Residents of Chechnya and Orientalists treat Mufti's appeal not to let women to funerals as justified

Residents of Chechnya, except for close relatives of the deceased, should not attend funerals and commemorations during the pandemic, said the Mufti, Salakh Mezhiev. The Orientalists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have explained the Mufti's words by a desire to reduce the number of funeral participants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the spread of coronavirus in Chechnya was attributed by the authorities to the crowded funeral in the village of Novye Atagi, Shali District, since 26 out of 175 infected persons were those who attended the wake, the Chechen Ministry of Public Health has informed.

Ramzan Kadyrov has criticized the participants in the mass wake and demanded from his subordinates to tighten punishments for violating the quarantine.

"I treat the presence of women at funerals as wrong. It is the men's business to bury the deceased, and to accept or express condolences," said Shakhran, a resident of Grozny.

In the opinion of Mikhail Roschin, an Orientalist, "the Mufti doesn't dare making such calls to men, fearing that they won't listen to him."

"In Chechnya, in the Caucasus, it is believed that a man is a horseman, an independent person, while women, on the contrary, must be obedient," said Mr Roschin.

The Mufti's call is not directly related to gender – in this way, he tries to at least somehow reduce the number of visitors of funerals and wake," said Leonid Syukiyainen, an Islamic scholar.