Council of muftis to discuss demolition of historic Chechen mosque in Daghestan

The Mufti of Chechnya and head of the Coordination Centre of Muslims of the North Caucasus, Salah Mezhiev, has said in a video message that the demolition of a historic Chechen mosque in the village of Leninaul in northwestern Daghestan was carried out in violation of an order by Daghestan’s Mufti.

According to him, on 6 May, a delegation from Chechnya visited the Mufti of Daghestan, Akhmed Abdulaev, during which they received guarantees that a 19th century Chechen mosque in the village of Leninaul in Daghestan’s Kazbekovksy District would not be torn down.

Two days later, the mosque was demolished, sparking controversy about the authorities’ handling of Chechen cultural heritage in areas historically inhabited by Chechens in Daghestan before their deportation by the Soviet Union.

‘This is unacceptable,’ Mezhiev said in a video published on 23 May .‘The people who did this disobeyed, firstly, the Mufti of Daghestan’.

Mezhiev added that the matter would be discussed with the involvement of Islamic scholars from the republics of the North Caucasus after the completion of Hajj.

‘This investigation will not be solely between the Islamic scholars of Daghestan and Chechnya. Other scholars from all the religious administrations of the North Caucasus will also be present’, he said.

The Daghestani Muftiate has yet to issue official comments on the demolition of the mosque.

Following the demolition, the residents of Leninaul published a video message claiming that the mosque was demolished despite previously reached agreements with the authorities.

The plot of land on which the mosque stood was reportedly put up for auction, acquired by a representative of the Avar community, a Daghestani ethnic group, and subsequently handed over for the construction of a new mosque. According to the administration of the Kazbekovsky District, no documents confirming the ownership of the land by Chechens were found in the archives.

In his video statement, Mezhiev noted that the investigation would not only concern the demolition of the mosque but also the broader issue of restoring the rights of the Chechens who had lived in the Aukh District of Daghestan.

The district was abolished in 1944 following the Stalinist deportation of the Chechens and Ingush. On its territory, the Soviet authorities created the Novolaksky District, which was settled by Laks, a Daghestani ethnic group, while the Kazbekovsky District was settled by Avars. Chechens and Ingush were allowed to return to their historic homelands in 1957, but were unable to completely resettle the Aukh district. Their right of return has been a prominent issue since.

On 23 February 2025, on the 81st anniversary of the beginning of the Stalinist deportation of the Chechens and Ingush, a mourning rally was held in the village of Novokuli in the Novolaksky District, attended by over 500 people.

That same day, Chechen Prime Minister Magomed Daudov, at a rally in Grozny, demanded the return of housing in the former Aukh District of Daghestan to the descendants of those repressed.

Daghestani authorities demolish 19th century Chechen mosque

Local authorities had previously promised to preserve the site.

OC MediaElizaveta Chukharova