Afrasianet - 26 million Russian Muslims live in Russia, and the number of Russian Muslims is increasing. Their presence is largely concentrated in areas where there were Muslim states before the formation of the Russian Federation, such as Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, and the republics of the North Caucasus.

According to the Grand Mufti  of Russia , Rawi Ainuddin, Russian Muslims live in harmony with the spectrum of Russian society, and he says that the number of Muslims in Russia is increasing for two reasons, the first is the high birth rate among Muslims, and the second is the arrival of Muslims from Central Asia to live in Russia.

Most Muslims live in the Moscow region  and other major urban areas, such as St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Ain al-Din said.

There is also a high concentration of Muslims in areas where there were Muslim states before the formation of the Russian Federation, such as Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and the republics of the North Caucasus, according to the Grand Mufti of Russia. 

Ethnic group

The Mufti stressed that Muslims are indigenous to Russia, and there are more than 85 peoples, nationalities and ethnic groups who have historically practiced Islam.

He pointed out that Islam was proclaimed the state religion in Volga Bulgaria, one of the countries located in the territory of present-day Russia, in 922, 66 years before Orthodox Christianity was adopted as the official religion of Kievan Russians.

He added that the first Muslims came to a city known today as Derbent, which is south of Dagestan, and raised the first call to prayer in Russia on the territory of Dagestan.

Ain al-Din said that the majority of Russian Muslims are Sunnis of the Hanafi school of thought, and there are also some Sunnis of the Shafi'i school, adding that Russian Shiites are mainly Azerbaijanis and Tajiks from Pamir and their number is small.

Respect for religions

The Grand Mufti of Russia stressed that Muslims in Russia are tolerant, and respect all other Islamic religions and sects, "We do not divide Muslims into Shiites and Sunnis, they are all members of the unified Islamic nation."

The Russian system of Islamic administration consists of three federal Islamic centers: the Council of the Mufti of Russia in Moscow, the Islamic Spiritual Council in Ufa, and the Islamic Spiritual Council of the Caucasus, according to Ainuddin.

The issue of Jerusalem is  prominent among Muslims around the world, and Russia's mufti has warned that if Israel usurps  power in the holy city, Muslims will not be able to pray there.

Islam is an integral part of Russia's historical heritage

At the Eighth Conference of the Religious Administration of the Muslims of Russia and the Twentieth International Islamic Forum. In his greeting, the Russian Prime Minister described Islam as an integral part of Russia's historical heritage. 

Mufti of Russia thanks President Putin for supporting initiative for Russian Muslims

"Russia is a multinational and multi-religious state, where the religions of all peoples are treated with constant respect. Islam is one of the traditional religions in our country and is an integral part of the historical heritage."

He praised the valuable contribution made and is being made by the religious administration to the Muslims of Russia in the field of improving interreligious dialogue, as well as in constructive cooperation between the state and religious communities.

"Thanks to the active work of Dar al-Ifta and the religious administration of Muslims, mutual understanding between peoples, civil peace and interethnic harmony in society are being strengthened, and Russia's relations with the Islamic world are successfully developed," he added.

He also stressed the importance of Islamic religious institutions focusing on the implementation of charitable and educational projects, the development of Islamic education and the training of imams and religious scholars.

He expressed confidence that the forum would provide an opportunity to expand the exchange of experiences and best practices among Muslims from different countries and to discuss current issues related to the role of religious leaders in the modern world.

Also in  a seminar entitled "Islam and Political Movements in Russia", Dr. Majid Abdulaziz Al-Turki, Head of the Center for Media Studies and Political Research, and Professor Muhammad Al-Haddad, Professor of Comparative Religions at UNESCO,  spoke.The symposium was presented by Dr. Mansour Al-Nugaidan, who introduced the lecturers, and gave a brief presentation of the book "Islam in Russia: History, Prospects and Anxiety" issued by Al-Misbar Center. 

The book refers to the impact of the national dimension on Muslims in Russia, positions and references that showed historical homogeneity between the religious and ethnic components, and highlighted the features of the national identity of Russian Muslims. 

