Federal list of extremist materials. In Chechnya, an entrepreneur was fined for distributing the book “The Fortress of a Muslim”
The Crusader fortresses had very small garrisons - after all, the Crusaders were always outnumbered and constantly in a state of siege - and to compensate for this deficiency, the fortifications of their castles had to be much more complex and multi-layered.
From this passage the essence of the concept of fortress is clearly visible. As for a person on the path of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment, he is constantly in the minority and forced to hold the line in the face of numerous dangers. When he is poor, he has to fight for food, when he is rich, he has to fight laziness, when he is weak, he has to endure humiliation, when he is strong, he has to fight the temptation to oppress others. And a million other temptations...
For a slave who has personally handed himself over to the Devil, passion and the dark half of his soul, it is useless to call on someone for help...
As they say: “Fight the enemy, use these troops as you wish, fight, hold the line in one of these fortresses! Stop until you die! Truly, the end is near! The defense time is very short!”
Then the Great King will send his envoys to you. They will take you to His mansions. And now you are resting from this war, you are far from the enemy; you enjoy in the abode of Generosity as you wish.
The enemy is imprisoned in the strictest prison, you see him where he wanted to put you. He is thrown there, all the passages are closed and he is doomed to remain there forever... And you are in pleasure for your patience, in a short period, for holding the defense for an hour that flew by so quickly, and as if the tests never happened. Unfortunately, the soul is too limited to notice the brevity of this time, its transience.
Think about the words of the Almighty: “On the day when they see what is promised, it will be as if they had stayed only one hour of the day” (Sura “Sands”, verse 35).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“...I also order you to remember Allah! The one who remembers is like a man who was pursued by enemies, and he hid from them in an impregnable castle, thus protecting himself from them. A slave is able to protect himself from the devil only with the help of remembrance of Allah Almighty."
What's inside an "extremist" book?
The much-talked-about "Muslim's Fortress from the words of remembrance of Allah found in the Qur'an and Sunnah" is about the size of an average pocket notebook, and about the same price. It contains prayers of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), grouped by topics of various life situations and taken from the Most Pure Sunnah (after each phrase there are links to collections of hadiths). Its table of contents is something like this:“Words of remembering Allah when waking up from sleep, when putting on clothes, when leaving the house, at the sight of the first fruits;... what should be said to the newlyweds on their first wedding night, words of prayer at the birth of a child; a prayer that protects children from the evil eye,... ..what should be said when a dead person is laid in the grave."
This small book, the result of a lot of work by the author, who revised numerous volumes, shows the inexperienced person in theology how universal the religion of Islam is. Through this book we can look at life through the eyes of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Assess what happened not based on your fleeting impressions: euphoria or depression, but based on the wise perception of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
If you had a nightmare, you must say "I take refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan" and turn over to the other side, and then do not tell anyone the contents of the dream. So he won't harm us in any way. But many, out of ignorance, tell all sorts of bad dreams, which then infect others with negativity. And they can actually bring evil in the end.
If you are praised, you should say:
O Allah, do not punish me for what they say, and forgive me what they do not know, and make me better than they think!
The one who says this prayer reminds himself of his shortcomings, which others may not know, thereby protecting himself from the temptation to fall into arrogance. But at the same time, prayer does not humiliate a person, but on the contrary calls for self-improvement.
There are also some “political” moments. For example, in prayer for the creditor when repaying a debt:
May Allah bless your family and your wealth! Truly, the reward for a loan is praise and repayment of the debt!
These words also remind you that there can be no interest on the loan. After all, Allah has forbidden usury.
The most amazing thing is that prayers are universal in time. When getting into a vehicle, it is advisable for a person to recite these verses from the Koran:
“Glory to the One who subjected us to this, because we cannot do this! Truly, we are returning to our Lord!” (Decorations: 13-14). Human muscles are very weak for long journeys, but Allah first subjugated animals to us, and then the energy of the internal combustion engine, etc. How clearly the words of the verse are chosen, so that they contain the whole essence of the phenomenon, without turning to specifics.
Comprehensiveness is one of the signs of the success of Islam. After all, the breadth of assortment is the basis of business success. If any competitor has created a wider range than yours, this is an inevitable loss. If a person does not find something in religion, he turns to other sources. And over time, he stops turning to religion altogether, because... its “assortment” is meager, and there are many competitors around who are eager to be sources of ideas and inspiration. As for Islam, it covers all other ideologies with its “assortment”.
