21 September 2024
Report of the Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin at the VIII Kurultai-Congress of the RBM of the Russian Federation on September 20, 2024:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين
والصلاة والسلام على رسولنا محمد
وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
وبعد
Dear delegates of the VIII Kurultai-Congress of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, muftis, kazyis, imams-mukhtasibs and imam-hatibs, employees of the central office of the Religious Board!
On such a memorable and important day for our Ummah in the walls of our Moscow Cathedral Mosque, I greet you with a brotherly Muslim greeting
Peace be upon you, the mercy of Almighty Allah and His blessing!
More than 30 years ago, here under the shadow of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, a significant event took place - the communities of Moscow and Moscow region, Nizhny Novgorod region, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kaliningrad and a number of others united to create the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Central European region of Russia on the basis of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. Meanwhile, the foundation for the appearance of a Muslim spiritual center in the Russian capital was laid several centuries before this event with the appearance of the first places of worship to Allah Almighty in the Middle Ages and the formation of the Tatar Sloboda in the capital city. It was ordained by Almighty Allah that our mosque, opened in 1904, would not be closed and would continue to operate during World Wars I and II, the Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Civil War, in the era of atheistic repression and during the coronavirus pandemic. In 1947, a mukhtasibat was formed on the basis of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the structure. It included territories within the modern Central Federal District and a number of regions in the Volga Federal District. The first imam-hatib of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the post-war years was the abbot of the Mufti of the Central Religious Board of Muslims of Inner Russia and Siberia in his absence, and in 1974-1975, after the death of Mufti Shakir Hazrat Khiyaletdinov and before the election of Gabdelbari Isaev to this post, he was the acting Mufti of Inner Russia and Siberia.
30 years is a very short period by historical standards, but it came at a time of fundamental changes in our state and society. Russia came off the pernicious path of the God-fighting and during these decades was searching for its face, its true essence in the context of the global human community. This search was thorny and we - the entire Russian society - did not avoid mistakes. Nevertheless, the late 1980s and 90s became the time when it is customary to say “for the first time”. For the first time educational institutions, mass media were registered and began their work, book printing was organized, and the process of sending our pilgrims to Hajj was established. For the first time, religious programs and live broadcasts of services on major religious holidays began to be aired on federal television. Milestone events for us were the presentation of RBMEPR's activities in the movie theater “October” in 1994, the first opening of a mosque in Moscow on Poklonnaya Hill after the atheist period in 1997, the celebration of the 1400th anniversary of the emergence of Islam in the lands of modern Russia in 2000, the 100th anniversary of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in 2004. Then there was the epochal grand opening of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque after expansion and reconstruction on September 23, 2015 and celebrations in honor of the 1100th anniversary of the official adoption of Islam by the peoples of Volga Bulgaria in 2022.
The celebration of the 1100th anniversary took place before your eyes, with your direct participation, dear delegates. I think you all share with me the feelings of sincere gratitude to Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Rustam Nurgalievich Minnikhanov, Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, who stood at the head of large organizational processes.
We have attached and still attach great importance to the jubilee historical dates, as these dates are the best confirmation of the multinational, multi-religious character of our state-civilization, cemented by the common destinies of our peoples and their devotion to their native land, and encourage us to realize more and more deeply the core of our cultural code.
“The Religious Board of Muslims of the Central European region of Russia will actively oppose the spread of lies and slander about Islam, make every effort to protect the honor and dignity of Islam and Muslims” - with this promise I made at the presentation of our Religious Board in January 1994 and, praise be to God, we as a Religious Board, as a collective of like-minded people and as a corporation of Muslim clergy remained true to this word.
In the first year of establishment our Spiritual Board consisted of 15-20 communities in several regions. Today our Spiritual Board unites Muslim organizations in 62 regions, of which 31 subjects of the federation have centralized religious organizations. We have established Islamic madrassas, colleges, institutes, academies, many charitable foundations, international peacekeeping, scientific, cultural and public initiatives. The reporting and election congresses of the organization were held in 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2009, 2014, 2019. At the VI Congress in 2014, we renamed our organization to the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, which corresponds to its actual role in the life of the Ummah. The central apparatus of the Spiritual Administration and the Department of Affairs were strengthened, and a new version of the Charter was adopted. In 2019, together with you, we have proclaimed a course for consolidation and centralization of our efforts.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of my religious activity as imam-hatib and 37 years of my work in Moscow. In two days - another anniversary of the 1788 decree of Catherine II on the establishment in Ufa of the Orenburg Sharia Court - Mahkam Shargya Orenburg, known as the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly. This institution is 236 years old on Russian soil and in Russian legal realities. Its essence is that each representative of the clergy - as a preacher and guardian of the morality and spirituality of his flock - serves his community and is accountable to it in the social, practical plane. And at the same time, in the religious, doctrinal aspect, each imam is part of the Muslim spiritual corporation. The institution of clergy at the level of its most learned members develops theological answers to contemporary questions, interprets the sources of Islam and gives clear moral and normative guidelines in relation to the era and the surrounding legal, cultural and everyday circumstances.
