"Of course, beside the official channels there is the so-called public diplomacy. In this sense, the Russian Muslims are constantly actively communicating with the Syrian coreligionists… Our spiritual administrations have not interrupted contacts with the Syrian muftis, leaders of Islamic centers in Syria and religious universities despite the tragic events in the Middle East in recent years," Samigullin said.
According to Samigullin, such cooperation should continue in "these difficult times" and despite the opinion of terrorists, who oppose this.
Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including the Daesh, which is banned in a range of countries, including Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in December that the Syrian government and armed opposition groups had reached an agreement on a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and on readiness to start peace talks.
The terrorists who are waging war in Syria and claiming to support Islam are in no way related to the religion and are, in fact, its enemies, Chief Mufti of Russia's region of Tatarstan said.
"We, Muslims, think of terrorists not as of Islam followers, but as of actual terrorists, who sow death and discord… They are in no way related to our religion… In fact, they are enemies of Islam," Kamil Samigullin said, following a visit to Syria.
The mufti said that Muslim leaders around the world were against the Daesh, one of the most prominent terrorist groups in the world, outlawed in Russia and many other countries.
According to Samigullin, Russian Muslims were among the first to denounce the Daesh and underscored the importance of educating people about the organization's nefarious activities.
"Last year, a very large Islamic conference took place in Kazan, with the participation of leading Muslim scholars from around the world. We raised the issue of countering Daesh [Arabic acronym for IS] again," Samigullin said.
The mufti also said that a new forum for scholars from Russia, Middle East, Asia would be held in Kazan in February and the situation in Syria as well as the actions of terrorists would be discussed there.
The Islamic State terrorists, who follow an ultra-hardline interpretation of Sunni Islam doctrine, have been able to seize large territories in Iraq and Syria in the last few year. The group has been extremely aggressive to the representatives of other religions and to Muslims who do not share their extremist views.
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