Nine Days in Russia (Part 4/Last)
Taken from the travelogue ‘Safar dar Safar’ by Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (dāmat barakātuhum). English translation by Kaiser Nizamani. Edited by Al Balagh editorial team.
(Shawwal 1427 AH / November 2006 CE)
Praise and glory be for that Being who bestowed existence to the universe
and
peace and blessings be upon His Final Messenger H who elevated the Truth in the world.
Trip to Tatarstan
According to our tour itinerary, our next stop was the second important province of Russia, Tatarstan. However, no direct flight from Daghestan to Tatarstan was available, so we had to return to Moscow. We thus boarded the plane at Makhachkala airport and arrived in Moscow after a two-and-a-half-hour flight. We had planned to take a train to Tatarstan that night, and to reach Tatarstan’s capital city of Kazan by morning after an over-night journey. After landing in Moscow airport, we thus headed straight for the railway station, where a very long train was waiting to depart for Kazan. It had snowed in Moscow and the temperature was -3 degrees. We called the adhān and iqāma at the platform itself and offered isha prayer in congregation, and thereafter boarded the train. This was a moonlit night, and the moon presented itself in all its splendour and glory. When the train left the suburbs of Moscow and entered forest areas, a snow-white blanket of snow was spread over the ground, with the moon of the 14th showering it with its glistening rays. Both sides of the railway line would sometimes feature rows of tall trees, which would also be dressed in snow from head-to-toe, and it would feel as if snow ruled the entire surroundings. The train traversed its journey in this snowy environment. Besides Mr Irfan Jan and Moscow’s Mr Abdus Salam, a young Siberian scholar Shaykh Zakir also accompanied us on this journey to help in translation, and all four of us travelled together in a carriage having four berths. Mr Zakir began relating the conditions of his hometown of Siberia. Siberia is actually a very vast area comprising numerous provinces. It is located at the extreme north of Russia but extends from Europe to Japan in an east-west direction. Mr Zakir informed that every province of Siberia has a very large number of Muslims residing in it, but such a vast area does not have even a single religious scholar. When Mr Zakir got interest in acquiring religious knowledge, he travelled to Tunisia and acquired knowledge from various teachers in Tunisia’s Zaytouna University, and thus masha’allah he can speak Arabic quite well. However, this was not a methodical and systematic education. He now wishes to study in our Darul Uloom so that he can gain more depth and expertise in the Islamic sciences, and is currently trying to obtain a visa for this. The heart was quite moved after listening to the conditions in Siberia; how much is this vast region in need of educational and tabligh-related services, and how unaware are we about it!
There was suitable arrangement in the train for all four of us to sleep, and we slept for some time. By the time we woke up in the morning and offered fajr prayer, the train had entered the precincts of Tatarstan. Tatarstan is a large province of Russia, with Muslims comprising about 52% of the population here, and they follow the Hanafi school of fiqh. The people of this province are called Tatars. This name can cause a misconception that perhaps they belong to the tribe of Genghis Khan and Halagu Khan, but they are not Tatars in that sense. Rather these people are originally of Bulghar ethnicity and their main city was Bulghar, which I have introduced in some detail in my travelogue of Norway (Land of the Midnight Sun). During the era of Tatar invasions, just as Genghis Khan and his armies destroyed several Muslim countries, similarly these people of Bulghar also experienced the same. However, after the end of the Tatar wars and the decline of the Mongols, Russia attacked them, in the wake of which war between them and the Russian government continued for a long time. In Russian language, “Tatar” means “brute”, and in order to defame these people, the Russians declared them “Tatars”, i.e. “brutes”. Initially, they would strongly dislike this name for themselves, but the Russians declared them to be Tatars with such vehemence and persistence that gradually they became known by this name, and today, they themselves call themselves as Tatars and their province as Tatarstan.
