Religion: Islam in Russia

In all Moscow there is only one Moslem mosque, and these days it does S.R.O. business. Ever since the Soviets began buddying up to the Islamic powers of Asia and the Middle East, the Moscow mosque has served a growing contingent of Moslem diplomats. Friday night contributions to the collection plate have grown apace. And to keep up the semblance of Soviet affection for Islam, every year a token delegation from Russia’s 30 million Moslems is allowed to make the long pilgrimage to Mecca.

But Soviet Moslems now have a blunt reminder that the religious tolerance they were enjoying is no willing concession. An article in the leading newspaper of Kazakhstan, where many Russian Moslems live, pointed out that the basic Soviet attitude toward Islam is as hostile as it is toward all other religions. The followers of Mohammed, said Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, submit to a “profoundly reactionary” religion. The paper accused the Moslem clergy of not encouraging the cause of socialism, of not teaching their congregations “to study or investigate the phenomena of life, since this life, according to the Koran, is only ephemeral.”

Pravda attacked Islam because “even now it tries to legitimize the inequality of men and women, and to justify the shameful heritage of past polygamy.” In Russia. Pravda adds, “there are no longer any abused, ignorant, semi-slave females who are exchanged for cattle, sold and kidnaped.” Moreover, Moslem teaching divides the world into believers and nonbelievers: “Class interests are replaced by religious interests.” History, the paper concludes, “knows of no religion whose advocates and prophets ever attained a happy life for the people of the East. Only the October Revolution brought the peoples of the central Asian republics true happiness.”