The Abu Bakr mosque in the Moscow region was demolished
The Abu Bakr mosque in Troitsk, Moscow Region was demolished due to public protests.
On Tuesday, April 16, the Abu Bakr mosque was demolished in Troitsk, Moscow region. In this way, the three-year conflict between the Muslim community of Troitsk and local residents and nationalist activists, who demanded the destruction of the mosque, ended, writes Islam News.
"The fact is that the residents of Troitsk have been fighting against the mosque for three years: they wrote many complaints to the city administration, mayor Vladimir Dudochkin and the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. [...] Residents of Troitsk i literally flooded the local authorities with complaints. As a result, the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered to open a criminal case on the illegality of the construction," reports "Moscow News ".
It is noted that the residents claimed that the level of crime in the area increased after the mosque began to operate, that parents were afraid to let their children out on the street, and that traffic jams were caused by the cars of worshipers, especially on Fridays.
As a result, in October 2023, the Troitsk Court declared the Abu Bakr Mosque an unauthorized construction and ordered the owners to demolish it. However, this mosque belonged to the religious administration of Moscow Muslims, which was officially registered under the leadership of the capital's mufti, Ildar Alyautdinov.
Umar Aliev, the imam of Troitsk, told Islam News in an interview with Islam News that the prayer hall was built in 2020 because local Muslims desperately needed a place for collective prayer.
"Many people from the North Caucasus region of Russia live in neighboring villages. More than 2,000 people gathered in the mosque for Friday prayers, and a little more for Eid prayers. Most of the worshipers are citizens of Russia by birth," said the imam.
According to the interlocutor of the agency, now the nearest mosque is about 1 hour and 20 minutes away by car.
Earlier, Moscow mufti Ildar Alyautdinov expressed hope that the Muslim prayer hall in Troitsk would not be destroyed, as he noted that there is a lack of mosques, prayer rooms and cultural and educational centers in the region.
The acute shortage of mosques in the Russian capital was also discussed in 2021 by the deputy head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, mufti of the Moscow Region, Rushan Abbyasov. Mosques in Moscow, according to Abbyasov, are not enough for native Muslims, let alone immigrants .
Most Muslims in Moscow cannot even attend Eid prayers, let alone the weekly Friday prayer, because the capital of 13 million people has only 4 full-fledged mosques for up to 3 million Muslims .