Indeed, those who read the Scripture of Allah, perform prayer and spend from what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, hope for a transaction that will not be unsuccessful. (Quran 35:29).
Remembrances of Allah from the Koran and Sunnah, attached to all life situations, are our fortress, which moves everywhere with us, reminding us what is what in this life, so that we do not get distracted and get lost.
Examination for extremism
Representatives of “traditional” Islam have long classified this book as “Wahhabi.” Why? - It’s not exactly clear. But I have some guesses.Among the Dagestani representatives of “traditional” Islam (the “soupists”), I noticed a habit of loudly shouting “FAaaaaatiha” on all occasions in life. And then everyone who heard this raised their palms to him and read the Al-Fatiha surah of the Koran. A bunch of “supers” enter the mosque, some of them say “faaaaatiha” and raise their hands, and others do the same. They pass by the cemetery - history repeats itself. They go into someone's house to read a prayer - history repeats itself. Muazzin ends the call to prayer - and history repeats itself.....
Well, I thought that maybe the radicalism of “The Muslim Fortress” for them lies in the table of contents itself: “prayer at the entrance to the mosque, when visiting the cemetery, at the entrance to the house, at the end of the azan,...”. The “supers” probably have their brains starting to crack because there are a lot of prayers, depending on the situation: “What a false slander against our ustaz!!! in all these cases you need to say “faaaaatiha” and read alhamd.”
One brother also put forward the following assumption: “Maybe this book is often found among killed Mujahideen, and because of this they think that it is extremist.”
And journalists recently once again amazed us with their love for “sensations.” This time the header looked like this: "A truck full of extremist literature for future martyrs was found in the west of Moscow".
In fact, it was an ordinary truck heading to one of the regions of Russia, and in its back there were, among other things, boxes of books. (Yes, Muscovites, people from the provinces also sometimes read books, and therefore they have to be brought, including by truck, from Moscow!)
Among the many books there was “The Fortress of a Muslim,” which “calls to become a martyr.” This is what this episode looks like in the book:
Words of prayer for someone who has put on new clothes:
"Ilbis jadidan va "ish hamidan wa mut shahidan."
اِلبَـس جَديـداً وَعِـشْ حَمـيداً وَمُـتْ شهيداً
Translation: Wear new things, live with dignity and die the death of a martyr for the faith.
I think comments on this plea are unnecessary. Nobody wants to wear rags, live unworthy and die like a dog. And sincerely believing people, of course, dream of dying for their faith in the most dignified way...
Conclusion
Praise be to Allah, as far as I know, the detained books were returned to their owners after examination. And the Dagestani “supers” are becoming more and more enlightened, they are starting to grow beards, and they are putting headscarves on their wives, and you see, they will start reading “The Fortress of a Muslim.” Not right away, of course, we all understand that this takes time... May Allah help.
By the way, there is a whole website where all the prayers from the “Fortress” are collected with audio accompaniment.
A court in Grozny found businessman Islam Bashlaev guilty of distributing the book “The Fortress of a Muslim,” which was included in the federal list of prohibited literature, and sentenced him to a fine. Representatives of the Spiritual Movement of Muslims and experts doubt the validity of including the book in the list of extremist literature.
The Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny made a decision on September 8, an employee of the republic's prosecutor's office told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. The court ruled that Bashlaev was guilty of committing an administrative offense under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (storage for the purpose of mass distribution extremist materials) and he was sentenced to a fine.
As an employee of the Chechen prosecutor's office told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the republic's special services established that individual entrepreneur Islam Bashlaev kept several copies of a book called “The Fortress of a Muslim” for mass distribution.
According to him, experts found that the book contains “elements of extremism.” When asked who was on the expert commission that made this decision, the interlocutor refused to answer, citing the fact that he did not have such authority.
"A number of books are erroneously included in the list of extremist literature"
Former Mufti of Chechnya Sultan Mirzaev considers the opinion that the book “The Fortress of a Muslim” contains elements of extremism to be erroneous.
“It contains prayers and there are no hints of extremism there. There are several more books that, for some unknown reason, are included in the category of extremist literature, which, on the contrary, counteract extremism. I don’t know for what purpose this is being done,” he told the correspondent "Caucasian Knot" Mirzaev.
He explained that last fall, when he was the chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SDM) of Chechnya, on this issue he had meetings with the prosecutor of the republic and the head of the regional directorate of the FSB of the Russian Federation.
