DERBENT, June 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin received the Quran holy book as a gift during his visit to the Juma Mosque in Dagestan’s Derbent in the North Caucasus.

"We gave our president the Quran from holy Mecca," Veli Fataliyev, director at the Derbent museum preserve, told TASS.

During his working visit to Dagestan, Putin visited the Juma Mosque in Derbent.

This is the most ancient mosque in Russia and one of the oldest worldwide. According to written sources, Arab military leader Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik began its construction in 733-734 AD. Three centuries-old sycamores stand in the mosque’s courtyard. In 2012, these thousand-year-old trees were recognized as natural monuments and are currently protected by the state.

On June 28, Eid al-Adha (Kurban Bayrami) or the feast of sacrifice, one of the two main Muslim holidays, is celebrated in Dagestan marking the end of the pilgrimage to Islam’s holy sites in Saudi Arabia.