for territories but divine narrative, the faith against atheism.”
“The West sought to drive a wedge between Russia and countries of the Islamic world. But thanks to God’s mercy, Russia destroyed centuries-old plans of Islam’s enemies. The recent attempts of aggravating public life in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, are they accidental? It is a big challenge for humanity in general and the Islamic world in particular. The next US senator offered to destroy Kaaba seeing it as a threat several years ago. These aren’t simple statements, they are probing the situation and preparing their long-term plans. But we know an ayah of the Holy Quran: ‘And the disbelievers planned, but Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners,” he said.
According to Krganov, today Russia is withstanding not only thanks to the economy that easily falls for manipulations like sanctions but also its internal world.
“The enemy is seeking to drive a wedge between people, ethnicities, nations, religions by using any contradictions and difficulties. For instance, there has recently been an attempt of burying the Quran in Volgograd. They aren’t afraid of anything. They are trying to destroy the values of the Russian multiethnic society, destroy its religious foundations. God willing, we won’t break like our glorious ancestors. We will go through these challenges with the president who repeatedly cited Quran ayats, issued laws protecting religions, who has holy books of three religions on his table, who built God’s churches, help the needy, protect the oppressed with managers. We believe we are on God’s path,” he said.
Chairman of the Tatarstan Muslim Religious Directorate Kamil Samigullin added that each of the events last year is worthy of attention:
“There are a lot of topics for discussion this year because last year was rich in events: the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam, the census, the special operation in Ukraine, the mobilisation, the cooperation of Russia with Islamic countries... Each of these themes is worthy of due attention, they all resonate in our work. Agree that positive changes were notable in the life of the Russian religious ummah. For instance, the experiment with the launch of Islamic finance started, it again became possible to go to the Hajj after a pause, there was allocated a land parcel to build a mosque in Moscow, there were built new buildings for the two biggest Muslim educational institutions in Kazan, Ufa and Moscow, about 40 mosques opened in the country after the celebration of the 110th anniversary, hundreds of scientific events were held... Well done!”