N. Ashirov accused the Russian Orthodox Church of trying to use the tragedy in Beslan to lobby for its own interests

The head of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Asian part of Russia, co-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Nafigulla Ashirov, made a statement regarding plans to build an Orthodox church on the site of the blown-up Beslan school. The mufti noted that the inhabitants of Beslan are representatives of various faiths, and they have never "divided their children according to their religious affiliation."

"But, as often happens, such a division was made by those who put at the forefront not human experiences, people united by a common grief, but their narrow corporate interests," the statement says. N. Ashirov is outraged by the speeches of the Bishop of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz Feofan (Ashurkov), who repeatedly confirmed plans to build a temple on the site of the tragedy.

"Such statements are at least surprising, given that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, headed by mufti Murat Tavkazakhov, respected in Russia, can just as well claim to build a mosque on the site of the tragedy. However, none of the Muslim figures and it never occurred to me to take advantage of the grief of a national scale in order to lobby my religious projects in the republic," notes N. Ashirov.

"Probably, it would be useful to remind the zealots of building churches on the site of many national tragedies, including Bishop Feofan, that among those killed in the Beslan tragedy, 70% were Muslims," ​​continues the head of the Spiritual Muslim Board of the AChR. He also recalled the disagreement of M. Tavkazakhov with the participation of Bishop Feofan in mourning events at the site of the tragedy.

"Muslim organizations in Russia, including the Council of Muftis of Russia, and the Coordination Center for Muslims of the North Caucasus, all the healthy forces of the Russian Federation should not hush up the flagrant fact of lobbying the interests of one confession using a national tragedy. This will be a manifestation of the mature civic position of the multinational people of the Russian Federation and a religious duty Muslims in relation to our co-religionists, who became martyrs in the fiery tornado of the Beslan tragedy, which united the whole country," N. Ashirov said in a statement.

Sources

• Mufti N. Ashirov's statement on plans for the construction of an Orthodox church in Beslan // Interfax-religion. 2006. September 5.