Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from February 10, 2014

Did the Age of Genocide Begin in Sochi? By Joshua Keating

Of the myriad controversies surrounding the upcoming Olympics, one that’s gotten relatively little attention—at least outside Russia—is the ongoing campaign against the games by the global Circassian community. The choice of Sochi as a venue has highlighted a tragic but largely forgotten chapter in the region’s history.  The Circassian Genocide ,  book published last year by Occidental College historian  Walter Richmond , makes a compelling case that Sochi was the site of modern Europe’s first genocide, a crime against humanity that presaged many of the worst atrocities of the 20 th  century. The Circassians , who also self-identify as the Adyghe, were once one of the predominant ethnic groups of the North Caucasus, predominantly Sunni Muslim and speaking a distinctive group of languages. They also had the unfortunate historical luck to have lived between two expansionist empires—Czarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey—at the worst possible time. Russia  had gradually pushed southw

Untold story of Sochi by Historian Scholar Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick

"Untold story of Sochi" "As the winter Olympics unfold, little is known about the people of Sochi. Especially the fact that this area was once a Muslim region but a 19th century genocide carried out by the Czar of Russia killed hundreds and  thousands of Muslims! Of the present population of more than 300,000 people, 20,000 are Muslims but there is no official mosque! While we all need to insure the safety of people during the Olympics, Muslims should demand that the city allow the building of a Masjid as in other parts of the world. What beauty the house of Allah could bring to the drab Russian skyline. Here is an example: the Lala Tulip Masjid of Bashkortostan, Russia built in the shape of an tulip unfolding. The tulip was the symbol of the Turkic people in ancient times. May Allah enable the Muslims of this region to freely worship their Lord and may the beautiful fragrance of Islam touch every soul. Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick