Published Date: April 10, 2007
MAKHACHKALA, Russia: Ask Khadji Gasan Gasanaliyev, imam of an independent mosque in this North Caucasus city, what's wrong with Russia, and he tells how a three-year-old held a gun to his head. The bearded, excitable imam sprawled face-down on the floor, imitating a friend's young son who threw a tantrum when Gasanaliyev was trying to lead the namaz, or daily prayer devout Muslims perform five times a day. Gasanaliyev dragged the boy up from the floor, and in return the boy got a toy gun and pressed it to the kneeling imam's temple.
"A three-year-old boy! Where did he learn this?" Gasanaliyev asked, his eyes wide behind a pair of thick glasses. "There is no pity, there is no kindness here.... Look at this civilisation: Women going around naked on television, even on the street, violence everywhere. This is civilisation?" Muslims all across the country are asking similar questions about the nature of contemporary Russian society - even as their rapid rise is transforming not only the face of this traditionally Orthodox Christian country, but its culture. continue...
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