Residents of the Moscow region complain about an illegal mosque in a residential building

Singing and praying from the basement

The mullah’s voice comes from underground. Prayers and chants sound. There is spontaneous parking under the windows. At the entrance there are men with thick beards. This news is discussed from morning to evening in Balashikha near Moscow. Here they are seriously frightened by the local mosque, which opened in the basement of a multi-story building. The locals are alarmed: what if radical Islamists have settled down below.

Streams of Muslims rush to Pavlino. Here, on the site of the former village, there are 4 new high-rise buildings. The apartments, as locals say, did not sell for a long time: there were complaints about the quality. As a result, living space was sold at a low price, and it was bought mainly for rent. The tenants are immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, that is, Muslims.

“The mosque in the basement appeared somewhere in the spring of last year,” says a resident of house No. 69, where the prayer house is located. – There is constant noise from the basement. Screams and guffaws. The floors are concrete, so sounds reach the second floor. Moreover, the first floor is not residential.

– In the summer, a sheep was slaughtered in a nearby forest. I don’t know whether these people are from the mosque or not, but they are clearly local Muslims,” says a native resident of Pavlino. “Residents of the area don’t really like it.” I know that playgrounds are divided according to ethnicity.

– We are not against Islam as a religion. A person must live a spiritual life. But not in our basement! – says the mother from Pavlino.

Residents claim that the mosque is opened illegally. However, on the service for analyzing and checking contractors, there is information that a local religious organization called the “Spiritual and Educational Center of Muslims” has been opened in Pavlino. The company has been issued a permit. Tax determined.

On the official website of the center there is a rich cultural life. Meetings of Muslims are held, tennis tables are set up for ping-pong championships, and spiritual conversations are held. Children study and disassemble the Koran, celebrate all-Russian holidays.

– When prayers take place, the sound is clearly amplified by something. Reading through a microphone. This is spreading throughout the area, complain disgruntled neighbors of the Muslim community.

“Since 2021, it has been prohibited to open children’s sports sections and creative clubs in basements and basements,” lawyer Konstantin Yudin comments on the situation. – Also, it is forbidden to gather in basements with a group of more than 50 people. Moreover, make loud noise. In many cases, the opening of prayer rooms requires the consent of the majority of residents, noted in the minutes of the general meeting of owners.

The legality of organizing a house of worship in Pavlino is currently being verified by the Investigative Committee of Russia.