On 7 August, the President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov stated that the Dagestani historical figure Imam Shamil committed acts of terror against the Chechen people, reported lenta.ru.

“The reign of Imam Shamil in the Caucasus in the 19th century led to a reduction of the number of Chechen people by half. Children, women and old people were dying of cold and hunger because of him,” Kadyrov said, recalling that Shamil later surrendered to Russia in exchange for the title of a nobleman. He also added that the people of Chechnya will still respect the memory of Shamil as a spiritual person.

The Muftiyat of Dagestan commented on Kadyrov’s statement. In the comment the Muftiyat refuted the claim that Imam Shamil rebelled against his country. “In that situation, he only defended the fatherland of the houses and lands of his brothers for twenty-five years, but when he realized the meaninglessness of this war, he partook in negotiations,” explained the administration.

The Muftiyat noted that the mention of Imam Shamil in the context of the war on the 20th anniversary of the attack of radical Wahhabis in August 1999 on Dagestan is incorrect. “The head of Chechnya wants to claim that the shadow of Imam Shamil raised his people to two wars against Russia in the nineties? A strange turn,” the letter of the Muftiyat said.

Shamil was the third imam of Dagestan from 1834 to 1859. In 1840, he decided to unite the highlanders of Western Dagestan and Chechnya and also to become the imam of Chechnya. He believed that the Russian introduction of alcohol in the area corrupted traditional values. From 1840 onward he fought with the Russian tsarist army, until he surrendered and was captured by the Russian army in 1859. In 1869, the Russian emperor released Shamil from his captivity to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He died in the city of Medina in 1871,where he was buried at the al-Baki cemetery. He is widely regarded as a national hero for the people of the North Caucasus.