In Kazan
Our train arrived in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, around 8am. This is the third-largest city of Russia after Moscow and Saint Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad). The ancient historical city of Bulghar, where a Muslim empire was once established, is located at some distance from Kazan. During the times of the Tatar invasions, the Tatars destroyed that city and founded the city of Kazan in its place. A large number of the residents of Bulghar moved here. Afterwards, the power of the Tatars waned and the original Muslims of Bulghar established their rule here, and the Tsar of the Russia attacked them several times, and eventually obtained complete control over it in 1552 CE. For certain reasons, Mr Javed Hazarwi had not travelled to Daghestan with us, and had instead directly travelled to Kazan from Moscow. He arrived here before us and prepared a two-day itinerary for our visit. He was present at the railway station together with numerous local hosts. Accommodation was arranged in a neat and clean house which our hosts had vacated for us, which was located in a very pleasant location. After resting here for a while, we went to visit the Mufti of Tatarstan, Shaykh Usman, with whom we had an appointment for 10am. His office is located in this historical city in the compound of a historical mosque known as Marjani Mosque. This mosque is so named because the eminent thirteenth-century faqih Allamah Shihab al-Din Harun al-Marjani (may Allah have mercy on him) used to teach in this mosque. Allamah Marjani was a resident of Kazan and numerous works of his in fiqh have attained praise from people of knowledge, which include annotations to Tawdiḥ, the famous book on principles of fiqh. Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri’s (may Allah have mercy on him) Taqrir Tirmidhi contains references to it. Additionally, his magnificent book “Nazurat al-Ḥaqq”, on the topic of obligation of isha prayer in places where twilight does not disappear during summer, is renowned among people of knowledge, and I greatly benefited from it in the last volume of Takmilah Fatḥ al-Mulhim. This elder had made this very mosque as the centre of his teaching. He was born in 1233 AH and passed away in 1306 AH (see al-Aʿlām Lil- Zirikli, page 39, volume 9, and Muʿjam al-Mu’allifin, ʿUmar Rida Kahhala, page 128, volume 13). This mosque became dilapidated during the Communist era but has now been rebuilt after independence.
The office of the Mufti of Tatarstan is located within the mosque compound. Presently this position is held by Shaykh Usman, who speaks Arabic very fluently, and together with a scholarly mind, possesses a delightfully lively disposition. He welcomed this lowly one with great warmth and love and informed that Alhamdulillah, after independence, Muslims are rapidly returning towards Deen and the knowledge of Deen. During Communist rule, only sixteen mosques remained standing in the entire province, and they too uninhabited, whereas now MashaAllah there are more than 1300 mosques, and hardly a week would pass without him having to travel to inaugurate a mosque. Madrasas are also being established, and now a madrasa attached to the Marjani Mosque under Shaykh Usman himself has also been set up, where Islamic education is provided. The respected Mufti took us for a tour of the madrasa where we also met the teachers and students of the madrasa, and it was appreciated that considering what is possible in the present circumstances, this madrasa is fulfilling the obligation of teaching and nurturing the Muslim youth to the best of its ability.
Mufti Usman said that the Muslims in this region were badly stuck in interest-based dealings with banks, and he wished and was making efforts to find a way through which the Muslims could be saved from this curse. In relation to this, his representatives were conducting discussions with some businessmen but they needed guidance in this matter. He expressed his desire for them to have a meeting with me, in which the first steps of this initiative could be laid down. For the next day, Mr Javed Hazarwi had planned a visit to another city located about 100 kilometers from Kazan, but based on this wish of the respected Mufti, he agreed to cancel that program, and a consultative meeting was scheduled in the same office for 10am the next day.