Our generation was fortunate to be involved in and even to be at the head of the processes of evolutionary development and improvement of the institution of the Religious Board of Muslims. This is the creation of the Plenum as a decision-making body with the participation of all heads of the CROs and heads of educational organizations, the streamlining of work through model statutes, the establishment of the Ulema Council for the adoption of theological opinions and fatwas, and the Council of Elders, in which the experience of retired religious leaders is passed on to the younger generation. Today we have grown to the creation of the Council of Kadiyas as a body that unites the most influential heads of regional CRCs.
In 1996, on the basis of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, we established the Russian Mufties Council . We needed an organization that would bring together disparate muftis and heads of centralized religious organizations under one slogan, under one goal and intentions and within the framework of common values. Subsequently, over the course of several years, our late brothers Mufti Sayidmukhammad Abubakarov of Dagestan, Mufti Akhmad Hajji Kadyrov of Chechnya, and Mufti Nurmukhamed Nigmatullin of Bashkortostan joined the Council of Muftis. The members of the Russian Mufties Council were Magomed Albogachiev, Chairman of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus, Mufti of Tatarstan Gusman Iskhakov, Mufti of the Asian part of Russia Nafigulla Ashirov, Mufti of the Volga region Mukaddas Bibarsov and our other brothers. The Council of Muftis was based on the principle of personal participation rather than structural affiliation and thus played an important historical role in the dialog and fraternal cooperation of the Muslim clergy. The Council of Russian Mufties has shown that the interests of the Muslim clergy of Russia are common and they do not differ from the interests of our society and state - they are civil accord, peace between peoples and religions, preservation and revival of the spiritual and moral foundations of our society, devotion to the Fatherland, satisfaction of the spiritual needs of Muslims.
Even today I remain firmly committed to the same position: to preserve the bonds of brotherhood and cooperation with all my brothers, whose activities have a positive, constructive vector, do not destroy the Ummah from within and do not put opportunistic goals above the interests of the Ummah.
On the agenda of our VIII Congress is the adoption of an updated version of the Statute of the RBM of the Russian Federation, which provides for the creation of the Council of Muftis of the RBM of the Russian Federation with the same principle of interaction as the Council of Russian Mufties. This is the personal participation of major religious figures in the work of the Council of Muftis, even if the organizations they head are not structurally part of our Spiritual Directorate. I consider the participation of my colleagues Nafigullah Hazrat Ashirov, Muqaddas Hazrat Bibarsov, Kamil Hazrat Samigullin and others in the work of such a body to be extremely useful and necessary for working out a strategy for the development and growth of our Ummah. I urge all our brothers and sisters who are not indifferent to accept this call for the sake of the future of our peoples, our entire Ummah and country.
«Крепко держитесь за вервь Аллаха все вместе и не разделяйтесь» (3:103)
Let us return to the events of two years ago, when we all together in a single good brotherly endeavor held a high-level celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam. I was very pleased that our Caucasian brothers - the late Ismail Hajji Berdiev, Salah Hajji Mezhiev, Hajimurad Hajji Gatsalov - did not stand aside with the words “this is a holiday of Tatars and Bashkirs”, but, fully realizing the importance of the historical moment, shared this joy with us. And it was, indeed, an unprecedented event when the Muslim anniversary was celebrated at the state level on the instructions of the President of the country. And we would hardly have reached this point if at the stage of my appeal to the President with a proposal for the celebration, at the stage of preparation of the celebration, the head of the CRBM, respected Sheikhul-Islam Talgat Hazrat Tajuddin and respected head of the CCMNK Ismail Haji Berdiev (rahimahullah) had not shown unanimity. I am grateful to my brothers who supported this idea and realized it at the highest level.
