Chechnya commemorates Kunta-Haji Kishiev

Today, residents of Chechnya commemorate Kunta-Haji Kishiev, one of the most famous and respected saints. In Chechen mosques religious leaders are reading the Koran and perform rituals of mavlid and dhikr. All large dwelling settlements hold the rites of oblation with distribution of sacrificial meat among poor families, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Kunta-Haji Kishiev was born supposedly in 1830 in the village of Melch-Khi (today it is a small village in the Gudermes District of Chechnya). At the age of 18 he made his Hajj to Mecca. Kishiev began his sermons in the midst of the Caucasian War, and in contrast to the ideology of gazavat (Holy War or Jihad) of Imam Shamil, who called to "the war against infidels" to the last man, he preached the idea of spiritual independence and non-resistance to evil with violence, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Chechnya.

Kunta-Haji urged Chechens to stop the armed struggle for the sake of preservation of the nation.

"Because of systematic wars, our population is drastically diminishing. The tsarist power has already firmly entrenched in our region. I don't believe that help will come to us from Turkey and that the Sultan of Turkey wishes our liberty and our salvation. Any further war is disliked by Allah," said in one of Kishiev's appeals.

On January 3, 1864, Kunta-Haji was sent, along with a group of his followers, by tsarist authorities to penal servitude to the Novgorod Province. The arrest of the saint caused an extremely negative reaction of the population of Chechnya – thousands of his Murids gathered in the town of Shali and demanded to release their teacher; however, they were shelled from cannons, which killed nearly 400 people; and thousands more were injured.

Followers of Kishiev believe that before the Judgement Day, he will come down, together with the Prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) to the Earth to overthrow Satan (Dajjal) and install peace and calmness on the planet.

Yesterday, on January 2, many followers of the teachings of the well-known saint gathered at the Russian Islamic University named after Kunta-Haji Kishiev in Grozny. Among them, there were religious and public leaders, as well as teachers and students of the University.

"We respect and honour the memory of the Holy Kunta-Haji; for us he is an example of true service to Allah Almighty. The expulsion of Kunta-Haji Kishiev is one of the saddest pages in the history of our nation," said Abdurakhim Mutushev, Rector of the Islamic University, in his speech.