Page 53 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

HARUN YAHYA (ADNAN OKTAR)
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other autonomous republics. The most noteworthy characteristic of the
republics within the Russian Federation is the way they greatly influ-
ence one another, and how a change in one affects all the others.
Alongside all this, there is another element that makes Chechnya
important for Russia. The true horror of the communist mentality
which is occasionally influential in Moscow, as in the examples of
Bosnia and Kosovo, is the establishment of a Muslim state right on its
borders. That is the most important reason for the inhuman war waged
against Chechnya by the communist mentality, which has tried for
years to eliminate the Chechens' religious identity and so inflicted vio-
lent oppression on them, demolished mosques, banned worship and
prohibited religious education.
The Chechen people are known for their loyalty to their religion,
their determination to struggle to be allowed to live by that religion,
and for their Islamic identity with its powerful effect on other Islamic
states in the Caucasus. The idea of a "United Caucasus," put forward by
the aforementioned Imam Mansur in the 1780s, which aimed at uniting
the whole of the Caucasus, greatly alarms communist circles. That is be-
cause the outstanding feature of such a union would be its being
Muslim, and that represents a serious threat to the interests of some evil
circles.
The fact is, however, that the presence of Muslims in Chechnya in
no way poses a threat to Russia. Russia is one of the countries with the
densest Muslim populations, and that Muslim presence is a source of
wealth and happiness for it. Muslims who truly live by the moral values
of the Qur'an make great contributions to Russia through their moral
values, industriousness, moderation and justice. It is no threat to Russia
for Muslims to be united and act together in those lands under Russian
influence. On the contrary. The construction of such a union would be
the finest guarantee against terror and the most reliable way of securing
underground resources, not just for the members of the union but for all
the countries in the region, including Russia, and will permit the rapid
cultural and economic growth of the whole region. Because the union
will not follow a policy against or that excludes any country and will