First group of pilgrims from Chechnya goes for hajj

This morning, a group of 147 Chechen pilgrims left Grozny by plane to go for hajj to Saudi Arabia. This evening, the next group is to depart. This was reported by a representative of the Muftiyat of Chechnya.

Shakhran B., a resident of Chechnya, said that one of the main conditions of the hajj states that the money for the trip should be earned by honest work. The local resident believes that at present, not all pilgrims follow those rules, and that "many come-and-go people and even those who are far from religion leave for hajj."

"Many people are interested in only one aspect of the pilgrimage – the chance to be called a 'hajji' (a pilgrim, note of the 'Caucasian Knot'). Others want to go for hajj by means of free money allocated by businessmen or by the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, let alone those people who annually fly to Saudi Arabia under the guise of pilgrimage and do their business there. Our elders wisely said that the time would come when there would be thousands of people who had been to Mecca and Medina, but only a few of them would be worthy to be called hajji," the local resident has stressed.

Khadishat S., a resident of the Kurchaloi District of Chechnya, has confirmed that in the republic, there are people who have made hajj for more than 10 times and who continue doing it.

"At present, we have dozens, if not hundreds, of so-called 'hajjis'. Every year, they travel to Mecca by means allocated by Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, and they do not see anything wrong in their actions," the woman told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.