“We compiled a list of books that were mistakenly included in the list of extremist literature. I then said that it was necessary to include certain religious publications in the list of prohibited literature, based on expert opinions. Our arguments were accepted with understanding then. And now everything is repeated again,” Sultan Mirzaev is indignant.
The book "The Fortress of a Muslim" contains shortcomings made by the translator, but this does not mean that it should be included in the list of prohibited religious literature."
Chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Board of the Chechen Republic Salah Mezhiev said that the book “The Fortress of a Muslim” was recognized as extremist among other books banned by the Leninsky District Court of Orenburg in March 2012.
“We consider this court decision to be unlawful, and therefore this administrative case against Islam Bashlaev was initiated unlawfully. The book “The Fortress of a Muslim” has shortcomings made by the translator, but this does not mean that it should be included in the list of prohibited religious literature,” - says Mezhiev.
He noted that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Chechnya is doing a lot of work to identify religious literature with elements of extremism. “We prohibit the distribution of religious literature that meets all the requirements, but there is no initial data: who the author is, where this book was published,” emphasized Salakh Mezhiev.
According to him, raids are being carried out in the republic on retail outlets where religious literature is sold, in which religious authorities from the Muftiate and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims participate. “Obviously Wahhabi literature is extremely rare, and, as a rule, this literature is confiscated from the population,” he said.
“We will do the translation ourselves, involving both philologists and Islamic scholars who know the Koran and hadith well and will be able to find more precise words so that believers cannot interpret the meaning of phrases in two ways,” Salakh Mezhiev noted.
Akhmed Yarlykapov: the problem is in competent examination
Many Muslim books on religious topics are included in the lists of extremist literature, although they are not such, says a senior researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Akhmed Yarlykapov.
“Formally, any court can make a decision and fine a person who was found in possession of several copies of such a book and who is suspected of distributing this literature. Another thing is that, as a rule, there is nothing extremist in many books, and they are included in the list of prohibited literature as a result illiterate examination. I think this is the result of the fact that decisions on Muslim books are often made by people of other religions, but not Muslims. The main problem in our country is the lack of normal examination," the scientist is sure.
Decisions on Muslim books are often made by people of other faiths, but not Muslims
According to him, formally the employees of the republic's prosecutor's office did everything according to the law, and it is not their fault that “the law is bad.”
“Who will improve this law if Muslims themselves do not raise this issue?.. Otherwise, the seizure and bans on supposedly extremist religious literature will continue endlessly, which, quite naturally, will cause discontent among Muslims,” said Akhmed Yarlykapov.
Banning a book increases interest in it
According to Doctor of Philosophy Vakhida Akayeva , the book “The Fortress of a Muslim” contains prayers for all occasions, but there are no extremist statements.
“Judging by the fact that such publications are recognized as extremist literature, I can conclude that those intelligence officers who made such a conclusion do not understand Islam at all, cannot conduct an examination, do a linguistic study to determine if there are elements of extremism in the text that call for to violence, to jihad against people of other faiths,” the scientist expressed his point of view.
He also noted that the book is in great demand among young people, and the authorities, by introducing bans on such literature, act to the detriment of society.
“You need to look for extremist statements in other sources. And to ban this brochure, which contains prayers, this, firstly, causes a negative attitude towards those who prohibit it, and, secondly, increases even greater interest in this book,” I am sure Vahid Akayev.
Director of the "Sova" center: you can't take all the books from the population
The director of the information and analytical center "Sova" agrees with the scientist's opinion Alexander Verkhovsky .
“This book was distributed throughout the country, a very wide range of people are interested in it, and these bans make this publication even more popular,” he told the Caucasian Knot correspondent.
When asked what to do for a Muslim who has received a prohibited religious book, for example, as a gift, and whether such a book can be confiscated everywhere, Alexander Verkhovsky replied that, in his opinion, only mass distribution is a violation.
“You can’t confiscate all the books from the population. And no one will stop you from posting them on the Internet. So, in my opinion, this is a completely empty exercise with this federal list of prohibited literature. It’s not for nothing that no country with a normal legal system has such lists prohibited literature,” summed up Alexander Verkhovsky.