One specialty of Kazan city is that a university called Islamic University is established here under the government’s administration. On the wish of the Vice Chancellor of this university, Mr Javed Hazarwi had planned a talk by me after zuhr to the teachers and students in the University Hall. Thus, a one-hour talk took place here in Arabic language which was translated by Shaykh Zakir. It is normally seen in government universities that even Islamic education often takes the form of a mere philosophical teaching, with practical life seldom affected by it. Especially the required level of Ittiba’ al-Sunnah (following and implementing the Sunnah) is very seldom seen. Therefore, the theme of my talk was: “What is Islamic knowledge? And what does its acquisition demand from us?” Alhamdulillah this address was listened to with attention, and after it the Vice Chancellor took us for a tour of various departments of the university. Previously this university was under the administration of Mufti Usman, but for some time now its management has been entrusted to the current Vice Chancellor, who is specialized in some contemporary science and not in Islamic sciences. About twelve competent teachers of the university resigned due to discontent with the new administration. The university is thus facing a crisis, and nowadays lessons of Islamic sciences are largely at a standstill. I suggested to the Vice Chancellor to resolve this issue through mutual understanding and dialogue, and to alleviate the causes of the teachers’ discontentment and to bring the university back to normal.
That same day, we had to perform maghrib prayer in the famous and historical Kul Sharif Mosque of Kazan, and a meeting with the Qadi (judge) of the district, Shaykh Rustam, and his associates was also planned there. We thus headed for the mosque a little before maghrib.
Kazan is a very beautiful city, wide and open, with broad and clean roads and elegance manifest in its buildings. Allah Most High has also bestowed natural landscapes to it. It is located on the bank of Russia’s famous Volga River, and the natural lakes and tall wild trees strewn across various parts of the city have furnished it with a unique style. It is also a major industrial city of Russia, containing an oil refinery as well as large factories of all kinds of products, from leather and soap to foodstuffs. The government university located here is famous all over Russia for its high standard of education, with such alumni as Tolstoy and Lenin (though Lenin was expelled from the university for sparking a revolt among students).
We passed by various parts of the city to reach the citadel within which the Kul Sharif Mosque is located. This citadel is located on top of a hill and allows a birds-eye view of the entire city. This is the same citadel which the Muslims spent years upon years to defend, and which was eventually fully occupied by Russia in 1552 CE. When we entered the compound of the citadel, the Kul Sharif Mosque stood before us, with an enchanting sound of maghrib adhan being raised from its loudspeaker. Kul Sharif is the name of the Muslim military leader who very valiantly resisted the Russians. An ancient mosque named after him was located here. After independence, that mosque was demolished, and this new mosque has been built in its place. This new mosque is certainly among the unique mosques of the world in terms of its beauty, elegance and design. It is so beautiful even from far that the gaze stuck on it at first sight. On entering it, one cannot help but admire the tastefulness of its designers. We performed maghrib prayer in this mosque. The Imam here is the same young Mufti and judge of Kazan, Mufti Rustam. He studied in Islamic University of Madinah Munawarrah and was acquainted with me due to this. He very warmly took this lowly one to his ornate and decorated office, where the almost wall-to-wall glass windows presented a view of the glittering city extending into the distance.
Mufti Rustam had gathered some other scholars as well. Consultations regarding various ways in which we could mutually cooperate were discussed, and beneficial discussions concerning numerous local issues also took place. We left from here a little while before isha.
We had to offer isha prayer in another mosque in the city called Blunani Mosque, where my public talk had been announced. My talk took place after isha prayer in Arabic language for about one hour. A youngster of Kazan, whose name is also Rustam, had accompanied me from the railway station onwards. He translated the talk into the local language. By the grace of Allah, this mosque is the markaz of the Tablighi Jamat here, and Alhamdulillah commendable work is being done. In my talk, I recommended to the locals to participate in this work. After the talk, some individuals presented some doubts regarding this but were satisfied after receiving the answers. In this manner, the first day’s activities in Kazan came to an end and we spent the pleasant cold night of zero-degrees Celsius in our accommodation.
I have a habit of brisk walking for half an hour after fajr. I could not get a chance for this during the stay in Daghestan and the previous night’s train journey. Our accommodation in Kazan was arranged in a very pleasant location, and there was a forest of tall fir trees located on the other side of the road which had structured footpaths built amidst trees. When we came out after fajr, the temperature was several degrees below zero and the forest grounds were clad in snow from the previous night’s snowing. All of our companions enjoyed the half-hour stroll in warm clothes in this snowy environment.
