More than 60,000 gathered for Eid al-Fitr prayer in Moscow

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Wednesday 22 Jul 2015 - 11:33 Makkah mean time-6-10-1436 Moscow, (IINA) - Moscow has witnessed recently major #Eid al-Fitr prayer in which more than 60,000 gathered for prayers at the golden-domed Sobornaya mosque despite the bewildered and scared faces of passersby and baton-wielding police officers around them, according to OnIslam. In a scene that became normal over the past few years, thousands of Muslims gathered on Saturday morning, chanting, "God is great!" An additional 180,000 gathering at five other mosques and three dozen temporary sites in Moscow and the greater Moscow region, to mark the end of this year's holy month of Ramadan, police said. Each person had to pass through a metal detector and undergo an identification check. "For many years, this has been the picture in Moscow twice a year. And each time, everyone is surprised," a blogger said. In Moscow, Muslims, either Russian-born or immigrant, secular or practicing, don't feel welcome. With only six mosques in the large city, attempts to build new ones have been met with protests and rallies. There are only two halal hotels in the city that sees millions of visitors a year. The city's only Muslim gym and health clinic closed down shortly after opening. Despite the large number of Muslim population in the city, there are only a handful of Muslim kindergartens or schools. With an official population of 12.5 million, Russia's capital is now home to at least 1.5 million Muslims, according to political analyst Alexei Malashenko. "Moscow is slowly adapting to being Europe's largest Muslim city, and Muslims are gradually adapting to it," Malashenko told Al Jazeera. The presence of Muslims in Moscow prompted large number of reverts to Islam among ethnic Russians. Anastasiya Korchagina said that "I hear many compliments about how I am dressed and how beautiful it looks", she added that " I changed my first name to Aisha after reverting to Islam five years ago, and I've never faced bad attitude, It's just not there." SM/IINA