 Dr. Majid Al-Turki noted that Muslims in Russia are one of the well-established cultural components of those countries, unlike Muslim minorities in the rest of Western Europe. He pointed out that Russia, especially its current leadership, is aware of this fact, and President Vladimir Putin clearly expressed it in Malaysia, when he stressed that terrorism is linked to individuals, not religions. Russia is also seeking membership in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, although it participated in the meetings of the Conference as an observer. Dr. Majid called on the Gulf countries to benefit from the experiences of history and pay attention to relations with Russia. 

For his part, Professor Mohammed Al-Haddad confirmed the opinion of his colleague on the Russian position on Islam, noting Putin's speech on the occasion of the establishment of the first religious administration for Muslims in Russia 250 years ago, where he stressed that Islam is an integral part of the Russian national identity. 

Ten Muslim nationalities in China.. so why didn't we hear except about the persecution of Uyghurs!

The number of Muslims in China is estimated at 25 million.

Washington seeks to plunge China into a battle that drains its power and impedes its troublesome economic growth by fabricating crises in Taiwan and the South China Sea, or by seeking to incite the Chinese interior. 

A UN report has already been issued accusing China of violating the rights of the Uighur Muslim minority, which the United States supported, and was certainly behind its release, proving to the world once again that the United Nations is nothing but a tool in its hand that moves it as it pleases.

This report was remarkable in terms of the time of its release, as China is living in a state of internal stability, despite external incitement attempts, and it is also remarkable that it coincided with the increase in tension and escalation by the United States of America against China, which was represented in fabricating crises in Taiwan and the South China Sea region. It also came as Beijing prepares for the twentieth congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which will be held on the sixteenth of next October. It is the most important conference In the history of the Republic of China since its inception, important decisions are expected at the Party, state and foreign policy levels. 

This report comes as an attempt to re-stir up strife and unrest inside China, and then work to amplify and invest it according to Western agendas in an attempt to blackmail China through Western media incitement against it, in an attempt that may seem desperate after the world discovered the falsity of those policies and allegations that no longer fool anyone. 

This report came while the world is experiencing a major economic crisis resulting from the consequences of the Ukrainian war provoked by the United States, the first victim of which was Ukraine and the rest of the European countries. Those countries that have begun to complain about what has happened to them as a result of their American policy, which no longer attaches weight to allies. Rather, it is willing to sacrifice them in exchange for gains that could contribute to the longevity of its hegemony on the international stage. 

It is clear that Washington seeks to plunge China into a battle that drains its power and hinders its disturbing economic growth, by fabricating crises in Taiwan and the South China Sea region, or by seeking to incite and influence the Chinese interior with false Western propaganda, starting with the emergence of Covid 19 and accusing China of it, and then talking about the imminent collapse of the Chinese economy due to the epidemic. After proving to the world otherwise, the United States moved on to talk about the failure of the Chinese government's "zero Covid policy" and talk about China's poor economic conditions, and other lies that no longer fool anyone. 

Today, Washington seeks to invoke the idea of jihad in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, under the pretext that it represented communism (atheist) fighting Muslims, and it succeeded at the time in mobilizing a large number of extremist groups stuffed with takfiri ideology, satanic fatwas, and financial support from countries that were under the command of the United States, in an attempt to repeat that experience against China. 

But circumstances are different: the United States of America today is not the America of 1979. China is not the Soviet Union, which was suffering from a difficult economic situation that was the main reason for its downfall. Despite having a formidable military arsenal. But China today is the world's second-largest economy in terms of GDP, but it is the first in the most important indicator, which is GDP in purchasing power parities, and it is moving at a steady pace and calculated in days and hours, perhaps to reach the top. The Gulf states that supported Funding the war in Afghanistan, she began to think about heading east after the Afghan scene showed the world that the United States is not looking for allies, but rather seeks tools in the form of gloves to use in its dirty deeds and then throw them away.