Around 10am, we headed for the Marjani Mosque for the promised meeting to discuss interest-free financing. Snowfall had started by this time and the atmosphere was filled with small cotton-like balls of snow. When we reached our destination and alighted the car, it was draped in a white sheet of snow.
This consultative meeting in Mufti Usman’s office lasted for about two hours. The possible ways of initiating interest-free financing in the country were contemplated. Based on the legal structure in Russia, I shared details of the best and easiest way of initiating it in my opinion. Besides ‘ulama (scholars), relevant experts also took part. They had prepared numerous questions. I replied to them one by one, and finally an action plan was prepared, based on which the relevant experts expressed their intentions to commence work. All participants were very happy and satisfied with the discussions during this meeting, for this was something they had been contemplating for a long time and finally a methodology for it had been defined.
After zuhr prayer, Mufti Usman had arranged lunch in our honour in a halal restaurant located behind the Marjani Mosque, in which dignitaries of the city were also invited. Various kinds of special cuisine of Tatarstan were served, and especially lamb prepared in innovative ways was memorably delicious. We talked about various local issues over lunch. They were especially apprised of the action plan for interest-free financing that had been decided, and further exchange of thoughts related to its various aspects took place. In those days, asr prayer was taking place at 2:30pm there. We thus offered asr prayer after lunch and then returned to our accommodation. Meanwhile, snow had covered the entire city. Our hosts thanked Allah Most high that today’s plan of travelling about a hundred kilometers was cancelled, for that trip would have been very arduous due to the snow. However, after reaching my accommodation, the doorbell rang and it was learned that someone from that city had arrived; when he learned of the cancellation of our plan, he undertook a taxing journey of five hours to reach here. This lowly one much appreciated his religious desire. It was his right that some time should be spent with him. Besides general conversations of Deen, he had certain questions in his heart which he asked, and Alhamdulillah returned very satisfied and delighted. However, I remained concerned that in that snowy night, he might have to travel for more than five hours to reach home.
The same night, we had to return to Moscow by train at 10pm. I received a few free hours at the accommodation which I used in the in-progress work of the translation and footnotes of the Noble Quran, and thereafter we reached the railway station at 10pm and boarded the same Tatarstan Express on which we had arrived from Moscow.
The next morning, we offered fajr prayer in the train itself and reached Moscow railway station before sunrise. Mr Haroon hails from Muzaffarnagar and is settled in Moscow for business since many years, and is very active in hosting the Tablighi Jamats. We had stayed in his house the first time, and this time as well, when we reached his house from the railway station, he was awaiting our arrival with an excellent desi breakfast. Allah Most High has granted him and his family the tawfiq to serve with heart and soul not only personal guests, but also all travelers who arrive here for the sake of Deen. The head Mufti of Russia, Mufti Ghaynutdin, through whom our visas were obtained, was overseas until now and had returned only a day or two before. A meeting with him in his office had been scheduled for 3pm in the evening. The time until the meeting was free, so our hosts planned to show us some notable sites of Moscow. We thus first departed for the historical and imposing Kremlin complex. Moscow is a very big city whose population is said to be about 15 million. Despite such a large population, it seems quite open and wide. Roads are very broad, and I saw many roads with six tracks on both sides, which means a total of twelve tracks on the road. The buildings here are also quite imposing and elegant. During the Communist Era, the aura in the city was quite plain, without the kind of radiance seen in the commercial centres in capitalist countries. However, after the fall of Communism, the city has learned all the traditions, the good as well as the bad, of the capitalist cities of Europe. All those multinational companies which once could not head for Moscow have now established their business centres here in all their splendour and glory. The city where private business and its marketing were once unimaginable now has giant dazzling neon signs at every corner. We crossed various parts of the city and finally reached the Kremlin.
