Russia needs university to teach about Islam: official
By IANSTuesday, December 7, 2010
Moscow, Dec 7 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russia should open a secular university to train teachers and experts on Islam, a top official has said.
Alexander Khloponin, Kremlin’s envoy to the North Caucasus region, Monday said: “We need this secular university on Islamic studies in Caucasus today…because we do not have experts to teach the basics of this religion.”
Khloponin said this would help prevent religious conflicts in the region.
“Today, when we see prayer rooms in the dormitories of universities in Stavropol (in southern Russia), for example, and do not understand the literature their students are reading - we then should not be surprised that we have (religious) clashes on the streets,” he said.
North Caucasus federal district includes the volatile republics of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia. The majority of the population in North Caucasus is Muslim.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
