(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A “complete modernization” of Moscow’s cathedral mosque ended with its demolition this Sunday.
The decision to knock down the historical building got the nod from the Russian Council of Muftis but was not supported by either other Russian Muslim leaders or heritage activists.
“This case is just outrageous as no one dared to touch this mosque even under Brezhnev’s reign,” Konstantin Mikhailov, coordinator at heritage watchdog Arkhnadzor, told Lenta.ru. It’s been the first time that a temple has been destroyed in Moscow since 1978.
Believers told Albir Krganov, deputy chair at Russia's Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims, that the mosque was “leveled to the ground,” which he later officially confirmed.
Krganov was still bewildered as to “why the mosque was demolished exactly on Sunday, Sept. 11”, Interfax reported him as saying.
The temple was built in 1904 using the funds provided by Tatar merchant Salikh Yerzin, and was one of two historical mosques in the Russian capital. It was the only operating mosque in Moscow during the Soviet era and a significant cultural center for the capital’s Tatar community.
Together with other Muslim leaders Krganov signed a joined statement against the temple’s demolition earlier last week, but after the demolition he doesn’t know if any other action is to be taken.
“What can we do? The mosque is not longer there,” he told RIA Novosti.
The group was putting together an appeal to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, hoping that they “will listen to the country’s population, its 7-million Tatar community,” RIA Novosti reported last week.
Mukhammedgali Khuzin, chairman of the executive committee at the Russian association of concordance and mufti for the Perm region, said the mosque was the “only remaining cultural meeting point for Tatars in Moscow.”
Rawil Gaynetdin, head of the Russian Council of Muftis, said the building had no historical value, referring to Moscow’s cultural and heritage committee’s decision from 2009.
At that time the committee decided to remove the special protection status paving the way for council’s decision to build a new mosque on the site. The new planned mosque will be able to accommodate more believers.
Heritage activists, however, claimed the demolition of the old building was illegal, as a request to restore the preservation status to the building was yet to be considered.
According to Arkhnadzor, a request that the status be restored was filed to the Culture Ministry this September. The works should have been suspended until a final decision was made, Mikhailov said.
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