News Tid-bits from Moscow Times

Interesting tid-bits from a local English newspaper, the Moscow Times that give a glimpse of what is going on here, especially from a Muslim perspective:

The video, which appeared on ultranationalist web sites under the title “The Execution of a Tajik and a Dagestani,” showed two dark-skinned men kneeling, bound and gagged in front of a Nazi flag. The two men say, “Russian national-socialists have arrested us,” before masked men cut one man’s head off and shoot the other at point-blank range [Report: 4 Arrested for Executions]

Keep in mind most Tajiks and Dagestanis are Muslims. I met brothers from Tajkistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in my visits to the local Moscow Masajids, which inshallah I will write about in a future post. A picture below is of two brothers from Tajkistan and one from Kyrgyzstan. The neo-Nazi, white supremacism type of mentality is slowly but surely raising its ugly head in Russia. One thing I noticed was the extreme homogenity of people in Moscow– you would be hard-pressed to find “colored people” in the city. So I guess some people would like to keep it this way using all methods possible.

In the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala, Islamic TV reporter Telman Alishayev died at a hospital Wednesday, one day after being shot by two men as he sat in his car, Interior Ministry spokesman Mark Tolchinsky said. Alishayev, who hosted a religious-themed program in Dagestan, had produced documentaries and written extensively about Wahhabism, said Shamil Guseinov, an Interior Ministry official. [Journalists Attacked, Killed in North Caucasus]

I think the story speaks for itself. Russia, and the Caucuses have become one of the most dangerous places for journalists. However, I am quite certain, based on the oppression in nearby Uzbekistan and the general war on “Muslim fundamentalism”, that this operation was more than a random attack on media personnel. May Allah have mercy on Br. Alishayev and grant him a place in the highest Jannah.

The new Islamic debit card promises customers that any interest earned on their accounts will be donated to charitable causes, such as maternity wards for local hospitals. The terms of the card were decided by the bank in cooperation with the Spiritual Council of Muslims in Dagestan, which also helped with the card design to insure its appearance would conform to Islamic law, such as avoiding visual depictions of living beings. [Islamic bank card to be rolled out across Russia]

In some better news, a new Islamic bank card is to be rolled out across Russia, offered by Express Bank. It has already been introduced in Dagestan. Apparently the card has been even popluar with Christans and Jews because of its design! I do have my doubts about the “Islamicness” of the card, but don’t know enough to make any conclusions. It was just interesting that in a country where the Islamic practice seems quite minimal, that something like a credit card would be a big priority.