Shafaqna English- This year 180,000 worshippers perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Moscow, a figure below half of last year’s number.
Muslims pray outside Moscow’s Cathedral Mosque during a celebration of Eid Al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadhan.
Moscow concert attack shadows of Eid Al-Fitr in Russia
Muslims in Moscow marked the end of Ramadhan with scaled-down celebrations on Wednesday (10 Apr 2024), with the holiday overshadowed by the fallout from a deadly attack last month on a concert hall.
In previous years huge crowds — Russian Muslims and migrants from Central Asia — gathered around the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the Prospekt Mira district for Eid Al-Fitr, the end of the Ramadhan fasting month. This year, turnout was way down and police had cordoned off areas, AFP journalists saw.
Putin extends greetings to Russia’s Muslims on Eid Al-Fitr
Muslim organizations make a major contribution to improving social cohesion and interethnic harmony in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message of greetings on Eid Al-Fitr.
“Muslim organizations make a creative contribution to the life in the country, and the implementation of popular patriotic, educational and charitable initiatives as they maintain fruitful cooperation with government and public agencies and pay priority attention to the education of the younger generation.
Sources: Moscow Times, Alarabiya, TASS