Islamic scholars support Anzor Gubashev in his dispute with FSIN officers

A complaint filed by Anzor Gubashev, sentenced in the case on the Boris Nemtsov's murder, about the prison administration's demands to interrupt namaz (prayer) when a warder appears is justified, confirm experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". However, the prisoner can perform namaz in non-canonical form, the experts note.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 24, the "Mediazona" and the "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Current Time) TV Channel released a joint material, in which they reported with reference to the prisoners' claims about beatings, extortion, and bullying for professing Islam at one of the penal colonies in Karelia. In particular, Anzor Gubashev, a resident of Chechnya, sentenced for murdering Boris Nemtsov, claimed violation of his rights and religious persecution.

Ruslan Gereev, the director of the Centre for Islamic Studies of Northern Caucasus, believes that nothing should interfere with the namaz, and interrupted prayer is not considered valid.

"However, the religion itself prescribes that if there are no conditions for namaz, there are other forms of communication with Allah, and namaz can be performed in a different form. After all, namaz is usually requires several minutes, and each believer has the opportunity to find time even in a penal colony," believes the Islamic scholar.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 27, 2019 at 10:13 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.