MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- Ask Khadji Gasan Gasanaliyev, imam of an independent mosque in this North Caucasus city, what is wrong with Russia, and he tells how a three-year-old held a gun to his head.
The bearded, excitable imam sprawled face-down on the floor, imitating a friend's young son who threw a tantrum when Gasanaliyev was trying to lead the namaz, or daily prayer that devout Muslims recite five times a day.
Gasanaliyev dragged the boy up from the floor, and in return the boy got a toy gun and pressed it to the kneeling imam's temple.
"A three-year-old boy! Where did he learn this?" Gasanaliyev asked, his eyes wide behind a pair of thick glasses. "There is no pity, there is no kindness here ... Look at this civilization: Women going around naked on television, even on the street, violence everywhere. This is civilization?"...