"In the last few years, we've been witness to a number of negative events of different scale that occurred in the religious life of our country. Muslims are struggling against thoughtless bans of Islamic literature in courts amid growing Islamophobia in the society. Orthodox Christians are repulsing attacks on their Patriarch and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of such a scale that they can be called Christianophobia, if anything, although they are not less incited and planned as is the case with Muslims.

Nowadays many regions of Russia can "boast" of arson of synagogues, desecration of cemeteries, attacks on mosques. But until now, we haven't seen purposeful destruction of churches, especially in Tatarstan, which is, arguably, the most important region of Russia that forms Christian-Muslim, Russian-Tatar relations and agenda—so everything happening in this field in Tatarstan will definitely send waves across the whole country. With this in mind, we may say that the recent events do not just cause concerns, but also show that there are powers that have a specific scenario aimed at dividing Russian people and partitioning the country along yet another ethnoreligious line.

There is no need to remind about the prohibition to destroy the temples of People of the Book—it is known from Qur'an and Sunnah, as well as from the lives of companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace and prayer be upon him) and the righteous predecessors. Modern ulâma of the whole world also agree on this matter, and all major Russian Spiritual Administrations of Muslims made announcements condemning arson attacks on churches. Thus, those who follow the way of Qur'an and Sunnah have no grounds for such actions—and thus, there are serious doubts that these villains have any connection to our religion or have any knowledge of Islam.

At the same time, Tatars, who have a considerable amount of atheists and secularists among them, have also never engaged in such actions. There are no instances of attacks on Orthodox churches or persecution of believers in Tatar history, despite the controversies surrounding Christianisation and a number of other sensitive topics.

Having this in mind, we may assume that we have been witness to a planned provocation within an ongoing chain of events around Tatarstan and interfaith and interethnic relations in Russia. Honestly speaking, we have to admit that Muslims from Caucasus region have been successfully turned into a bogeyman for the general public, and that the shift of the edge of conflict into Tatarstan shows that such a role may also be prepared for Tatars. One does not have to be a political expert to predict the final result of these processes.

Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Saratov Oblast supports the joint statement of the mufti of Tatarstan Kamil hazrat Samigullin and the head of Tatarstan metropolitanate of Russian Orthodox Church metropolitan Anastasius to all people of good will regardless of their faith to unite and join forces in defending the common spiritual, historical and cultural foundations of our society. We strongly denounce all attempts to destabilize peaceful relations between the peoples of Russia. We call up to all responsible officials and law enforcement officers to protect Russia and Russian citizens against such menaces, provocations and coarse manipulation. We also ask to make every possible effort to find and punish those guilty in church arsons in Tatarstan in the name of the triumph of justice and to prevent such situations anywhere in Russia in the future."

Muqaddas hazrat Bibarsov,
Co-chairman of Russia Muftis Council, mufti of Saratov Oblast