In Russian terminology, Kremlin is that part of a city which is old and historical and is secured in a fortress. Such places in all major cities of Russia are thus known as Kremlins. The Kremlin in Moscow is the most distinguished because it is the Kremlin of the capital city of this vast country. Here, an old and imposing fortress is built which was once the residence of emperors. This fortress and the surrounding buildings here are all red in colour, and an adjacent large open ground is renowned the world over as Red Square. This is the venue where Lenin and Stalin used to address crowds of hundreds of thousands. A red building in this Red Square contains the mummified body of Lenin on display in a glass showcase. During the Communist era, this mausoleum used to be venerated like a place of worship and would be conferred gun salutes on special occasions. While it no longer enjoys the same level of honour, it is still preserved as a relic. However, rumours continue making rounds that the present government wants to give Lenin’s mummified body to a museum at a price. Whether these rumours are true or false, this is certainly a place of lesson. The body of the individual who ruled over millions of people with utter oppression and tyranny is now at the mercy of the changing governments, and a majority of the people he ruled over do not remember him with a good name. And while this city was once named Leningrad after him, later people eradicated his very name from the name of this city. And what would be his state in the life after death, which he used to consider a mere tale? Who can know this besides Allah Most High?
Graves of Stalin and several other Communist leaders are built behind Lenin’s Mausoleum, under the shade of the Kremlin Wall, and one section of the citadel has been made into a museum. On the other side of Red Square are ornate and decorated shops and the surroundings are full of tourists.
We had to offer zuhr prayer in the mosque which is known here as Historical Mosque. To this end, we boarded an underground train from a nearby station with Mr Abdus Salam as our guide. The system of underground trains is very stable and vast in Moscow. A single station sometimes contains several platforms one below the other, and their spaciousness and cleanliness is better than in other cities. The train took us to our destination in ten to fifteen minutes, and we entered the Historical Mosque of Moscow, which was first built in 1782 and thereafter rebuilt in 1823, and this is why it is known as Historical Mosque. We offered zuhr prayer here, and Mr Javed Hazarwi and Irfan Jan, who were accompanying us, informed that the first time they visited this mosque was as part of a Jamat, and they were not allowed to stay in the mosque overnight. Despite the frigid cold, they spent twenty-five days in a container outside the mosque. As a result of the efforts and sacrifices made by them, Allah Most High has now granted much progress to the work of Tablighi Jamat here, and it is playing a very active role in providing religious leadership and guidance to the people.
Since we had to reach Mufti Ghaynutdin’s office by 3pm, we took a car from here to the mosque at Prospekt Mira where my talk had taken place on the first day of the trip. I have mentioned before that the secretariat of the country’s “Al-Idarah al-Diniyyah” is located within the compound of this mosque. The head of this organization is Mufti Ghaynutdin, who studied in Tashkent and can speak in Arabic quite fluently. He is the Mufti of the entire country and is the official director of all Islamic activities in the country. He is said to have good connections with Putin, the current President of Russia, which makes it easier to accomplish various goals and needs of the Muslims. Since this is the only organization for Islamic activities in Russia, which is not looked upon with suspicion, despite certain weaknesses in this organization, in the available situation it is necessary to take it into confidence for any Islamic work.
Mufti Ghaynutdin very warmly welcomed us. He had specially prepared his ornate and decorated office, which enjoys protocol like that bestowed to ministers, for this meeting. He introduced his “Al-Idarah al-Diniyyah” and described its activities since attaining freedom from Communism. He said that during Soviet rule, such a large country as Russia had only a hundred mosques remaining, with most of them uninhabited. However, after the Democratic era from 1991 onwards, as a result of the rapid building of mosques throughout the country, by the grace of Allah, about six thousand mosques had been built and were alive with worshippers. Moscow has had a Muslim population since the time it was founded. The history of Muslims in Moscow thus dates back a thousand years. However, now the Muslim population in this city has grown beyond a million. The city has only five mosques which are insufficient for the needs of the Muslims, but now work on expanding old mosques and constructing new mosques is in progress. He informed that according to the latest census, Islam was the second-largest religion in Russia after Christianity. Presently, it is being arranged for all mosques under the “Al-Idarah al-Diniyyah” to offer religious classes for children. Additionally, links of the “Al-Idarah al-Diniyyah” with various countries of the Islamic world are being strengthened, and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Muslim countries are lending support in fulfilling the needs of the Muslims here. We offered to the respected Mufti that we could send books and teachers for the Muslims here. Also, after fulfilling legal requirements, students from here could come to us in Pakistan for studies, but this would need active cooperation from their side. If he could help with obtaining visas for visiting teachers and furnish No Objection Certificates for those students who wanted to study in Pakistan, this mutual cooperation could progress expeditiously. The respected Mufti promised all possible cooperation from his side and informed that he personally assists in getting visas for the Tablighi Jamats, and that Insha Allah this would continue in future as well.
