March 15, 2002

In Russia, a Small Islamic University Is a Large Political Thorn

By BRYON MACWILLIAMS

Attending a religious institution is a political act in the Tatarstan republic
Kazan, Russia

The gray light of late afternoon reflects wanly along dim corridors where slippers lie on small mats in front of closed doors. Behind the doors young men are napping.

A man's amplified voice begins to echo up stairwells and into the corridors. The echoes, in Arabic, resound in part recitation, part song. The young men stir. They pull on

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