Video of namaz dispute at children’s playground sparks resonance in Dagestani publics

In Moscow, a passer-by entered into a dispute with a woman who tried to drive out a Muslim who was performing namaz at the children’s playground. Users of Dagestani publics have approved the passer-by's behaviour and criticized the woman's attitude.

A video record of the dispute at the playground in Moscow was posted in the evening on July 4 by Ruslan Kurbanov, a Dagestani political analyst and journalist, in his Instagram page. “You can't pray here. This is Moscow,” he commented on the post.

The video shows a man performing namaz on his impromptu prayer rug in the corner of the playground. The video is filmed by a woman who is commenting on her record. At this moment, a passer-by off-screen wonders what does not suit her. “I asked the Muslim not to perform religious rituals in the playground; but he doesn’t hear me. In our country, this is not welcomed,” the woman replies to the passer-by. "In our country, it is not prohibited. He can do it anywhere; he doesn’t bother anyone," the passer-by retorts.

In their comments, social media users have unanimously treated the woman's claims against the Muslim as unjustified and expressed their respect for the passer-by who stood up for the believer.

"She claims that a person who performed a prayer in the playground without disturbing anyone there has insulted Allah. This is the result of the ignorance of elementary religion grounds and the legislation of the country that she so stubbornly tried to ‘protect’," the user islam__0777 has lamented.

"How can one distract a person from his namaz ... What difference does it make where he does it; he does for himself and for the Almighty," the user babasin_kizi2905 has noted.

"I would like to shake hands with the guy, who was disputing. And you shouldn't pay attention to the woman; there are people like that," the user baz__ogly has written.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 5, 2021 at 11:12 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.