ULYANOVSK, RUSSIA — The worshippers at Veiropaivka mosque know they're not terribly popular around Ulyanovsk. This is the hometown of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, and the small city southeast of Moscow feels like a museum, with old wooden architecture and conservative attitudes still perfectly preserved.
When Muslim women walk through the markets of Ulyanovsk, ordinary Russians sometimes heckle them with sexual slurs, call them nuns or try to rip the scarves from their heads.
The fact that more women here have started wearing traditional Muslim dress hasn't made it easier for them. In fact, Muslims say, it's getting worse.
Abdul Karim, 26, knelt on the thick carpets of the mosque after evening prayers and described how his Russian neighbours are getting interested in the previously obscure study of demographics.
Mufti Famih Aliyelov, 51, says the number of incidents between ethnic Russians and Muslim residents in the city of Ulyanovsk is increasing. (Graeme Smith/The Globe and Mail)
"They know the number of non-Christians is increasing," Mr. Karim said. "They're afraid Muslims will populate the whole country. Muslim families have three or four children. Russians have one. The math is simple. Naturally, they're afraid."
Russia is shrinking. Demographers predict the country will lose almost a third of its population in the next half-century. But some minorities, most notably the Muslims, are defying the trend -- and their flourishing numbers have revived ancient fears among the ethnic Russians about being overrun.
Russia doesn't officially count its religious minorities, but estimates of the country's Muslims range from 14 million to 23 million, or 10 to 16 per cent of the population. Despite the imprecise numbers, it's generally accepted the figure is growing quickly. Fifteen years ago, Russia had about 300 mosques; today, there are at least 8,000.
These statistics are frightening to many ethnic Russians, who associate Islam with the Kremlin's war against insurgents in Chechnya. The militants rely on the rhetoric of Islamism, trying to rally Chechnya's 91-per-cent Muslim majority.
Religious identity seems to be fuelling the spread of the conflict. When 24 police officers and 93 rebels died in a pitched battle that cleared the streets of Nalchik last October, many analysts blamed the southern city's unrest on repression of the Muslim population.
For years, Russians could tell themselves that such problems were confined to the southern provinces. But shifting demographics are forcing the ethnic Russian majority to confront a restive Muslim minority in a surprisingly broad swath of provinces -- even here in Ulyanovsk, 1,000 kilometres from Moscow, where tourists from across the Soviet Union once made pilgrimages to see the weather-beaten homestead of the man who created the world's largest atheist regime.
In Moscow, Deacon Andrei Kurayev, a professor of theology at St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, says he's concerned that the capital city's Chechen community has doubled in size since the early 1990s. He says that schools should start indoctrinating children with the Russian Orthodox faith.
"We must oppose the growing influence of alien religion and culture," Father Kurayev said.
Despite such opposition, Muslims are gaining ground in the Russian heartland. The Ulyanovsk region's overall population has decreased by 100,000 during the past 10 years, to an estimated 1.4 million, while the Tatar minority -- nearly all Muslim -- has defied the trend with an increase of between 160,000 to 170,000. Smaller Islamic minority groups have enjoyed even faster growth.
Tatyana Sergeyeva, the government official who regulates religious activity in the Ulyanovsk region, says the two faiths co-exist peacefully. She says she's never seen a Muslim woman hassled on the street, nor heard any of the other complaints described by the faithful at Veiropaivka mosque.
"Maybe they are inventing stories," she said. When pressed, she added, "Religion and national consciousness is a very delicate thing."
The importance of appearances is well understood by the people at Veiropaivka mosque. They knew that many of their neighbours had a one-sided view of their little whitewashed place of worship in a tumbledown neighbourhood. That's why they decided to organize a public-relations event last summer, inviting spectators to watch the mosque's soccer team play against a squad from another mosque, just outside of the city. It was a close game, but the visiting team from Ulyanovsk eked out a 4-3 victory. Afterward, still wearing their sweaty T-shirts and shorts, the two teams sat down outside the village mosque to drink tea and eat a traditional dish of rice, meat and raisins.
Then a group of police officers showed up, and started detaining people.
"Two of the cops were drunk," Mr. Karim said. "They threatened us, saying stuff like, 'Come here again, and you'll never leave.' "
The young men from Veiropaivka say they never got an explanation for why they were detained for about four hours and then released without charge. Dozens of them nodded their heads, however, as one guessed at the reason. "As Muslims, we wanted to use this soccer game to show people we lead a good, healthy life," said Aldar Ahmedov, 30. "And the police wanted to show that we're terrorists."
At a more conservative mosque across town, Mufti Famih Aliyelov, 51, offered examples of other similar incidents. "The number of these situations is growing," he explained. "Allah said, 'I created different races so you would have friends.' But unfortunately, that's not the way it happens in Russia."
RUSSIA shrinks
Saturday: Muhyen's cautionary tale: Russia desperately needs immigrants, but that doesn't mean they're welcome.
Yesterday: Death and drugs in Irkutsk: How addiction is fuelling Russia's population decline.
Today: The mosques of Ulyanovsk: Thriving Muslim community raises the ire of ethnic Russians in Lenin's hometown.
Tomorrow: Clash in Krasnoyarsk: Skinheads from the violent vanguard of rising Russian nationalism.
Thursday: The Cossacks of Magilevka: Russia's storied warriors are revived to patrol the emptying East.
