Muslim cleric is killed in Russia, another wounded
July 20, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A top Muslim cleric in Russia's Tatarstan province was shot dead yesterday and another was wounded by a car bomb, attacks that the province's leader and local religious authorities said were probably related to the priests' criticism of radical Islamists.
Valiulla Yakupov, the deputy to the Muslim province's chief mufti, was gunned down as he left his house in Tatarstan's regional capital of Kazan, Russia's Investigative Committee said. Minutes later, chief mufti Ildus Faizov was wounded in the leg after an explosive device ripped through his car in central Kazan, it said.
Both clerics were known as critics of radical Islamist groups that advocate a strict and puritan version of Islam known as Salafism. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Russian media his agency was looking into the clerics' stances as a possible reason for the attacks.
The 49-year-old Faizov became Tatarstan's chief mufti in 2011 and began a crackdown on radical Islamists by dismissing ultraconservative preachers and banning textbooks from Saudi Arabia, where the government-approved religious doctrine is based on Salafism.
Tatarstan's regional leader condemned the attack and called for tougher measures against radical Islamists.
"What happened today is an obvious challenge," Rustam Minnikhanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. "Our position must be much tougher. Traditional Islam has never allowed such things."
Minnikhanov visited the wounded mufti in hospital, where Faizov told him he jumped from the car as soon as he heard a bang. "Good thing I was not buckled up," he was quoted by state media as saying.
More than a half of Tatarstan's 4 million people are Sunni Muslims. Tatars converted to Islam more than 1,000 years ago, and the province became an important center of Muslim learning and culture under Tatar-Mongol rulers who controlled Russia and parts of Eastern Europe.
Islamic radicals from the Caucasus have called for the establishment of a caliphate, an independent Islamic state under Shariah law that includes the Caucasus, Tatarstan and other parts of Russia that were once part of the Golden Horde - a medieval Muslim state ruled by a Tatar-Mongol dynasty.
Valiulla Yakupov, the deputy to the Muslim province's chief mufti, was gunned down as he left his house in Tatarstan's regional capital of Kazan, Russia's Investigative Committee said. Minutes later, chief mufti Ildus Faizov was wounded in the leg after an explosive device ripped through his car in central Kazan, it said.
Both clerics were known as critics of radical Islamist groups that advocate a strict and puritan version of Islam known as Salafism. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Russian media his agency was looking into the clerics' stances as a possible reason for the attacks.
The 49-year-old Faizov became Tatarstan's chief mufti in 2011 and began a crackdown on radical Islamists by dismissing ultraconservative preachers and banning textbooks from Saudi Arabia, where the government-approved religious doctrine is based on Salafism.
Tatarstan's regional leader condemned the attack and called for tougher measures against radical Islamists.
"What happened today is an obvious challenge," Rustam Minnikhanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. "Our position must be much tougher. Traditional Islam has never allowed such things."
Minnikhanov visited the wounded mufti in hospital, where Faizov told him he jumped from the car as soon as he heard a bang. "Good thing I was not buckled up," he was quoted by state media as saying.
More than a half of Tatarstan's 4 million people are Sunni Muslims. Tatars converted to Islam more than 1,000 years ago, and the province became an important center of Muslim learning and culture under Tatar-Mongol rulers who controlled Russia and parts of Eastern Europe.
Islamic radicals from the Caucasus have called for the establishment of a caliphate, an independent Islamic state under Shariah law that includes the Caucasus, Tatarstan and other parts of Russia that were once part of the Golden Horde - a medieval Muslim state ruled by a Tatar-Mongol dynasty.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
