RUSSIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES CREATION OF BULGAR ISLAMIC ACADEMY
A Bulgar Islamic Academy may appear in the near future in the republic of Tatarstan. The idea for the creation of an all-Russia scientific educational and enlightenment center has already been approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Muslim leaders of the country, the website of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims (Dukhovnoe Upravlenie Musulman--DUM) of the republic of Tatarstan.
"It is proposed that this will be a community of Russian Islamic scholars who would be able to assemble for a session in Bulgary and resolve complex theological questions. The urgency for the creation of this academy is dictated by current realities occurring in the world community," the report remarks.
It is especially emphasized that in recent years "the world community has been faced with serious challenges connected with extremist phenomena under pseudo-Islamic slogans."
"They attempt to use religious feelings for justifying terrorist methods of resolving geopolitical problems that we see, for example, in the so-called Arab Spring and events in Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and other states. The greatest Muslim Hanafi centers, a world cultural heritage, are being destroyed. Russian Muslims also have been touched by these destructive processes, which are a serious threat to the security of the country. Youth are falling under the influence of radical views primarily during their study in foreign theological centers," the DUM of the republic of Tatarstan maintains.
The initiators of the project also hope that by becoming "a worthy alternative to foreign education" the Islamic academy will not only consolidate "the potential of the Russian Muslim clergy and authoritative foreign scholars," but also "seriously strengthen the position of peace-loving Islam as an integral component of Russian statehood." (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2015)
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