"(11-19) 04:00 PST Moscow -- Crammed amid the gray monoliths of Moscow's 1980 Olympics complex, the Sobornaya Mosque was the only Islamic house of worship that was allowed to function under the Soviet regime. It stood largely empty then, filling up only with the occasional large foreign delegation from Islamic countries.
Today, its pale blue walls cannot contain the hundreds who come to pray. On Fridays and holy days, it overflows with worshipers, leaving many forced to kneel on newspapers outside, their foreheads pressing against the concrete.
Zabir Valeev was attending midday prayers on a recent Friday with his 8-year-old son, and could hardly hide his frustration. "We shouldn't have to stand out here in the cold," said Valeev, 32. "What does it show to my son that there is no place in Moscow for us to pray?"
The Sobornaya is one of four mosques in the Russian capital to serve a Muslim population of about 2.5 million -- the largest of any European city. Muslim leaders say attempts to build more have been blocked by local officials, who fear angering Moscow's ethnic Russian majority.
"In the Soviet period, people were forbidden from practicing their religions. Now they are embracing their faith again," said Ildar Alyautdinov, an imam at the Sobornaya Mosque. "But to have only four mosques in Moscow -- obviously that's not enough. ... We deserve more respect."
Across Russia, Islam is thriving. Experts say the country is undergoing a startling change and that if current trends continue, more than half of Russia's population will be Muslim by midcentury.
"Russia is going through a religious transformation that will be of even greater consequence for the international community than the collapse of the Soviet Union," said Paul Goble, an expert on Islam in Russia and a research associate at the University of Tartu in Estonia.
As in many Western countries with growing Muslim populations, tensions are also on the rise. Ethnic Russians fear their country is losing its traditional identity; Muslims are offended by widespread discrimination and a lack of respect for their faith.
Russia's Muslims are extremely diverse, including Volga Tatars, the myriad ethnicities of the North Caucasus and newly arrived immigrants from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. But they all share an important demographic -- birth rates far higher than that of Russia's Christian Orthodox, ethnic Slavs.
Russia's overall population is dropping at a rate of 700,000 people a year, largely due to the short life spans and low birth rates of ethnic Russians. The country's 2002 census shows that the national fertility rate is 1.5 children per woman, far below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain the country's population of about 143 million. The rate in Moscow is even lower, at 1.1 children per woman.
But Russia's Muslims are bucking that trend. The fertility rate for Tatars living in Moscow, for example, is six children per woman, Goble said, while the Chechen and Ingush communities are averaging 10 children per woman. And hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have been flocking to Russia in search of work.
Since 1989, Russia's Muslim population has increased by 40 percent to about 25 million. By 2015, Muslims will make up a majority of Russia's conscript army, and by 2020 a fifth of the population.
"If nothing changes, in 30 years people of Muslim descent will definitely outnumber ethnic Russians," Goble said.
For many ethnic Russians, the prospect of becoming a minority in their country is unthinkable, and nationalist sentiments are on the rise. "Russia is historically a Slavic, Orthodox Christian land, and we need to make sure it stays that way," said Alexander Belov, head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, an increasingly powerful interest group that has organized dozens of rallies in recent months. "
Lyhyt suomennos:
Muslimien määrä on kasvanut radikaalisti Venäjällä, etnisten venäläisten määrän kutistuessa.
Moskovalainen tataarinainen saa keskimäärin kuusi lasta, venäläisnainen yhden. Tshetseenit ja inguusialaiset taas peräti kymmenen. Nykymenolla muslimikansojen väkiluku Venäjällä ylittää etnisten venäläisten l. venäjänkielisten slaavien. määrän 30 vuodessa.
Tämä väestökehitys luo epävakautta, sillä monelle venäläiselle on käsittämätön ajatus joutua vähemmistöön omassa maassaan.
Today, its pale blue walls cannot contain the hundreds who come to pray. On Fridays and holy days, it overflows with worshipers, leaving many forced to kneel on newspapers outside, their foreheads pressing against the concrete.
Zabir Valeev was attending midday prayers on a recent Friday with his 8-year-old son, and could hardly hide his frustration. "We shouldn't have to stand out here in the cold," said Valeev, 32. "What does it show to my son that there is no place in Moscow for us to pray?"
The Sobornaya is one of four mosques in the Russian capital to serve a Muslim population of about 2.5 million -- the largest of any European city. Muslim leaders say attempts to build more have been blocked by local officials, who fear angering Moscow's ethnic Russian majority.
"In the Soviet period, people were forbidden from practicing their religions. Now they are embracing their faith again," said Ildar Alyautdinov, an imam at the Sobornaya Mosque. "But to have only four mosques in Moscow -- obviously that's not enough. ... We deserve more respect."
