Experts find stronger control over Muslims' appearance in Chechen mosques counterproductive

In today's world, the appearance of a Muslim may not always correspond to those trends of Islam that he/she professes; while close control over appearance of parishioners is a specific practice for Northern Caucasus – this is the comment of Islam scientists on the new instruction of the Kadi of Grozny, who obliged Chechen Imams to present weekly report on the appearance of their parishioners.

Professor Mikhail Roschin, a senior fellow at the Centre for Studying Central Asia, Caucasus and Volga-Urals Region of the Russia's Academy of Sciences (RAS), believes that there are no fundamental differences in the manner of wearing beard among various trends in Islam.

The expert has noted that a characteristic feature of the followers of Wahhabism is wearing shorter trousers, but now it is "not the principal point."

According to his version, Salafism today is a fashionable trend in the Muslim world; and in any case it will go on spreading, including in Chechnya, with no regard as to the appearance of Muslims.

Akhmet Yarlykapov, a senior researcher at the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies under the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the RAS, finds the struggle with the external appearance without systemic ideological work with the youth to be counterproductive.

Zelimkhan Arapiev, a member of the Moscow Bar Association "Your Counsellor", believes that the actions of the police and the SAM (Spiritual Administration of Muslims), which restrict parishioners with beards, are violations of the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience".