In the village of Zhanaul, Kosh-Agach district of the Altai Republic, the 25th anniversary of the first mosque will be celebrated. Its grand opening took place on October 25, 1996, and the Zhanaul Muslim community planned to hold the anniversary event last fall, but postponed it until better times due to the pandemic.

- Our mosque can be called "historical", because there have never been mosques on the modern territory of the republic, - the chairman and imam of the Muslim organization Zhanaula Alibi Abelgizimov told bbabo.net news agency. – Our ancestors did not build mosques in the nomad camps, because the way of life was completely different, it was enough for them to have a yurt or wintering-kystau to perform prayers. The first mosque was built in Zhanaul (and not in the district center Kosh-Agach) because we had more respected aksakals, the head of the village was the late Auelkhan Zhatkanbaev, an authoritative public figure. In addition, one hundred percent of the population of Zhanaul are Kazakhs. The first imam was Amangeldy Kobdabaev, at that time the only person in the republic who graduated from a madrasah.

According to Alibi-khazrat, today there are 11 mosques in the Altai Republic. In the coming days, the leadership of the community will discuss the issues of holding a jubilee event with Mufti Zhanbolat Okhtaubaev, perhaps it will be held as part of the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of Islam in the Volga Bulgaria.

bbabo.Net