Across Russia, Islam is thriving. Experts say the country is undergoing a startling change and that if current trends continue, more than half of Russia's population will be Muslim by midcentury.
"Russia is going through a religious transformation that will be of even greater consequence for the international community than the collapse of the Soviet Union," said Paul Goble, an expert on Islam in Russia and a research associate at the University of Tartu in Estonia.
As in many Western countries with growing Muslim populations, tensions are also on the rise. Ethnic Russians fear their country is losing its traditional identity; Muslims are offended by widespread discrimination and a lack of respect for their faith.
Russia's Muslims are extremely diverse, including Volga Tatars, the myriad ethnicities of the North Caucasus and newly arrived immigrants from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. But they all share an important demographic -- birth rates far higher than that of Russia's Christian Orthodox, ethnic Slavs.
Russia's overall population is dropping at a rate of 700,000 people a year, largely due to the short life spans and low birth rates of ethnic Russians. The country's 2002 census shows that the national fertility rate is 1.5 children per woman, far below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain the country's population of about 143 million. The rate in Moscow is even lower, at 1.1 children per woman.
But Russia's Muslims are bucking that trend. The fertility rate for Tatars living in Moscow, for example, is six children per woman, Goble said, while the Chechen and Ingush communities are averaging 10 children per woman. And hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have been flocking to Russia in search of work.
Since 1989, Russia's Muslim population has increased by 40 percent to about 25 million. By 2015, Muslims will make up a majority of Russia's conscript army, and by 2020 a fifth of the population.
"If nothing changes, in 30 years people of Muslim descent will definitely outnumber ethnic Russians," Goble said.
For many ethnic Russians, the prospect of becoming a minority in their country is unthinkable, and nationalist sentiments are on the rise. "Russia is historically a Slavic, Orthodox Christian land, and we need to make sure it stays that way," said Alexander Belov, head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, an increasingly powerful interest group that has organized dozens of rallies in recent months. "
Lyhyt suomennos:
Muslimien määrä on kasvanut radikaalisti Venäjällä, etnisten venäläisten määrän kutistuessa.
Moskovalainen tataarinainen saa keskimäärin kuusi lasta, venäläisnainen yhden. Tshetseenit ja inguusialaiset taas peräti kymmenen. Nykymenolla muslimikansojen väkiluku Venäjällä ylittää etnisten venäläisten l. venäjänkielisten slaavien. määrän 30 vuodessa.
Tämä väestökehitys luo epävakautta, sillä monelle venäläiselle on käsittämätön ajatus joutua vähemmistöön omassa maassaan.
Vastaukset 7
Vanhimmat
Iiro saapunee pian paikalle väittämään, että olisimme myös muslimien heimoveljiä. Tuskin, mutta venäläiset lienevät kovinkin muslimimielisiä, koska ovat päättäneet kuolla pois ja väistyä herrojensa tieltä.
Joka tapauksessa Venäjän väestö alkaa pikkuhiljaa kasvamaan. Nyt jo syntyvyys on nousussa.
http://www.moskova.info/content/view/800/26/
"Venäjän talousministeriön mukaan tällä hetkellä Venäjän väestö jatkaa kuitenkin vähenemistään. Arvion mukaan Venäjän väestömäärä on kuluvan vuoden lopussa noin 141,7 miljoonaa. Tämän hetken väestökadon suurimpia aiheuttajia ovat Medvedevin mukaan mm. työikäisen väestön suuri kuolleisuus sekä korkea lapsikuolleisuus."
Medvedevin arviota kyllä kyseenalaistaisin.
"Medvedevin arviot eroavat huomattavasti esimerkiksi YK:n väestötieteilijöiden arvioista, joiden mukaan Venäjän väestö vähenee 108 miljoonaan vuoteen 2050 mennessä. YK:n asiantuntijat lukevat Venäjän väestökadon syiksi lähes samat tekijät kuin varapääministeri Medvedev."
Tuo muslimien määrän kasvu, samoin kuin Venäjän väestökäyrät, ovat ihan yleisessä tiedossa, eivät minkään virolaisen keksimiä.
ja Venäjän hallinnolla nyt kuitenkin varmaan on paremmat tiedot omasta maastaan kun YK:lla. Kuten sanottua, syntyvyys on kääntynyt jo nousuun.
Medvedevin väite, mutta tulevaisuus näyttää. Itse en pane rahojani likoon venäläisten määrän kasvun puolesta, mutta viimeistään ensi keväänä kun uudet väestötiedot julkistetaan, nähdään onko mies puhunut omiaan.
Se Venäjä, jonka nyt tunnemme, ei tule olemaan samanlainen kuin se valtio, jonka muslimit perustavat Venäjän raunioille.
Jokohan silloin -vihdoin- Karjala ja Petsamo luovutetaan meille takaisin?