Religious Tension Growing in Russia

President Putin urges people not to incite ethnic conflicts

A French court has recently dismissed writer Michel Houellebecq, who was sued for making hostile remarks against the Muslim religion.

In his interview to the Italian Lire magazine, Houellebecq stated that “the most stupid religion is Islam.” Muslims living in France claimed that Houellebecq was propagandizing hatred against Islam. They said that the writer provoked violence with his statement, as well as incited a religious conflict. A group of Muslims in France eventually decided to sue Michel Houellebecq. However, the court dismissed their suit and stated that he committed no crime with his words.

Author Farid Nagimov said that the writer’s actions could not be justified due to his extremely negative attitude to Islam. “A person’s talent does not give him or her the right to incite national or religious hatred and insult the feelings of the faithful,” Farid Nagimov said.

In the meantime, Michel Houellebecq's new book is about to be launched in Russia. This is an important piece of news really, especially against the background of the recent tragic event in Moscow. The sentiments of religious and national hostility are currently growing in Russia. President Putin believes that it is very important not to allow such a conflict to happen. It might destabilize the situation in the country.

The presidium of the Central Muslim Spiritual Administration expressed its condolences to the relatives of the people who died as a result of the hostage-taking act of terrorism in Moscow. Later, the presidium stated that the “dignity of our great motherland Russia has been preserved.” The members of the presidium also pointed out the special role of the Russian president in the struggle with terrorists, “who thought that they could run people’s lives like God.”

The Central Muslim Spiritual Administration pointed out that “one should treasure the mutual trust of the peoples of Russia in every way possible, for this is the most valuable gift from heaven and the most precious thing that was left for the Russian people over the recent ten years.” The statement from the Central Muslim Spiritual Administration contained the hope that Russia would be cleaned from terrorism: “We do hope that the spiritual and moral rebirth of the Homeland at peace and consent of the traditional confessions will become real in our country.”

It seems that peace and consent for various traditional religious confessions is a great concern not for Russia alone. IRNA news agency reported that the conference “The Dialogue Between the Islamic World, the West and the United States of America” started working in the Spanish city of Granada. The participants of the conference discuss the problems of the peaceful co-existence for Muslims and Christians.

Sergey Yugov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov