In the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, Shiites fought with Sunnis

In the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, Shiites fought with Sunnis. The fight was broken up by the police.

On October 5, 2016, Shiites fought with Sunnis in the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in Vypolzov Lane. The fight was broken up by police officers who were called by the mosque administration.

The reason for the clash was the ban on holding Shia worship in the month of Muharram (this month is considered sacred, since it was at this time that the Hijra was made - the resettlement of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina).

The administration of the mosque sent an official refusal to the Azerbaijani community, which stated that " the mosque is a platform for all Muslims, regardless of their affiliation to a particular community ," however, " in order to exclude questions and not expose the differences of the Muslim society, the Moscow Cathedral Mosque cannot be provided as a platform for one of the communities .

Commenting on the conflict, the press service of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Moscow said that “ on Monday, with the onset of the month of Muharram, in the first days of which it is customary for Shiites to observe mourning and at the end of this period to perform the rite of shahsi-wahsi (self-flagellation), there was a conflict over too loud performance of worship, which caused discontent on the part of other parishioners . The subsequent refusal, issued to the Shiites on the same day, was due to the fact that " in the walls of the mosque it is not customary to express one's affiliation to one or another movement so clearly and behavior that goes beyond the established order is unacceptable ."

Despite the ban, representatives of the Azerbaijani - Shiite - community came to the mosque, the mosque employees did not let them in and called the police, and representatives of another community - Sunnis - joined the fight.

Sources

• Azerbaijanis were not allowed into the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the month of Muharram. HAC responded to the incident (photo, video) // Moscow-Baku. RU. 2016. October 5.
• OMON arrived at the Cathedral Mosque of Moscow to separate Muslims // islamnews. 2016. October 5.