Analysts argue about Kadyrov’s chances to lift ban on “Sakhikh al-Bukhari”*

It is unlikely that the Ramzan Kadyrov’s demand to reconsider the decision of the court in Tatarstan, which recognized the “Sakhikh al-Bukhari"*, a collection of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, as extremist material, will be met, Alexei Malashenko points out. On the contrary, Sergey Zhavoronkov suggests that the court’s decision to ban the book will be cancelled in the nearest future.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 31, Ramzan Kadyrov demanded to revise the decision to include the "Sahih al-Bukhari"*, a collection of Prophet Muhammad's sayings, into the list of extremist materials. In his opinion, the court "turned to incompetent expertise", while the "Sahih al-Bukhari"* is "a reliable source of Prophet Muhammad's biography, which Muslim scholars treat as the second in importance after the Holy Quran." The Mufti of Chechnya supported Ramzan Kadyrov's demand.

The indignation of Ramzan Kadyrov will not affect the court’s decision, and the book will remain on the list of extremist materials, believes Alexei Malashenko, the chief researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

“The current court’s decision cannot be cancelled, because [this is] Tatarstan, and they treat the Ramzan Kadyrov’s actions with irritation there. The Tatars can go on the principle and say: ‘Don’t interfere with our decision, you had a war there, and we are pure Muslims ...’ The issue will be resolved at the level of [President of Tatarstan Rustam] Minnikhanov, but he will not agree to annul the court’s decision. In case if the State Duma is involved to solve the issue … But it is also unlikely to take place,” Alexei Malashenko told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

In turn, political analyst Sergey Zhavoronkov, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Institutional Problems at the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, believes that the court’s decision to ban the book will be cancelled in the nearest future.

“The chances that the court’s decision will be cancelled are quite high, because Bukhari’s hadiths are one of the pillars of Islam,” Sergey Zhavoronkov told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

*The collection was recognized as extremist and included in the federal list of materials prohibited for distribution.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 2, 2022 at 12:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.