17.11.2016On November 8, 2016, the famous Federal List of Extremist Materials was replenished with the next edition of the book by Said bin Ali bin Wahf al-Qahtani “The Fortress of a Muslim. Appeals to Allah with prayers. Treatment with the help of conspiracies found in the Koran and Sunnah" (Translated from Arabic by A. Nirsha; decree by K. Kuznetsov - 3rd ed., stereotype. - M.: Umma, 2011. - 416 s. LLC "Publisher Ezhaev A.K."
This time the book was banned by the Sovetsky District Court of the city of Ulan-Ude of the Republic of Buryatia. Thus, the total list of prohibited materials today contains 3897 items.
Let us recall that the Federal List of Extremist Materials is formed on the basis of copies received by the Russian Ministry of Justice of court decisions that have entered into legal force recognizing information materials as extremist. Books go to court at the place where they were discovered or distributed during the proceedings in the relevant case administrative offense, civil or criminal case.
As is known, the first book included in the list of extremist materials was “The Book of Monotheism” by Muhammad ibn Suleiman at-Tamimi, published by the Badr Publishing House. The decision to ban it was made in April 2004 by the Savelovsky District Court of Moscow. Since then, materials on Islamic topics, along with pagan, nationalist, anti-Semitic and other literature, began to regularly replenish the List. These are newspapers, brochures, magazines, articles from electronic sources, books and leaflets.
The most high-profile case regarding the ban of religious literature was the decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court of the city of Novorossiysk dated September 17, 2013 to recognize the translation of the meanings of the Koran by Elmir Kuliev, published in 2002, as extremist. Expert and Forensic Center of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for Krasnodar region found in the book “statements that talk about the advantage of one person or group of people over other people based on their attitude to religion, in particular, Muslims over non-Muslims.”
Then the Council of Muftis of Russia issued a statement that Russian Muslims were outraged by the court’s decision, calling the decision “reckless” and “blasphemous.” Just 2 months later, the Krasnodar Regional Court overturned the decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novorossiysk. The decision was hailed by Muslims as “a triumph of justice and reason.”
Gainutdin expressed hope that “in the future, similar unlawful bans on religious literature will be lifted.” However, this did not happen.
The collection of prayers for every day, “The Fortress of a Muslim,” known to many Muslims, has already been repeatedly included in the list of extremist materials. It was first included in it in March 2012, when among 68 Muslim books it was recognized as extremist material by the Leninsky District Court of Orenburg. The trial took place with obvious violations: interested parties, in particular the authors and publishers of books, were not informed, and the decision itself was made on the basis of dubious examinations.
Three years later, in February 2015, by decision of the Orenburg Regional Court, 50 Islamic publications were “acquitted”, and the judge was given a special ruling for a gross violation of procedural law. By the way, in addition to “The Muslim Fortress”, such publications as the collection of hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi “Gardens of the Righteous”, the work of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali “Scales of Deeds”, “40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi”, “On the Path” were “rehabilitated” to the Koran” by Elmira Kulieva, “The Path to Faith and Perfection” by Shamil Alyautdinov and other works.
However, at the same time, in February 2015, the Kurgan City Court recognized the stereotypical publications “Muslim Fortress”, published by the Umma publishing house in 2006, 2009 and 2010, as extremist. In addition, the book “The Fortress of a Muslim” was recognized as extremist material by the Ussuriysky District Court of the Primorsky Territory in July 2014.
“Even though the “Muslim Fortress” does not contain, from our point of view, any signs of extremism, it regularly becomes a reason for the persecution of Muslims for distributing extremist materials under Art. 20.29 Code of Administrative Offenses,” the publishing house notes.
The publisher of the book “The Fortress of a Muslim,” Aslambek Ezhaev, responded to comment on the situation: “What is there to comment on? Nothing new". He does not intend to challenge the court’s decision, since, according to him, a similar decision “could appear at any moment somewhere in Crimea or Taimyr.”
The muftis of Russia, the Muslim community and human rights activists have repeatedly appealed to the authorities with a request to “stop the shameful practice of banning traditional Muslim religious literature and change the absurd procedure for considering such cases in the courts.” But the courts are in no hurry to invite professional religious scholars and scientists as experts on religious literature, resorting to the “help” of dubious specialists. Judgments are made about literature without taking into account the religious and historical context.
Human rights activists note that such bans grossly violate the Constitution of the Russian Federation and norms international law on freedom of conscience and religion. Such decisions clearly discredit the Russian judicial system and deprive Muslims of hope for a fair trial.
