How to respond to terrorism from the perspective of religious theological ideology

Tomorrow Russia will celebrate the Day of Solidarity in the Fight against Terrorism. On this day we remember people who were killed by terrorists, as well as law enforcement officers who died on duty. The topic of terrorism becomes more urgent with each year. The deputy chairman of the Coordination Council on Counter-Terrorism, deputy chairman of the Public Chamber Commission on Harmonization of Interethnic and Interreligious Relations, Albir Krganov, believes that "it is important to respond to this evil from the perspective of religious theological ideology."

"Every year dozens of Islamic religious figures die in the North Caucasus, it has even reached Tatarstan, when the mufti of Tatarstan died in a blast and the deputy mufti was killed (the car of Tatarstan's mufti, Ildus Fayzov, was blown up four years ago in Kazan. Deputy mufti Valiulla Yakupov was shot near his house). At that time, some of the clergy were completely shocked, because the task of the extremists is to scare the public, especially those who oppose this evil," Krganov said.

According to him, "the position of the traditional Islamic clergy in Russia is patriotic and sincere before God and the state." "The terrorists have failed to scare the religious leaders. The vast majority of our colleagues, imams and muftis carry out specific work in this direction. We have issued a fatwa about the illegitimacy of Daesh on behalf of the Moscow Muftiyat. This is important for religious people, because they specifically need theological statements."

He also said that on August 25-27, Grozny hosted a unique conference, which was attended by many authoritative people and which had not been held in Russia for 20 years: "It was attended by more than 100 different Islamic scholars from Egypt, led by the rector of Al-Azhar University; by an adviser to President Sisi, former and acting muftis, scholars of Al-Azhar, professors of Islamic studies from around the world, including religious figures of Russia. For three days we discussed what traditional Islam means for believers in the territory, where folk traditions are not in conflict with Islamic values. We, believers, live by Islam in the Caucasus, the Volga region and Central Russia, and we have our own path."