Alhamdulillah! This meeting proved to be quite meaningful and useful. All of our local friends emphasized on the fact that though the working style of the respected Muftis here is different from our temperament and disposition, in the present circumstances, it is extremely vital to establish good connections with them in order to further the work of Deen here, and that without this, it is very difficult to carry out any beneficial work here. With regards to this, they were quite satisfied and pleased with these meetings.
We offered maghrib prayer after returning to our accommodation, and after isha, our host Mr Haroon had convened quite a gathering of friends residing in Moscow for dinner. He had prepared an excellent selection of the traditional cuisine of Uttar Pradesh. Many of the attendants of this dinner had various questions in their minds, of which some were asked collectively while several other individuals wanted to ask their questions personally, and they were replied to individually. This continued until late night.
The next day was our last day in Russia, and we had to return after maghrib the same day. When I was in the train two nights ago, I received a phone call from the Second Secretary of the Pakistani Embassy in Russia, Mr Aftab Husain Khan, who expressed his desire for me to visit the Pakistani Embassy some time during my stay in Moscow. He has spent his childhood in the neighbourhood of Darul Uloom, so when he came to know of my arrival, he made sure to contact me. The mediation of the Pakistani Embassy was anyway necessary for further work in Russia, and especially the respected Muftis here had told us that the safest way to send books to Russia was through the Embassy. We thus planned to visit the Embassy today. However, while going there, our companions showed us some more sites of Moscow, such as the place that the Russian government has built as a memorial of the Second World War. During World War II, the Russian forces had defeated Germany at this place. As a memorial to that event, a large park has been built here in which a tank, bomb and other war-related artefacts have been placed as a symbol of the war. After the fall of Communism, the new government constructed places of worship here for Muslims, Christians and Jews at its own expense. Thus, there is a beautiful mosque built here. In front of this park is the magnificent building of the largest university in Russia, in which students from all over the world are studying.
After passing through Kutuzovsky Prospekt, one of the biggest and most beautiful roads in Russia, we finally arrived at the Pakistani Embassy. Mr Aftab Husain Khan very warmly welcomed us, and besides other things, we also talked about sending books here from Pakistan as well as local students going to Pakistan for studies. We offered zuhr prayer in the Embassy itself and departed for the airport for our return flight from here itself. After a stopover in Dubai, we reached Karachi early morning the next day.
This was my first tour of Russia, and it was the first opportunity to see the conditions here first-hand. Though this trip was very tiring due to continuous activities, it was very informative, interesting and proved to be beneficial in many ways. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, it would have been difficult to believe that such a large number of Muslims still live in this country, who are working hard to preserve their Islamic identity.
During the times when the popularity of the Communist system was at its peak the world over, whenever a voice would be raised that our Muslim brothers are being oppressed and persecuted in Communist countries, the Communism-leaning circles in our country would call it an American propaganda. However, now that we heard stories of those times from the tongues of Russian Muslims themselves, we realized that the stories of oppression and persecution that we had heard in those days were not even a tenth of the reality.
This trip of mine had taken place at a time when Communism had declined after exerting its influence for 74 years while seventeen years had passed since the new democratic system had been established. Therefore, people who had experienced both eras were present, and they could compare both eras. I received the opportunity to directly learn of their observations and experiences and personally witnessed the changes that emerged as a result of the new revolution.
