 Prayer Requests
That God would raise up people to proclaim the Gospel to the Muslim population within Moscow in creative ways, that Muslims of Moscow would find the true Prince of Peace and thus find true peace.
That a spirit of forgiveness will permeate the layers of distrust and hatred between ethnic Russians and Muslims, that God would use the good relations between Tatars/Bashkirs/Chuvash and the leadership in Moscow as a building bridge toward peace. |
The Muslims of Moscow
28 Jun 2006
Within Russia’s capitol, Moscow, there are approximately 3.5 million people who profess Islam. This makes Moscow the city with the largest Muslim population in all of Europe. Animosity towards Chechens and anyone else who simply 'looks Muslim' has been mounting for years, with almost 70% of ethnic Russians stating that they fear the increasing numbers of these Muslims.
The makeup of Muslims within Moscow is quite broad. Muslims of the industrialized Volga River regions – mainly Tatars and Bashkir produce most of the government sanctioned leaders of the Russian Muslim community. However Muslims from the North Caucasus of southern Russia– Chechens, Circassians and Dagestanis – were absorbed into Russia much later and relations have suffered, painting a grim reputation for Moscow’s Muslim population. Fighting regularly erupts in the North Caucasus between Muslim extremists and Russian security forces. This bloody reputation of Muslims from the North Caucasus has been stereotyped by the media and has fed xenophobia amongst Russians towards Muslims as well as the growth of militant Islam amongst some Caucasian Muslims. |
