Chechnya's supreme mufti, Salah Mezhiev, said that Jews were the enemies of Islam and were spreading Atheism and Satanism, according to Russian media outlets, leading Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar to call on Muslim Russian leaders to disassociate from Mezhiev's remarks.
Grozny Inform state news agency reported last Saturday that during the October 20 episode of the talk show "Chechen History, War and Peace," Mezhiev allegedly addressed apostasy and blamed part of the phenomenon on the Jewish people.
"The enemies of Allah, the Jews and the movements they spawned, such as atheism, have existed for ages," Mezhiev said, according to Grozny Inform. "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."
Lazar said on Telegram on Thursday that the mufti's speech was not only "insulting to the entire Jewish people and to our faith," but went against the Russian federation's attempts to foster interfaith peace.
"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," warned Lazar. "It's 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."
Lazar said that he hoped that leading Russian Islamic figures would distance themselves from Mezhiev's "antisemitic" statements and reaffirm the community's commitment to peace and solidarity.
'They should first turn to us to learn what Jews do': Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar
"We Jews traditionally perceive Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance," said Lazar. "If individual members of this religion lack knowledge of our ideology and our approach to everything in the world, they should first turn to us to learn what Jews do and how they defend the values of their faith."
In a Friday statement on the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic Telegram channel, Mezhiev claimed that his words had been distorted and mistranslated,
Mezhiev said that he was speaking about all of humanity and the evils that had gathered under the flag of the West. The satanists were not in reference to any specific nation or religion, but all those that did not respect the laws of God or morality. The mufti denied referring to the Jewish people, but only "the Zionists who are committing genocide."