Celebration of the Great Muslim Holiday of Eid /Posted on August 31, 2011 by jencha

Islam merupakan agama kedua terbesar yang dianut di dalam Persekutuan Rusia. Menurut undian yang dijalankan oleh Pusat penyelidikan pendapat awam Rusia, 6% daripada responden mengaku mereka Muslim.

Menurut Jabatan Negara Amerika Syarikat, terdapat kira-kira 21-28 juta penduduk Islam di Rusia, mewakili sekurang-kurangnya 15-20 peratus daripada jumlah penduduk negara Rusia dan membentuk agama minoriti yang terbesar. Kelompak masyarakat terbesar Islam tertumpu di antara warganegara minoriti yang tinggal di antara Laut Hitam dan Laut Caspian: Avar, Adyghe, Balkar, Nogai, Chechen, Circassian, Ingush, Kabarday, Karachay dan banyak bilangan warga negara Dagestan. Di Volga Basin tengah ada penduduk besar Tatar dan Bashkir, kebanyakan mereka Muslim. Banyak penduduk Islam juga tinggal di Perm Krai dan Ulyanovsk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Tyumen dan Leningrad Oblast (kebanyakannya kaum Tatar).

Gambar di bawah menunjukkan kepada kita betapa ramainya umat Islam di Rusia.

Eid al-Fitr (or simply Eid) is one of the most important religious holidays for every Muslim. It marks the end of Ramadan (the month of fasting) and is directly connected with the ideas of spiritual perfection and good deeds. Last year it fell on September, 9. This year – on August, 30. Let’s see how it’s celebrated in Russia.

Saint Petersburg Cathedral Mosque.

As we already said, this holiday marks the end of Ramadan, the month when it’s forbidden to eat and to drink in the daytime. It means that a Muslim should eat breakfast in the morning and supper in the evening. Without dinner.

It started raining.

The territory of the mosque was so overcrowded that these guys had to stay behind the gates.

Moscow, Prospect Mira.

Moscow Cathedral Mosque.

Those wishing to enter the mosque stood in line since evening.

Everybody was thoroughly searched. Confiscated knives and razors lied under the feet of the policemen.

Muslims repeat ablution before every prayer.

Since there are no special rooms for this in the mosque, ablution was performed in the bushes.

Media reported that there were about 100.000 people. All the nearby streets were filled with people.

The mosque itself is not finished. Its construction has already been frozen for several years because of the lack of funding.