In Moscow, Shiites offered to celebrate Day of Ashura outside Cathedral Mosque

Chief Imam of the Cathedral Mosque of Moscow has offered Shiites to hold the events on the occasion of Day of Ashura on October 12 in other places rather than at the Cathedral Mosque.

In early October, at the Cathedral Mosque of Moscow, there was a fight between followers of the Shiite and Sunni concepts of Islam, reported the website of the information-analytical centre "Sova" (Owl) on October 6.

"The clash was caused by the ban on Shia worship in the month of Muharram... Despite the ban, members of the Azerbaijani Shiite community came to the mosque. Mosque officials did not let them entry the mosque and called the police, while followers of another community Sunnis were involved in a fight," states the report.

The conflict at the Cathedral Mosque occurred because of too loud worship, which caused discontent among other believers. This was reported by the statement of Ildar Alyautdinov, the chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) in Moscow, the Chief Imam of the Cathedral Mosque, published on the Muftiate's website on October 5.

"In Islamic society, there are various concepts and there are specifics of worships and rituals. A mosque cannot be a place where domestic Islamic differences are demonstrated. It brings a split in the Muslim community," emphasizes the statement.

"With the aim to prevent possible conflicts, we have reached an agreement with members of the Shiite community, according to which, the new building of the Cathedral Mosque of Moscow will not host any rituals that demonstrate specifics of their religious practice," noted the Chief Imam of the Cathedral Mosque.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.