Russian Muslim leader: Learn from the Jews

November 5, 2008

Russia’s Muslim community should look to Jewish efforts as a model for building ties with the government, a Muslim leader said.

Abdalla Aminov said in an opinion piece published on Islam.ru., a Russian Islamic Web site, that the Jewish community has stopped blaming others for problems and instead works to solve them with lobbying and interfaith outreach.

"It seems to me that Russian Muslims would not be sinning to learn something from Russian Jews," Aminov wrote in the article.

Aminov wrote that while there are nearly 10 times as many Muslims as Jews in Russia, and Muslim leaders in certain Muslim-majority areas hold positions in the Russian Legislature and local governments, that hasn’t stemmed the tide of Islamophobia.

He recommends that Muslims take a page from recent Jewish efforts and form a public chamber to speak to the concerns of his community. Among other things, the chamber seeks to inform the Russian and Israeli media about events in Jewish life in Russia and promotes Jewish values among Russia’s intelligentsia.

Aminov said the Muslim community in Russia needs to shed its passivity and defend its rights by communicating regularly with state leaders.

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