Shamkhal mosque-goers refuse to change Imam

The Salafi mosque in the Makhachkala settlement of Shamkhal remains closed, since its parishioners rejected the proposal to appoint the Imam of the neighbouring Sufi mosque to be a temporary Imam of the Salafi mosque.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Salafi mosque in Shamkhal was closed by law enforcers on January 29, who announced to believers that the mosque will be reopened only after appointment of the Imam by the Muftiat.

Talks with parishioners of the Salafi mosque in Shamkhal were conducted by representatives of the Sufi mosque, which is also located in the settlement, one of the local Salafis named Abdulla told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"They put forward the only condition – to appoint their representative as Imam of the Salafi mosque," he explained.

"They tried to convince us that this is done for our own good. Allegedly, they don't want the closure of mosques; it would be a temporary imam. Some time later it would be possible to re-appoint the election. However, we didn't agree. It had already happened. It is not excluded that the temporary Imam would stay there for a long time," said Abdulla.

After the yesterday's events around the mosque "Severnaya" in Khasavyurt, in the near future parishioners of the mosque in Shamkhal also intend to appeal to the authorities asking them to reopen the mosque without changing the Imam.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.