Hands off the Holy Quran!

The repression of Muslims in Russia grows and grows. Many classical Islamic texts have been banned by the authorities. This ban even includes Russian translations of the Noble Quran.

Last year, in Dagestan Russian language editions of the Quran were banned. The expert council of the Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Dagestan (STMD) banned “the sale and distribution of any literal translations of the Quran, beginning with Krachkovsky’s translation and ending with Valeria Porokhovaya’s translations”. In the specially published edict they also announced that the ban extends to the distribution of “audio, video, and photo material on a religious theme without the STMD’s approval”. The STMD explains such steps as a strengthening of measures taken in the war against “Wahhabism”. This proves that the Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Dagestan is working together with the punitive system of Moscow’s Kremlin against the Muslims of the Caucasus.

And say: “Truth has (now)
Arrived and Falsehood perished
For Falsehood is (by its nature)
Bound to perish.”
17:81

We send down (stage by stage)
In the Qur'an that which
Is a healing and mercy
To those who believe:
To the unjust it causes
Nothing but loss after loss.
17:82

Chechen Press

Islam in Russia

"No less than 20 or 30 young people have disappeared over the last two to three years, no one knows where," Gasanaliyev said. "There are people like that in every mosque. The most worthy, respectable young people are the ones who disappear."

Twenty-five-year-old Abdul-Qodr, an Uzbek immigrant to Moscow, was not disheartened. The whole world is moving closer to Islam, he said, and Russia is moving along with it.

"Just a few years ago we were amazed when Russians or Americans or French people converted to Islam. No one's amazed anymore," he said.

Islam's rapid rise giving Russia growing pains (Middle East Times)

Putin, Litvinenko and Heroin

Craig Murray has a fascinating post on murky goings on in Russia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan...and Western complicity.

Insofar as people remember anything Litvinenko said, it is his alliance with Anna Politkovskaya on the issue of the apartment bombings in Russia in 2000 which were almost certainly the work of the FSB. One - in Ryazan - failed to go off because local residents found it and local bomb disposal defused it. That was indubitably planted by the FSB, who admitted it when their agents were caught, and claimed the bomb was a dummy. The bomb disposal team said it was a real bomb, and had the same chemical signature as the other, "Chechen" bombs.

But that wasn't actually what led Litvinenko to quit. I have a great interest in this, as he was working on a problem on which I was working from the other end. Vast amounts of heroin come from Afghanistan, in particular from the fief of (now) Head of the Afghan Armed Forces General Dostum, in North and East Afghanistan. Dostum is an Uzbek, and the heroin passes over the Friendship Bridge from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, where it is taken over by President Karimov's people. It is then shipped up the railway line, in bales of cotton, to St Petersburg and Riga.

Litvinenko uncovered the St Petersburg end, and was stunned by the involvement of the city authorities and local police and security services, at the most senior levels. He reported in detail to Putin. Putin is of course from St Petersburg, and the people Litvinenko named were among Putin's closest political allies. That is why Litvinenko, having miscalculated badly, had to flee Russia.

Read further: Murky Murder

Democracy in Russia

"Television is the only reality"

Propaganda has become more sophisticated and possibly more effective than it was during the Soviet years, when television was a tool used to sustain an ideology. The goal today is simpler: to support the Kremlin and its corporate interests. 'It's a magic process now,' Anna Kachkaeva, who broadcasts a weekly interview show on Radio Liberty, told me. Kachkaeva, who is also the head of the television department at Moscow State University, went on: 'There is no censorship - it's much more advanced. I would call it a system of contacts and agreements between the Kremlin and the heads of television networks. There is no need to start every day with instructions. It is all done with winks and nods. They meet at the end of the week, and the problem, for TV and even in the printed press, is that self-censorship is worse than any other kind. Journalists know - they can feel - what is allowed and what is not.'...

Who's killing Putin's enemies? Part 1

Who's killing Putin's enemies? Part 2

Returning to One God

This Russian Orthodox priest embraced Islam after studying and teaching the old and new testaments for many years. Al hamdu lillah!

"Today in this world, where vice, lawlessness, and the dollar reign, we need to preserve our nation. And I believe that the salvation of Russia and the entire world lies in Islam."