‘Enemies of Allah’ – Chechnya’s top mufti accuses Jews of spreading Satanism

Jews are the enemies of Allah, says the head of Chechnya’s Muslim community, who also accuses “the Zionists” of genocide.

By World Israel News Staff

The spiritual leader of the Muslim community in Chechnya issued a scathing indictment of Jews and Judaism recently, blaming Jews for the decline of religious observance among Muslims.

Over the weekend, the Grozny Inform news site reported that last month, the Chechen talk show “Chechen History, War and Peace” hosted Sheikh Salah Mezhiev, the supreme mufti of Chechnya and chairman of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic.

According to the report, during the interview, Mezhiev called Jews “the enemies of Allah” and blamed Judaism for religious challenges to Islam, including atheism and “Satanism.”

“The enemies of Allah, the Jews and the movements they spawned, such as atheism, have existed for ages,” Mezhiev said.

“And no matter where it happens — in the Arab world or in Europe — there are always pseudo-Orientalists spreading lies. If you listen to the topics they raise and the questions they ask, it becomes clear: The source of their ideas is Satanism.”

Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar blasted Mezhiev’s claims and called for the Russian Muslim community to condemn the Chechen religious leader.

“It’s so easy to destroy everything — all it takes is one fanatic or a group of marginalized individuals to perceive these statements as a ‘call to action.’ We’ve seen this before in Europe,” Lazar said in a statement issued via Telegram.

“It is especially sad that such statements are coming from Chechnya — a region where relations between the indigenous Muslim population and Jews have traditionally been peaceful, and where Jews even came out to defend the homes of Chechens when the authorities evicted them during Stalin’s purges.”

On Friday, Mezhiev’s adviser issued a video statement on behalf of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic, responding to the controversy over Mezhiev’s comments.

In the statement, released via the Spiritual Administration’s Telegram channel, the adviser denied the mufti had denigrated Jews in general, saying he had only condemned “the Zionists who are committing genocide.”

“‘Satanists’ was not mentioned in reference to any particular religion or nationality; rather, it referred to all those who do not respect divine law or morality,” he said.

Chechnya, a semi-autonomous republic within the Russian Federation, is home to more than 1.5 million people, roughly 95% of whom are Muslims, with the vast majority affiliated with Sunni Islam.

While Chechnya sought independence from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia reestablished federal authority over the area over the course of two wars, ending in 2009.