This was stated by deputy chairman of the Central Spiritual Board of Moslems of Russia, Mufti of the Perm Region Muhammedgali Huzin on Monday at a press conference on the premises of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. He stressed that it is inadmissible to equate representatives of some or other religion to terrorists by their religious affiliation.
"Terrorists cannot be called Moslems, a believer and an extremist belong to two different groups of people," the Mufti said.
He said that the Koran prohibits murder of an innocent and the murder of one man in the Koran is equated to the murder of the whole mankind.
"Russia has managed to preserve its unity and accord among the representatives of different confessions despite abominable terrorist acts," Mufti noted.
In his words, despite the massacre that the extremists perpetrated in the Caucasus they failed to sow mistrust between Orthodox Christians and Moslems . "Our interfaith forum is a response to the challenge of terrorists and extremists," the Mufti said.
In his turn the executive director of the Federation of the Jewish communities of Russia Valery Engel said that the participants in the forum should think over how to "inculcate religious tolerance in our citizens." Russia has a unique experience of interaction of representatives of various nationalities, confessions and even civilizations," he stressed.
