The lack of mosques in Moscow may drive Muslims to visit Orthodox churches, imam-hatyb of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque Ildar Ayautdinov expresses his concern.
“Moscow is the only place in the world where over one million Muslims are served in only four mosques. We lack premises for praying. Muslims are allowed to conduct their religious ceremonies in Orthodox churches, but we would rather avoid this extreme measure,” he said in an interview to the Moscow issue of Metro daily.
He referred to the concerns voiced by the opponents of constructing a mosque in the Tekstilschiki District of Moscow that such mosque would threaten dog owners and said that “nothing threatens dogs, this is just ridiculous.”
At the same time, he noted that if any dog’s spittle marked clothes of a Muslim, he was not allowed to pray in such clothes, but should go and wash it.
“Another thing is important: more attention is given to animals than to the problems of human neighbours. There is a need to construct mosques, otherwise something bad will supersede spiritual development,” Alyautdinov noted.