IN Moscow this year, city authorities gave permission for Muslims to have their Eid Al Adha prayer in the largest mosque and its surrounding streets. Perhaps, they never anticipated the unprecedented attendance. Hundreds of thousands filled the streets in a whole district, their voices filled the sky with prayers. Seventy years of communism, that tried its best to eradicate Islam from the hearts of Muslims in Russia and its Islamic states, has failed miserably. Mosques were turned into bars, nightclubs and horse stables; Muslim names were changed to Russian, Arabic teaching, Qur'an reading and prayers were punishable with the death sentence. Still, Muslims managed to pray, learn Arabic and memorize Qur'an in secrecy. And once the ban was lifted, after the forced unification with Russia ended, and Marxism was replaced with democracy, followers of all religions were allowed to practice their faith in peace and freedom. In such environment, Islam prospers. Today, Muslims in Russia are close to 30 million, that is 20% of the population, and Islam is the fastest growing religion. With smaller Russian families, and a new generation not interested in marriage, Muslim families are raising more children than the rest of the population. In addition, many followers of other faiths and disillusioned Marxists are reverting to Islam. Russian government officials and the Orthodox Church are extremely worried. In a generation or two, the young Muslim community may take over the security forces and army. Educated and politicized Muslim generation could share with the ruling elite the running of the state and economy. The future in Russia may look greener than the rulers of today may wish. And if fundamentalism and extremism has any influence, the picture may get real ugly. This fear explains the Russian government's policy in Syria, as well as the known military, political and economic interests. The prospect of a fundamentalist state replacing the allied regime of Bashar Assad, is understandably frightening to Russian policymakers. The ideology and rabble rousers would probably echo home. This, and the fact that losing the last and most important military and political base outside Russia is hurting its ego. Slowly, but surely, the superpower of the twentieth century had lost its global status and influence to its arch foe, United States. In Syria, Russia is trying to restore its pride, as much as defending what it regards as its sphere of influence and international interests. It must really hurt for the ex-Soviet intelligence "KGB" boss, President Vladimir Putin, to witness his country downgraded from a feared empire to a regular state living on oil and gas revenues, importing technology, food and even wheat from the rival camp. However, Russia should wise up to the fact that its current policies are not helping. Instead of winning 1,600 million Muslims and 57 countries to balance what it lost in the face-off with the West, they may have chosen to alienate them. After 25 years trying to erase its bloody Afghan history, blaming it on the its predecessor, the Soviet Union, Russia appears to repeat the same disastrous mistake, taking sides with a leftist dictatorial regime against its own people. Worse, Russia today is weaker than before, allied with Iran (a weaker partner than Soviet ally, India) with longer logistic lines, far away from its borders, and in the midst of the most hostile area. Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, had commented on the involvement of US forces in Korea, after World War II: Hurrah! They have come closer to our claws! Militants must be feeling the same way. They no longer need to sneak into Russia to avenge Chechnya, Bosnia and Afghanistan. The enemy has come to their nest. The call to liberate Syria from the Russian and Iranian occupation might find new ears, minds and hearts, especially with the Orthodox Church and some Shia references blessing the war on Syria, calling it a Holy War. The answer would not just come from the Muslim world, but may also come from inside Russia itself. This is a history of bad-blood unnecessarily being initiated between Russia and Islam. It could have been avoided. Before Russia was a great opportunity to rebuild bridges with Arabs and Muslims, restore its image and interests in a contested huge and rich parts of the world, and join the fight against extremism and terrorism, to save the world and itself from the cancerous disease. Instead, it seems to get into a quagmire that would link past to present animosity with half the world, and put Russia firmly as a participant in the contest of "Clash of Civilizations." What a miss! What a mess! — Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at Twitter:@kbatarfi
