24^th of March 2011

Bismillaah, wa-l-hamdu Lille, wa-s-salat wa-s-salam 'ala Rasul-llyah, wa ala alihi sahbihi wa wa Man tabiahum bi-ishanin Il yaumi-d-din! Al-salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh!

Dear participants of the All-Russian Muslim conference! Let me warmly welcome you at this meeting. I am grateful to all those who took the opportunity to accept our invitation to attend this meeting.

It is symbolic that today we are for the first time since October 1917 going to hold such a large-scale all-Russian event following the example of pre-revolutionary Muslim Congresses.

Our Motherland is going through difficult times:

• Bombs and suicide attacks rocked the Caucasus and the capital of our motherland;
• Thousands of youths shouting Nazi slogans at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier;
• In our cities, immigrants from Muslim regions are killed;
• Russian young people are increasingly falling into the abyss of materialism, unrestrained consumption and senseless brutality;
• The Russian media are increasingly fueling the fear and mistrust towards Muslims, and the Russian courts prohibit Muslim literature, becoming tools in the hands of Islamophobes;
• On the Middle East there are bloodshed and collapse of regimes with which our country had been building relationships for a long time.
• And in this time Muslim religious leaders sometimes can not reach a consensus on common issues of ritual practices, harmonization of training manuals, etc. Even without mentioning the issues that I listed above.

The need to consolidate the efforts of the country's Muslim community, clergy, experts, scholars, public figures, journalists, lawyers forced us to gather here today.

Allah says in the Qur'an: "Remind, for a reminder benefits the believers. "

Dear brothers and guests of our meeting let me as a sincere and respectful teachings remind us of our responsibility to our Lord, our people and our homeland. It is from our consolidated and common position now depends civil peace and accord in our society and our country's future.

Next, let me bring to the gathered the basic positions of religious and community leaders from the Muslim community on the issues that was the reason for convening this high forum.

1. The first and most significant threat to all citizens of our country, not excluding the Muslims, must be recognized the sharp rise in xenophobia and chauvinism in Russian society. It is worth to underline the rapid growth of Islamophobia in the Russian society.

2. The problem of terrorism and religious and political extremism is for our country, one of the most acute. After the bloody terrorist attacks in Moscow and events at the Manege Square our society was between two fires. On the one hand - terrorism and extremism, and the other neo-Nazism and chauvinism.

3. We believe that the issue of building closer and more trusting relations between the Russian confessions is very important.

Frankly, from interfaith relations, we would expect more. The leaders of Russian confessions should move from theory to joint work to rescue society from the abyss of materialism and degradation.

We do not need to oppose our faith. We need to find things that bring us together. After all, the Lord said in the Quran about the relations of Muslims, Christians and Jews: "Let us come to a common word for us and for you!"

4. The next point is a problem of the politicization of religion, the involvement of clerics in the solution of political problems, earning political points and settling political accounts. Such involvement of religion in the affairs of politics occurs both in the ethnic Russian regions, and in the Muslim republics of Russia. Here we are about the processes that affect all sectors of society.

The Islamic community has repeatedly voiced its thought that Russia in its constitution was a secular state. The politicization of religion in it is simply dangerous.

We are not opposed to a politics carried out by religious people. But we are opposed to priests who try to affect the policy and enter the politics and authority.

I sure, we need to abandon the politicization of religion and at the same time strengthen the ideological struggle against religious extremism.

5. The need to strengthen the constructive participation of Muslims in Russia's development as we believe is a very important issue nowadays.

The constructive role played by Russian Muslims in the Volga-Ural region and in the North Caucasus has become one of the key at the meeting of the State Council Presidium in Ufa and the National Counterterrorist Committee in Vladikavkaz, which passed in February this year. Here and at several other meetings the heads of the Russian government clearly stated the importance of constructive work in the sphere of interethnic and interreligious relations.

6. The modernization of Muslim religious structures is the next important question to which we must pay close attention. Even with all the long historical tradition, trusting relationships with the authorities and the huge potential of the Religious Boards of Muslims (DUM), today their capacity is not enough to meet all the challenges the Russian Ummah is facing.

The Muslim community of Russia, its current religious structures need a deep and large-scale modernization, involvement of young people, building effective interaction with the public and experts.

The Russian Mufties Council has already embarked on this path. We have already set up the Expert Council, which aims at overcoming the alienation of the clergy and Muslim intellectuals. In addition, we have attracted new staff and resources. Recently, prominent positions in the RMC won a new generation of clergy. We can reverse the situation with the radicalization of young people only if all the religious structures of Russia, especially in the regions, will embark on this path.

7. I can not ignore at this meeting the events in Libya and the Middle East. We are today, along with many other leaders of the Islamic world have to express deep concern over recent events in Libya.

Dramatic events in the country had actually put it on the brink of civil war. The violence against civilians in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, as well as the bombing of the positions of pro-government forces lead to a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic scale.

Today, the entire Islamic world is going through a difficult period of political and social crisis. Under pressure from the masses the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt resigned. Agitations against the ruling parties and leadership of the countries are held in Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain and even Saudi Arabia. Today's events in the Muslim East have a significant impact and can seriously redraw the entire map of world politics.

Taking into account all these events and issues, I note that today the Muslims of Russia must take greater responsibility for the fate of their country and society. It is time for the Muslim Ummah of Russia to grow and consolidate their efforts to address challenges that the whole of Russian society is facing, the problems that representatives of other faiths, social and political forces repeatedly talk about.

There are problems of alcoholism, drug addiction, family breakdown, the problem of legal nihilism, civil passivity, materialism, corruption, lack of respect for own history and lack of the true patriotism of modern youth representation on the true patriotism.

And to solve these problems the Muslims of Russia should act with their fellow citizens regardless of their different nationalities and beliefs.

I hope that in this hall today we will begin a deep discussion on these issues. I hope that today we will be able to find ways and models of interaction and consolidate our efforts in this noble path. And I hope also that all the work that the Council of Mufties carries out on this path, will be useful to our society and is pleasing to our Lord of the Worlds.

At the end of my speech I would like to remind you, dear brothers, the call of God, who says in the Quran: "May you be among the community of people who will call for good, command the good and prohibit objectionable. It is they who will be among prosperous. "

I pray to Almighty Allah that He gave us strength and knowledge so that we can be in this community. I ask Allah's mercy for all of us, the forgiveness of our sins, wisdom, patience and happiness for our multiethnic nation, as well as blessings for our beautiful country.

Amin. Thank you for your attention. Peace be with you and the mercy of Allah and His Blessing.