Russian Authorities Ban Moderate Islamic Text As Extremist

Forum 18 reports today that Russian authorities have banned as "extremist" a moderate Islamic theological text that gives Koran-based advice on family and social relationships. Russia's 2002 Extremism Law prohibits mass distribution, or preparation or storage with the aim of mass distribution, of books found to be extremist. Last August, the Bugurusla City Court found 16 books to be "extremist". One of those was the moderate publication, "The Personality of a Muslim" by Muhammad Ali al-Hashimi. Now the latest Federal List of Extremist Publications, released in December 2007, also contains al-Hashimi's book. If the ban is not reversed, local Muslims face a problem of how to dispose of the tons of copies of the book that they have. Islamic law calls for holy books to be disposed of by Muslims burying or burning them.