The Bolgarian Islamic Academy opened in Tatarstan

(KZN.RU, September 4). Today, the opening of the Bolgarian Islamic Academy took place in the Spassky district of Tatarstan. Mikhail Babich, the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the RF in the Volga Federal District, Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, Alexey Pesoshin, the prime minister of the RT, Farid Mukhametshin, the chairman of the State Council of the RT, Mintimer Shaimiev, the state councilor of the RT, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, Igor Barinov, the head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities, representatives of various religious faiths, and other officials attended the ceremony.

Before the beginning of the event, R. Minnikhanov, M. Babich, and other honorable guests visited the hotel complex “Kul Gali” and got acquainted with the progress of construction work. The construction of the facility started in 2015. The complex is located beyond the historical rampart of the Bolgarian hillfort on the banks of the Volga River. The hotel will be able to accommodate up to 300 guests, for the convenience of which there is a spa, swimming pool, tennis court, park area, sports and children's playgrounds, underground parking for 220 spots. The completion date is 2018.

Further, the opening ceremony of the educational institution took place in front of the building of the Bulgarian Islamic Academy. Mikhail Babich, the plenipotentiary representative of to the Volga Federal District, spoke first. He read out a welcome telegram on behalf of Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation.

In the course of his speech, M. Babich noted that the creation of the Academy will allow completing the formation process of the three-level system of Islamic education: the madrasah – the university – the academy. Until now, there was not such a full-fledged system in the country.

“The opening of the academy will positively affect the formation of common standards of secondary and higher Islamic education, will allow building coordinated educational programs. The Council on Islamic Education is already taking steps in this direction”, said M. Babich. “One of the tasks of the Academy is the creation of an all-Russian Muslim theological platform for the interaction of native Muslim organizations and the development of common approaches to interpreting sacred texts and organizing the life of Muslims”.

R. Minnikhanov expressed his gratitude to Vladimir Putin, the President of the RF, for his full support in creating the academy. He noted that the opening of the educational institution takes place during the days of the Kurban Bayram celebration and congratulated everyone on this holiday.

“The opening of the Academy is a historic event for both Tatarstan and Russia and for the entire Muslim world. Our ancestors accepted Islam here on the Bulgarian land almost 11 centuries ago. During this time, our people went through a glorious and hard way, keeping faith in Allah and loyalty to the great traditions. For many centuries, Bolgar was a place of concentration of eminent scholars-theologians. We are reviving the former greatness by opening an Islamic academy in its heart”, marked the President of Tatarstan.

R. Minnikhanov said that the Academy was built in very short time. “In this regard, I want to express special gratitude to Mintimer Shaimiev, the first President of Tatarstan, philanthropists, and all those who contributed to this important work. Especially I want to mention Alisher Usmanov who took an active part in financing the project”, added the President of the RT.

“I hope that the Bolgarian Academy will become one of the leading scientific, educational and religious-educational centers, as well as a firm and consistent guide to traditional Islamic values”, said Rustam Minnikhanov.

"”Ancient Bolgar is a sacred place for Muslims in Russia”, said Mintimer Shaimiev. “This is the place of voluntary acceptance of Islam in the present territory of the Russian Federation”. He pointed out that Bolgar has always been a place of attraction for eminent scientists and a recognized center of the classical Hanafi theological school, as well as one of the recognized intellectual centers of its time along with Cairo, Istanbul, Baghdad, and Samarkand.

“The Bolgarian Islamic Academy is meant to preserve the unity of the Muslim Ummah, peace, and harmony in the country, to revive the rich theological heritage and spiritual traditions of the ancestors. The intellectual elite of the Muslim Ummah of the country will be trained here, masters and doctors of Islamic theology”, he marked.

Igor Barinov, the head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities, noted that the development of the system of traditional religious education and religious education is important. Especially in the conditions “when a real ideological and informational war is launched against Russia, which goal is to undermine the moral health of the nation, to divide the Russian people by national, confessional, political, and other ways”. In his opinion, the education is one of the most effective spheres of counteraction to information aggression.

“A competent system of training and retraining of Islamic clerics, meeting the challenges of our time is our strategic task”, Igor Barinov addressed the participants of the event. “We proceed from the fact that the results of our joint activity should be the formation of the native Islamic theological school, the increased competitiveness of Russian Islamic educational institutions, the progressive development of the educational process in madrassas and colleges”.

Also, Ismail Hajji Berdiev, the chairman of the Coordination Center for Muslims of the North Caucasus, gave to Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, and Mintimer Shaimiev, the State Counsellor of the RT, the Order “For Services to the Ummah North Caucasus” within the framework of the opening ceremony.

After the solemn presenting of the symbolic key from the builders to the management of the educational institution, the participants of the event moved to the Academy's assembly hall. There, Rafik Mukhametshin, the rector of the Bolgarian Islamic Academy, spoke about the educational system of the new school and plans for its further work, reports the Tatarstan Government Portal.