Eurasia Press & News
Several representatives of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (DUM) were detained in the Russian regions. According to various publications and Telegram channels, the detentions were held in Moscow, Saransk, St. Petersburg and Saratov, Mordovia and Karelia. On Wednesday, May 20, this information was partially confirmed: it became known about the arrest of the imam from Moscow Visam Ali Bardvila and the Chairman of the DUM in Mordovia Rail-Hazrat Asainov.
The DUM itself denies that several detentions of prominent religious figures have become part of one “anti-Muslim campaign.” The media and Telegram channels, however, hint at their connection with radical organizations and foreign special services.
Chronology
One of the first about the mass arrests of representatives of the Muslim clergy on May 19, the Telegram channel “First Destructological” reported. Its authors, in particular, named among the detainees Mufti Mordovia Asainov and Visam Ali Bardvila, now the imam in Moscow, and earlier – the mufti of Karelia.
On the morning of May 20, the TV channel “Tsargrad” also with reference to sources reported on new detentions among the clergy in Mordovia and North Ossetia. Details, however, did not provide the publication. Telegram channel “Sons of the Monarchy” wrote At least five detainees in Mordovia. According to the leading of the “First channel” Ruslan Ostashko, the Chairman was detained CRO The “Community of Muslims of the North-West” in St. Petersburg Henny Mohammed and Advisor to the Mufti of the Saratov Region El Heh Nidal Awadalla Ahmed.
Closer to Wednesday evening, the first official confirmation of some of the arrests appeared.
So, it became known that the capital’s Tagansky district court arrested Visam Ali Bardvila Administrative article Disobedience to the police. How Said In a press release of the court, on the evening of May 14 at Sheremetyevo airport, he allegedly refused to present documents to the police and tried to escape, and during the detention resisted. The former Mufti of Karelia was sent under arrest for 15 days.
In addition, the press service of the DUM in Mordovia confirmed the detention of its chairman, Hazrat Asainov. His deputy said that Asainov was allegedly detained for trying to give a bribe:
“According to the investigation, he allegedly offered a bribe to the head of the master’s program “Islamic Economics and Finance”, which operates at the state University of Mordovian so that the students of the program can pass the session. I'm sure there's been a misunderstanding. There can be no question of bribes.” Lenta, citing a source, writes that Assinov allegedly gave the teacher a phone, which was regarded as a bribe.
At the time of publication of this material, the security forces did not officially report any accusation or measure of restraint against him. The detention of Avadla Ahmed from Saratov and Henny Mohammed from St. Petersburg is also known.
Spiritual Administration of Muslims
All four publicly named detainees are connected with the DUM, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia.
Bardville Visam Ali and Rail-Hazrat Asainov – members of the Council Ulema DOUM, Henny Mohammed Head of the CRO “Community of Muslims of the North-West” and Mufti DUM North-West (1, 2) El Heh Nidal Awadlu Ahmed at public events too Called representative of the DUM in the Saratov region.
DUM is an all-Russian organization, one of the largest Muslim organizations in a country that unites those professing Islam. The DUM appeared in 1994, its chairman since then Ravil Gainutdin. The headquarters of the organization is located in Moscow.
Gainutdin is a frequent participant in the events at which Vladimir Putin is present, and more than once received state awards (1, 22, 33). Although at the beginning of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he called for “praying for peace”, a week later he told a Swiss diplomat that “the West does not hear Russia”, and the president is obliged to preserve “the integrity and security of Russia”.
Later, Gainutdin unconditionally supported the “partial” mobilization, compared Ukrainian officials with “satalists” and prayed for Putin. He is also the owner of the medal “For Merit to the Ummah of Donbass”, and in December last year got into the base of “Peacemaker”.
The structure of the organization itself is quite heterogeneous. For example, in Tatarstan, where in principle Islam is quite common, there is its own Spiritual Administration of Muslims. Local management two years older than the Gainutdin DUM – in Tatarstan it appeared in 1992. DUM in Tatarstan tries to distance himself from Moscow in every possible way, because of which Gainutdin even wrote letters to the President of the Republic.
In 2019, the Mufti of the Ivanovo region also broke away from the DUM of the Russian Federation. The mufti of the region, Fyart Lyapin then explained this by the fact that the regional administration wanted more autonomy – both administrative and financially. For example, he said that from the funds allocated through the TSOV of the Russian Federation, the regions receive kopecks, and “everything else remains in Moscow.”
Reasons: from bribes to connections with radicals
The real reasons for the detention of spiritual leaders are known only in two cases: this is a suspicion of bribery and disobedience to the police. Telegram channels and media, however, hint at almost the scandalous reputation of the DUM itself and individual defendants in new cases.
For example, the Z-public “Rybar” writes that the detainees are associated with the environment of the Mufti Gainutdinov, and he himself calls him a “scandalous figure”. “Tsargrad” with reference to representatives of the World Russian People’s Council (associated with the Russian Orthodox Church) also writes that the security forces work exclusively with “Gainutdinovites”.
The “Krybar” reproaches Gainutdinov his letter to the President, in which he asked not to limit the opportunity to pray in apartment buildings, after which the Orthodox resources accused the head of the DUM that he went “against Islamic authorities”. According to the Fisherman, the DUM conducts activities that clearly go against not only all Russia norms and attitudes, but also with the law. DUMs did have some conflicts with the Russian authorities. For example, in 2024, the organization released a fatwa in which polygamy allowed. After that, she made an official submission to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The “Rybar” hinted that the target audience of the organization is migrants, and the legs grow ostensibly from the West, which “uses migration and religion to fulfill its long-term plans to destabilize the situation inside Russia.”
One of the detainees, Visama Ali Bardwila, the Z-blog also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is an international Islamist (Sunni) association, which is recognized as a terrorist in the Russian Federation. Henny Mohammed still appeared in the zeros in the criminal case of the distribution of literature with “signs of incitement to interreligious enmity.”
There is a similar past among the native of Palestine, El Hikh Nidal al-Adalla Ahmed. In 2019, RIA Novosti написалиwrote that he was allegedly detained for working for foreign intelligence. According to the security forces, since 2016, he allegedly gave an employee of a foreign special service information about the socio-political situation in the Saratov region and the Muslim umma in Russia. The information transmitted was not a state secret, Awalle Ahmed was issued a warning and released.
Nevertheless, in the DUM itself, as Lenta writes, citing a source in the organization, there are no signs of mass detentions. They added that they do not associate well-known administrative arrests in the “unified anti-Muslim campaign.”