The problem is that many Arabs and Muslims do not read, but are dragged behind their affiliations and instincts, making it easy to influence them through Western propaganda campaigns that promote the idea of persecuting Muslims in China. Here I must refer to a fundamental question whose answer may be a refutation of American and Western claims. The question is: Why have we not heard of the Chinese government's persecution of any Muslim group other than the Uighurs? Although there are ten Muslim ethnic groups.

First of all, it must be noted that the Chinese government's position on the Uyghurs in Xinjiang is not against Islam itself, but against religious extremism, national separatism and terrorism carried out in the name of Islam, and the Chinese government believes that the essence of the mechanisms to combat the phenomenon of religious extremism in China is to spread education, provide job opportunities and combat poverty.

China is a multinational country with 56 nationalities, the largest of which is the Han nation, whose people constitute about 91% of China's population, and its language is the official language of the country, while other nationalities account for 9% of the population. The number of Muslims in China is estimated at 100 million. Muslims in China are divided into ten nationalities: 

- Chinese nationalism: Hui nationalism.
- Three Turkish nationalities: Uzbeks, Salar and Uyghurs.
- Two Mongol nationalities: Dongxiang and Bao'an.
- In addition to four nationalities: Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tatars and Tajiks.

Muslims are spread in six provinces in western China, namely: (Cansu, Shanghai, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Nan Cha, Sichuan), and in four provinces in southern China, namely: (Guangzhou, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei,

China has a great group of Muslims, this great group, which is a nation of Muslims, has its own entity, and its strong presence, which it imposes in various fields, in government, trade, industry, culture and others, and it is considered one of the most strong, Muslims adhering to religion, enthusiastic about its principles, and active in spreading its teachings.

The Islamic religion, in China, is the only religion that has its clear signs and strong personalities, and China has learned about Islam, in the seventh century AD, by the Arabs who arrived by sea to «Conton», «Hangzhou» as they were recognized by Muslims who infiltrated them by land, from Iran, Turkestan...

The English author E.H. PARKER mentions that Muslims during the Mongol rule, between the year sixty and two hundred and a thousand AD and the year sixty-eight and three hundred and one thousand, were roaming the Chinese country length and width, freely, and they were moving the barrah from them with ease did not know him before, and there is no doubt that the direction of Muslims China, was early, and earlier than the mentioned dates, and that this trend, was influenced by the hadith «seek knowledge even in China», for this it is said that Muslims knew the Chinese country, the year twenty-nine of the migration, It appears that this was in the manner of Islamic missions, or in an individual way... Just as there are mosques for men, there are other mosques for women, where they pray, study their affairs, listen to their fiancées, and wear quilts, but they do not hide their faces, but cover their heads, and wear clothes that are all over their bodies...

In cities in particular, there are Muslims along with other Chinese, working together to work, expand the economic scope, and raise the standard of life, under independence, which created a new generation of them, and their formulas with a dye that does not seem to make a difference between a Muslim and others, 

and the provinces in which Muslims are located are the following: Ningxia, Sinkiang, Shenxi, Yunnan, Hubei, Manchuria, Xiztuan, Shanghai, Shantong, Hunan, Kabangsu, Shaanxi, Hyunan, Kuizhou, Hubei, Kuantong, Qiangsi, Fukin, Chelbeyang, Tibet, Mongolia, Kensu, The races that make up the Muslims are in Most of them are eight: 

Khazars, Karak, Tajak, Uzbek, Tunch, Salalah, Bawan, and Hawa, these are the overwhelming majority of Muslims.

The People's Republic now, distributes freedoms to various sects, and Muslims enjoy their full activity, and have thrown many associations, spread in cities and villages, and have centers in all countries, and the most important of those associations «Chinese Islamic Association», which plays important roles in spreading the principles of Islam, and is working hard to link and relations, with the rest of the Muslims, outside the Chinese country, and its centers are mosques, which now number four hundred thousand, they renewed what was old, and established - again - the construction of the other, assisted by government men, and more The power of Islam is evident in the three festivals when Muslims demonstrate while seeking mosques with their soldiers, disciples, craftsmen and others, which is hoped that Islam will flourish at their hands in the Far East in general.