During Communist rule, despite its scientific progress, Russia was a country that preferred simplicity, devoid of the kind of resplendence found in capitalist countries. However, after the fall of Communism, the country has learned all the traditions, the good as well as the bad, of the capitalist countries of Europe. All those multinational companies which once could not head for Moscow have now established their business centers here in the same splendour and glory as are seen in capitalist countries. The American culture, which was once considered a curse word here, has today become the ideal of the youth. Where marketing of private businesses was once unheard of, today that country contains huge dazzling neon signs at every corner. The extremes that man can swing between in the absence of the guidance of revelation from God can be manifestly observed in the revolutions in Russia. Communism was a reaction to the injustices that the capitalists and feudal lords raged against the poor during the times of the Tzars of Russia, and swept by the deluge of myopic passion bereft of foresight into its consequences, it wiped out all legitimate values of human freedom and converted the entire country into an extended prison. For seventy years, people continued to be deceived by the illusory slogans of equality and lived a smothered life of oppression and tyranny. However, when the spell of this deception was broken and people were liberated from its stifling life, they let go of all logical boundaries and fell into unbridled freedom. One positive trait of the Communist era was a lack of blind race for money, but now everyone was running unleashed behind wealth, even trampling over all religious and moral values. Rifts between the rich and the poor have deepened, and the differences in their lifestyles have become distinct, due to which corruption has also increased. During the Communist era, despite all its ills, there was some level of check on immodesty and nudity. Now these checks have been removed and similar to other Western countries, immodesty has become open and widespread. In short, capitalism has gained a firm footing here, together with all its trials and tribulations, faster than the speed at which this country became the first experimental ground for Communism. I asked various people here: “Do the common people prefer Communist era or the present lifestyle?” Almost all of them gave the same reply: “The older people miss the Communist era because they used to receive a fixed monthly income whereas now they have to compete against others in the race for money. But the new generation prefers the current system because of the freedom and embellishment they now enjoy, the wide-open doors to satiate carnal desires, and the opportunities to become richer, and they cannot accept a return to Communism”.
As for Muslims, they are generally happier with the current system because of the freedom they have gained from the oppression against religious worship during the times of Communism, and this is why their mosques are being built and becoming alive. Possibilities to establish madrasas are also opening up and they have now received opportunities to establish links with other countries in the Islamic World. However, in the wake of the independence movement in Chechnya, one thing that still continues is that those adopting an Islamic appearance are under constant surveillance from government agencies, and people have to undergo difficulties even due to minor suspicions. Also, as of now, in order to continue the work of da’wah and teaching in Russia, it is necessary to take those local Muftis into confidence who are officially recognized by the government, and one of my objectives of this tour was to strengthen connections with them, and thereafter to do whatever is possible to advance teaching and da’wah works there with the help of these connections. Alhamdulillah, this objective was achieved to a great degree. At the same time, I personally felt that the Islamic world should specially focus on this region of the world. The Islamic world is unaware of the conditions and needs of this country to a large extent. People do not even know that according to government statistics, Russia has 25 million Muslims, which could actually be higher, and that there is no region in this huge country, whose borders extend from Finland to Japan, without a large Muslim population. Due to restrictions during the Communist era, it was difficult to connect with the Muslims here, but now the situation is different. The Muslims there are in need of religious teaching, nurturing and tabligh, and this country now needs more of our efforts in these fields than the efforts that have been made in America and other European countries. This country is deserving of a large number of tablighi jamats to be sent there, for religious educational institutes to be established there, and for religious literature in Russian language to be prepared and disseminated there, and for the students there to acquire religious education in our country. Currently, there is a distressing dearth of Islamic books in Russian language which must be remedied as soon as possible. There is a scholar in Tatarstan who is an alumnus of the madrasa at Raiwind in Pakistan who has translated several books into Russian language, which include Taʿlim al-Islam and Bahishti Zewar. He has also translated some articles of mine, and now he intends to translate selected parts of my “Islahi Khutbat”. However, this work needs to be done on a higher level, and the reason for writing this travelogue is that those who are unaware of the conditions there should feel the needs of that country and render any services in any field they can. May Allah Most High grant us the ability to fulfill our obligations in this respect. Aameen.