The year 2022 became the highest point of realization of state-Islamic relations not only in modern Russia, but since the XVI century - since the time when a number of khanates became part of Russia. It is unlikely that generations of our ancestors could even imagine that the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria would be held at the state level and with the participation of spiritual figures of other religions, testifying to the friendship and brotherhood between our religions and peoples in front of the whole world. I say “before the whole world” because this celebration has become truly international and the whole world has learned about our more than 1400-year history.
Relations between the Russian state and the Islamic world have reached a whole new level and continue to develop. One of the international economic forums held under the auspices of the federal center is focused on cooperation with the Islamic world and is held in Kazan. And in many spheres the groundwork has been laid for active development for many years to come - in the sphere of cultural development, development of Islamic theology as a branch of science, revival and restoration of historical and architectural monuments, in the sphere of Islamic finance and development of the halal industry. The celebration of the 1100th anniversary gave the necessary impetus for this and formed the necessary humanitarian foundation.
Continuing the theme of the institution of spiritual administrations, I would like to note the following. Unlike the tsarist times, today we are autonomous organizations, established by our own will and not dependent on officials in our internal activities. But the Spiritual Administration of Muslims is essentially a pro-state organization pursuing the interests of the people. In the political plane we have no and cannot have interests outside the interests of our state. The other day one of our employees helped our state in revealing criminal intentions of special services of one western state under the cover of diplomatic work.
Today, with the introduction into the Russian Constitution of the phrase that the Russian people are a people who believe in God and honor traditional values, the fundamental law of the state has been brought into conformity and is consistent with the thoughts and aspirations of the majority of its citizens. President Vladimir Putin is one of the few leaders on the world political stage who consistently defends traditional values, religious shrines and sacred scriptures of religions.
These days, our country is fighting the manifestations of neo-Nazism to protect its sovereignty from the imposition of Western hegemony and their world order. Our people support the ongoing Special Military Operation for the future and the truth, which, God Almighty, will bring victory and protect the unity and integrity and freedom of our State.
In my report, I very briefly, punctuated our main results of the past five years and more broadly - all the past decades on the outer perimeter. My first deputy Damir Hazrat Mukhetdinov will present in detail the results of internal work in the DUM of the Russian Federation in his report. But addressing you all as active participants of the process of revival, development and transformation of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and pray to Allah to accept the labors and efforts of everyone. It is not easy to be an imam-hatib and mufti in Moscow, but it is often even more difficult to be a leader of a community far from the capital, far from major Muslim regions, in the hinterland, where misunderstanding, indifference, opposition and evil intentions must be overcome literally every day.
At today's meeting, together with all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, I want to offer prayers for all Russian imams and muftis who carry the banner of Islam and the preaching of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) with kind words and exhortation, as well as with noble deeds and firm patriotic position.
I offer my sincere gratitude to my like-minded people, who from the first day of the establishment of our Spiritual Directorate stood at its origins or joined it later. I am grateful to the state authorities, the Presidential Administration, the Government, as well as to our benefactors Suleiman Kerimov, Mikail Gutseriev, Alisher Usmanov and many other benefactors, thanks to whose generosity not only spiritual and scientific projects are being developed, but also extensive social work is being carried out, and the staff is steadily expanding.
I emphasize: all the expansion of the staff of the Spiritual Directorate in recent years has been done in order to respond quickly and competently to the needs and requests from the regions. The Moscow central apparatus lives and breathes not only the interests of the capital, but also the interests and tasks of Muslim communities in the regions, and your interests.
Ordinary Muslims need infrastructure, educational and upbringing process, quality halal products, reasonable and firm voice of the imam on the side of truth, justice and humanity. We are ready to help in all this and actively assist our local organizations. But we are also called to take care of you - our clergy. Praise be to Almighty Allah, thanks to our benefactors, in recent years we have been able to regularly help our imams who need advanced training, better housing, medical treatment and other forms of social support. And we intend to continue to provide assistance and support.
Analyzing the Program of priority directions of activity for 2019-2024, which we adopted at the previous Congress, I estimate that we moved within the framework of the plan and fulfilled it, we even exceeded some of our intentions, praise be to Allah. The process of consolidation and adoption of model statutes that we announced, however much criticism and external pressure there may have been around it, has taken place. Its benefit for the Ummah and the clergy is obvious. I highly appreciate and respect all the chairmen of the CRO, who, following the principle of “veg'de - iman” (a given promise is a witness of faith), accepted the charter proposed by the Spiritual Directorate and consolidating the structural unity of our organization.
I see this as the most important condition for our further progressive development, our solvency as an institution, creation of a solid foundation for future generations of imams, preachers and muftis. And may Allah accept our efforts, help us in the good and guide us on the straight path! Amen!
