Shahada case against Chechen native sets dangerous precedent for Muslims

The arrest of a Chechen native for placing the text of the shahada on the windshield of his car threatens all Muslims in Russia, who may also be subject to persecution. An Islamic scholar should act as an expert in the case, experts suggest.

A criminal case against the young man who placed the Arabic text of the shahada on the windshield of his car was instituted based on the results of the police monitoring of social networking services, advocate Kaloi Akhilgov told the “Caucasian Knot”. According to the advocate’s version, the law enforcement bodies’ attention initially focused on the young man from Chechnya after he reposted a video with the Taliban on his page in the “VKontakte” social networking service.

The Russian laws do not prohibit the use of Islamic and other religious symbols, notes lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov. There is a ban on the use of only what is prohibited by a court’s decision, that is, extremist and terrorist symbols.

“I want to believe that the court will pronounce an acquittal, otherwise any Muslim can be brought to responsibility, because many of them use photos of the shahada on their mobile phones, computers, and so on,” said Islamic law expert Leonid Syukiyainen.

The expert has noted he is surprised that there was no religious scholar among the experts who recognized the shahada as a justification for terrorism.

Leonid Syukiyainen emphasizes that the criminal case on shahada is an example of obvious abuse.

“As far as I remember, not a single organization banned in the Russian Federation uses the shahada as its symbol. The flag of Saudi Arabia has the shahada on it. Will those investigators then go to the Embassy of Saudi Arabia with a demand not to use prohibited symbols? It is an absurd situation,” the expert concluded.