In today's Russia, particularly in the Republic of Tatarstan, Islamic public figures have become ordinary government officials supporting Moscow's imperial interests.
This was reported to Ukrinform by the Deputy Prime Minister of the government of independent Tatarstan in exile Aida Abdrakhmanova, who commented on the statement of the Mufti of Tatarstan, Kamil Samigullin, that participants in the war in Ukraine will go to heaven as "martyrs."
First of all, Abdrakhmanova noted that since the bloody capture and subsequent occupation of the Kazan Khanate by the Moscow army of Ivan the Terrible, Islam has been an important factor in preserving the Tatar nation. However, now the situation has changed.
“Being under the gun and pressure of law enforcement agencies, Islam in today's Tatarstan ceases to have a key significance for the self-preservation of Tatar identity as an identifier of the struggle against the Moscow occupiers. Muftis and Khozrats have lost their sovereignty and are completely subordinated to the political will of Putin and his henchmen,” Abdrakhmanova said.
According to her, a mufti in Putin's Russia is “similar to a state official acting to preserve his position, power, and financial resources.” Thus, supporting the state interests of imperial Moscow, these people strongly encourage their compatriots to join Russia's war in Ukraine, deliberately misleading Tatars and promising them heaven for this brutal aggression.
As for the Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kamil Samigullin, he has been supporting Russia's invasion of sovereign Ukraine since 2014 and boasts that he has already visited the Russian-occupied Donbas three times this year alone, Abdrakhmanova said.
She considers Mufti Samigullin's comparisons of World War II and the current aggression against Ukraine blasphemy. “Yes, these are similar wars, only in that case the USSR and the colonized peoples stood up against the fascists, and in this case, the so-called “SVO”, Russia itself acts as a Nazi and occupier! Since no one attacked Russia, and in particular Tatarstan, it was Russia that attacked sovereign Ukraine, continues the killing of civilians, violence and torture against Ukrainians, and destruction of infrastructure,” summed up the Deputy Prime Minister of the government of independent Tatarstan in exile.
Earlier in Russia, Tatarstan's Mufti Kamil Samigullin called Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine “righteous”, explaining that in this case, the participants of this aggression “will be recognized as martyrs for the faith” and, thus, will “go to heaven.”