الحمد لله رب العالمين
والصلاة والسلام على رسولنا محمد
وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
وبعد
Dear delegates of the VIII Kurultai-Congress of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, muftis, kazyis, imams-mukhtasibs and imam-hatibs, employees of the central office of the Religious Board!
On such a memorable and important day for our Ummah in the walls of our Moscow Cathedral Mosque, I greet you with a brotherly Muslim greeting
Peace be upon you, the mercy of Almighty Allah and His blessing!
More than 30 years ago, here under the shadow of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, a significant event took place - the communities of Moscow and Moscow region, Nizhny Novgorod region, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kaliningrad and a number of others united to create the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Central European region of Russia on the basis of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. Meanwhile, the foundation for the appearance of a Muslim spiritual center in the Russian capital was laid several centuries before this event with the appearance of the first places of worship to Allah Almighty in the Middle Ages and the formation of the Tatar Sloboda in the capital city. It was ordained by Almighty Allah that our mosque, opened in 1904, would not be closed and would continue to operate during World Wars I and II, the Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Civil War, in the era of atheistic repression and during the coronavirus pandemic. In 1947, a mukhtasibat was formed on the basis of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the structure. It included territories within the modern Central Federal District and a number of regions in the Volga Federal District. The first imam-hatib of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the post-war years was the abbot of the Mufti of the Central Religious Board of Muslims of Inner Russia and Siberia in his absence, and in 1974-1975, after the death of Mufti Shakir Hazrat Khiyaletdinov and before the election of Gabdelbari Isaev to this post, he was the acting Mufti of Inner Russia and Siberia.
30 years is a very short period by historical standards, but it came at a time of fundamental changes in our state and society. Russia came off the pernicious path of the God-fighting and during these decades was searching for its face, its true essence in the context of the global human community. This search was thorny and we - the entire Russian society - did not avoid mistakes. Nevertheless, the late 1980s and 90s became the time when it is customary to say “for the first time”. For the first time educational institutions, mass media were registered and began their work, book printing was organized, and the process of sending our pilgrims to Hajj was established. For the first time, religious programs and live broadcasts of services on major religious holidays began to be aired on federal television. Milestone events for us were the presentation of RBMEPR's activities in the movie theater “October” in 1994, the first opening of a mosque in Moscow on Poklonnaya Hill after the atheist period in 1997, the celebration of the 1400th anniversary of the emergence of Islam in the lands of modern Russia in 2000, the 100th anniversary of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in 2004. Then there was the epochal grand opening of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque after expansion and reconstruction on September 23, 2015 and celebrations in honor of the 1100th anniversary of the official adoption of Islam by the peoples of Volga Bulgaria in 2022.
The celebration of the 1100th anniversary took place before your eyes, with your direct participation, dear delegates. I think you all share with me the feelings of sincere gratitude to Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Rustam Nurgalievich Minnikhanov, Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, who stood at the head of large organizational processes.
We have attached and still attach great importance to the jubilee historical dates, as these dates are the best confirmation of the multinational, multi-religious character of our state-civilization, cemented by the common destinies of our peoples and their devotion to their native land, and encourage us to realize more and more deeply the core of our cultural code.
“The Religious Board of Muslims of the Central European region of Russia will actively oppose the spread of lies and slander about Islam, make every effort to protect the honor and dignity of Islam and Muslims” - with this promise I made at the presentation of our Religious Board in January 1994 and, praise be to God, we as a Religious Board, as a collective of like-minded people and as a corporation of Muslim clergy remained true to this word.
In the first year of establishment our Spiritual Board consisted of 15-20 communities in several regions. Today our Spiritual Board unites Muslim organizations in 62 regions, of which 31 subjects of the federation have centralized religious organizations. We have established Islamic madrassas, colleges, institutes, academies, many charitable foundations, international peacekeeping, scientific, cultural and public initiatives. The reporting and election congresses of the organization were held in 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2009, 2014, 2019. At the VI Congress in 2014, we renamed our organization to the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, which corresponds to its actual role in the life of the Ummah. The central apparatus of the Spiritual Administration and the Department of Affairs were strengthened, and a new version of the Charter was adopted. In 2019, together with you, we have proclaimed a course for consolidation and centralization of our efforts.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of my religious activity as imam-hatib and 37 years of my work in Moscow. In two days - another anniversary of the 1788 decree of Catherine II on the establishment in Ufa of the Orenburg Sharia Court - Mahkam Shargya Orenburg, known as the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly. This institution is 236 years old on Russian soil and in Russian legal realities. Its essence is that each representative of the clergy - as a preacher and guardian of the morality and spirituality of his flock - serves his community and is accountable to it in the social, practical plane. And at the same time, in the religious, doctrinal aspect, each imam is part of the Muslim spiritual corporation. The institution of clergy at the level of its most learned members develops theological answers to contemporary questions, interprets the sources of Islam and gives clear moral and normative guidelines in relation to the era and the surrounding legal, cultural and everyday circumstances.
