On 23 May, within the framework of the international Bolgar forum “theological heritage of Muslims in Russia”, which started in the Bolgar Islamic academy, the rector of the academy Farkhat Khusnutdinov met with famous theologians and heads of a number of foreign Muslim universities.

The meeting was attended by Osama Al-Azhari, advisor to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt on religious affairs; Abdellatif Bouazizi, rector of Az-Zaytouna University (Tunisia); Ibrahim Al- Muraikhi, president of the supreme sharia court of appeal of Bahrain, and his assistant Adel Al-Zawadi; Salah Abu Alhaj, dean of the Hanafi Fiqh Faculty at the International University of Islamic Sciences (Jordan), rector of Al al-Bayt University (Jordan) Hani Al-Dmour, professor of Al al-Bayt University (Jordan) Amer Adnan Al-Hafi, Assistant Professor of National Urdu University (India) Sayyid Bin Mahashin, and rector of Imomi A’zam-Abukhanifa Nusratullo Zokirzoda of the Tajik Islamic Institute named after Imam Azam – Abu Hanifa Numan ibn Sobitha

The meeting was held at the representative office of the Academy in Kazan. Farkhat Khusnutdinov conducted a tour of the representative office for the guests and told about the history of the Bolgar Academy, presented the scientific and educational activities of the university, familiarized the colleagues with the development strategy of the educational institution. The rector paid special attention to the development of international relations with scientific and educational organizations of the Muslim world.

«In Russia, we still have little experience of developing a system of postgraduate professional Muslim theological education. The system of preservation and representation of the national Muslim heritage is also in its infancy. Therefore, contacts with those universities, scientific and theological structures that have been able to implement successful practices are extremely important to us,” Farkhat Khusnutdinov said.

Thanking those universities with which the academy has already established close relations, the rector expressed his hope to expand and strengthen further cooperation.

“We are grateful to the Islamic countries for their attention to the development of the Bolgar Islamic academy and count on your support in the development of the Russian Muslim theological school,” concluded the Rector of the Academy.

Osama Al-Azhari, advisor to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt on religious affairs, noted that on a number of issues the Muslims of Russia and Tatarstan are at the forefront of the development of the entire Islamic world. According to Al-Azhari, Bolgar academy, which is the leading theological institution in Russian Federation and has a huge spiritual, cultural and socio-economic potential, should become one of the main points of growth of the Muslim civilization.

It should be noted that within the framework of the cultural programme of the forum “theological heritage of Muslims in Russia” for the rectors of universities and famous theologians there was a tour of Bolgar, in the capital of the Republic they got acquainted with the history of the Kremlin, Kazan mosques and the Old Tatar Quarter, as well as they visited the mosque “Yardam”.