KChR’s Muftiate resumes campaign to combat expensive mourning ceremonies

Members of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) travel around the regions of the republic and demand from Imams to execute a fatwa prohibiting people to take part in rituals, involving distribution of commemorative bags with food. Zealous supporters of the ritual spend so much money on it that they have to take loans for it, although Islam is in general against such wastes. This was explained by the Muftiate. Earlier, the struggle against the ritual was also conducted, but without success.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2011, in the KChR, a fatwa (prescription) was issued to prohibit expensive funeral and mourning rituals.

The KChR’s SAM has arranged a kind of a tour, since people began to forget about the ban. This was confirmed by Ismail Berdiev, the Mufti of the KChR.

According to his story, the problem with rituals is in the fact that because of it, people enter debt holes and become involved in shows-off.

The Mufti of the KChR has explained that the Muftiate is not against handing out a sadaka (alms); however, according to Islam, a person should give only a surplus to others as alms. Ismail Berdiev believes that ceremonies of funerals cannot be costly for Muslims.

According to Akhmet Yarlykapov, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), excessive actions during funeral arrangement are widespread in Northern Caucasus.

Akhmet Yarlykapov is sceptical about the prospect for eradication of the above ritual. According to him, much will depend on the explanatory activities of the imams.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.