Our generation was fortunate to be involved in and even to be at the head of the processes of evolutionary development and improvement of the institution of the Religious Board of Muslims. This is the creation of the Plenum as a decision-making body with the participation of all heads of the CROs and heads of educational organizations, the streamlining of work through model statutes, the establishment of the Ulema Council for the adoption of theological opinions and fatwas, and the Council of Elders, in which the experience of retired religious leaders is passed on to the younger generation. Today we have grown to the creation of the Council of Kadiyas as a body that unites the most influential heads of regional CRCs.
In 1996, on the basis of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, we established the Russian Mufties Council . We needed an organization that would bring together disparate muftis and heads of centralized religious organizations under one slogan, under one goal and intentions and within the framework of common values. Subsequently, over the course of several years, our late brothers Mufti Sayidmukhammad Abubakarov of Dagestan, Mufti Akhmad Hajji Kadyrov of Chechnya, and Mufti Nurmukhamed Nigmatullin of Bashkortostan joined the Council of Muftis. The members of the Russian Mufties Council were Magomed Albogachiev, Chairman of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus, Mufti of Tatarstan Gusman Iskhakov, Mufti of the Asian part of Russia Nafigulla Ashirov, Mufti of the Volga region Mukaddas Bibarsov and our other brothers. The Council of Muftis was based on the principle of personal participation rather than structural affiliation and thus played an important historical role in the dialog and fraternal cooperation of the Muslim clergy. The Council of Russian Mufties has shown that the interests of the Muslim clergy of Russia are common and they do not differ from the interests of our society and state - they are civil accord, peace between peoples and religions, preservation and revival of the spiritual and moral foundations of our society, devotion to the Fatherland, satisfaction of the spiritual needs of Muslims.
Even today I remain firmly committed to the same position: to preserve the bonds of brotherhood and cooperation with all my brothers, whose activities have a positive, constructive vector, do not destroy the Ummah from within and do not put opportunistic goals above the interests of the Ummah.
On the agenda of our VIII Congress is the adoption of an updated version of the Statute of the RBM of the Russian Federation, which provides for the creation of the Council of Muftis of the RBM of the Russian Federation with the same principle of interaction as the Council of Russian Mufties. This is the personal participation of major religious figures in the work of the Council of Muftis, even if the organizations they head are not structurally part of our Spiritual Directorate. I consider the participation of my colleagues Nafigullah Hazrat Ashirov, Muqaddas Hazrat Bibarsov, Kamil Hazrat Samigullin and others in the work of such a body to be extremely useful and necessary for working out a strategy for the development and growth of our Ummah. I urge all our brothers and sisters who are not indifferent to accept this call for the sake of the future of our peoples, our entire Ummah and country.
«Крепко держитесь за вервь Аллаха все вместе и не разделяйтесь» (3:103)
Let us return to the events of two years ago, when we all together in a single good brotherly endeavor held a high-level celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam. I was very pleased that our Caucasian brothers - the late Ismail Hajji Berdiev, Salah Hajji Mezhiev, Hajimurad Hajji Gatsalov - did not stand aside with the words “this is a holiday of Tatars and Bashkirs”, but, fully realizing the importance of the historical moment, shared this joy with us. And it was, indeed, an unprecedented event when the Muslim anniversary was celebrated at the state level on the instructions of the President of the country. And we would hardly have reached this point if at the stage of my appeal to the President with a proposal for the celebration, at the stage of preparation of the celebration, the head of the CRBM, respected Sheikhul-Islam Talgat Hazrat Tajuddin and respected head of the CCMNK Ismail Haji Berdiev (rahimahullah) had not shown unanimity. I am grateful to my brothers who supported this idea and realized it at the highest level.
The year 2022 became the highest point of realization of state-Islamic relations not only in modern Russia, but since the XVI century - since the time when a number of khanates became part of Russia. It is unlikely that generations of our ancestors could even imagine that the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria would be held at the state level and with the participation of spiritual figures of other religions, testifying to the friendship and brotherhood between our religions and peoples in front of the whole world. I say “before the whole world” because this celebration has become truly international and the whole world has learned about our more than 1400-year history.
Relations between the Russian state and the Islamic world have reached a whole new level and continue to develop. One of the international economic forums held under the auspices of the federal center is focused on cooperation with the Islamic world and is held in Kazan. And in many spheres the groundwork has been laid for active development for many years to come - in the sphere of cultural development, development of Islamic theology as a branch of science, revival and restoration of historical and architectural monuments, in the sphere of Islamic finance and development of the halal industry. The celebration of the 1100th anniversary gave the necessary impetus for this and formed the necessary humanitarian foundation.
Continuing the theme of the institution of spiritual administrations, I would like to note the following. Unlike the tsarist times, today we are autonomous organizations, established by our own will and not dependent on officials in our internal activities. But the Spiritual Administration of Muslims is essentially a pro-state organization pursuing the interests of the people. In the political plane we have no and cannot have interests outside the interests of our state. The other day one of our employees helped our state in revealing criminal intentions of special services of one western state under the cover of diplomatic work.
Today, with the introduction into the Russian Constitution of the phrase that the Russian people are a people who believe in God and honor traditional values, the fundamental law of the state has been brought into conformity and is consistent with the thoughts and aspirations of the majority of its citizens. President Vladimir Putin is one of the few leaders on the world political stage who consistently defends traditional values, religious shrines and sacred scriptures of religions.
These days, our country is fighting the manifestations of neo-Nazism to protect its sovereignty from the imposition of Western hegemony and their world order. Our people support the ongoing Special Military Operation for the future and the truth, which, God Almighty, will bring victory and protect the unity and integrity and freedom of our State.
In my report, I very briefly, punctuated our main results of the past five years and more broadly - all the past decades on the outer perimeter. My first deputy Damir Hazrat Mukhetdinov will present in detail the results of internal work in the DUM of the Russian Federation in his report. But addressing you all as active participants of the process of revival, development and transformation of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and pray to Allah to accept the labors and efforts of everyone. It is not easy to be an imam-hatib and mufti in Moscow, but it is often even more difficult to be a leader of a community far from the capital, far from major Muslim regions, in the hinterland, where misunderstanding, indifference, opposition and evil intentions must be overcome literally every day.
At today's meeting, together with all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, I want to offer prayers for all Russian imams and muftis who carry the banner of Islam and the preaching of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) with kind words and exhortation, as well as with noble deeds and firm patriotic position.
I offer my sincere gratitude to my like-minded people, who from the first day of the establishment of our Spiritual Directorate stood at its origins or joined it later. I am grateful to the state authorities, the Presidential Administration, the Government, as well as to our benefactors Suleiman Kerimov, Mikail Gutseriev, Alisher Usmanov and many other benefactors, thanks to whose generosity not only spiritual and scientific projects are being developed, but also extensive social work is being carried out, and the staff is steadily expanding.
I emphasize: all the expansion of the staff of the Spiritual Directorate in recent years has been done in order to respond quickly and competently to the needs and requests from the regions. The Moscow central apparatus lives and breathes not only the interests of the capital, but also the interests and tasks of Muslim communities in the regions, and your interests.
Ordinary Muslims need infrastructure, educational and upbringing process, quality halal products, reasonable and firm voice of the imam on the side of truth, justice and humanity. We are ready to help in all this and actively assist our local organizations. But we are also called to take care of you - our clergy. Praise be to Almighty Allah, thanks to our benefactors, in recent years we have been able to regularly help our imams who need advanced training, better housing, medical treatment and other forms of social support. And we intend to continue to provide assistance and support.
Analyzing the Program of priority directions of activity for 2019-2024, which we adopted at the previous Congress, I estimate that we moved within the framework of the plan and fulfilled it, we even exceeded some of our intentions, praise be to Allah. The process of consolidation and adoption of model statutes that we announced, however much criticism and external pressure there may have been around it, has taken place. Its benefit for the Ummah and the clergy is obvious. I highly appreciate and respect all the chairmen of the CRO, who, following the principle of “veg'de - iman” (a given promise is a witness of faith), accepted the charter proposed by the Spiritual Directorate and consolidating the structural unity of our organization.
I see this as the most important condition for our further progressive development, our solvency as an institution, creation of a solid foundation for future generations of imams, preachers and muftis. And may Allah accept our efforts, help us in the good and guide us on the straight path! Amen!
