In November, the monitoring group for the youth environment in Dagestan conducted an opinion poll to find out what percentage of young Muslims want to establish Sharia in Dagestan. The results of this opinion poll were recently published by ‘Kavkaz-Uzel‘.
Experts believe that many people of W. Dagestan see the Mujahideen as the only force capable to put an end to the slave position, in which the Muslims of the Caucasus are maintained by Russian infidels.
The polling was conducted in Shamilkala, Kaspyisk, Khasavyurt, Derbent, Izberbash, and Rabbanikala. It covered about 6000 respondents, namely, 1-3-year students of ten universities and colleges, 8-10-form pupils of eight secondary schools, and trainees of 16 sports institutions.
The group of respondents included Sunni Muslims, representing almost 95% of the Dagestani Wilayah.
Participants were given three poll questions: “Do you consider yourself a believer?”, “Do you perform Namaz (Salah) five times each day?” and “Which tendency of Islam do you profess?”
All respondents said they considered themselves believing Muslims.
20% of the respondents identified themselves as Salafis, calling for the establishment of Sharia in Dagestan. It should be noted that in this category, the respondents are opposed the pseudo-Islamic regimes of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, etc.
12% of the respondents overtly support the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Emirate. Representatives of this category of youth believe that Jihad is the key to solve all the problems existing today in Dagestan.
10% of the respondents are adherents of Sufism, sectarian-Tariqah. They believe that Tariqah is the “only good for all Muslims.”
18% of the respondents simply consider themselves Muslims but do not adhere to any of branches of Islam.
Ruslan Gereev, the head of the monitoring group for the youth environment of Dagestan and expert at the Center of Islamic Studies of North Caucasus, explained that this poll was conducted only in urban areas of the Wilayah.
“Perhaps if polling had been conducted in rural areas, the number of students who support radical methods would have been higher.” he said.
Gereev said that today, Jihad has become a weapon, a sword in the fight against kidnapping, torture, widespread corruption, puppet officials and infidels/apostates law enforcement agencies tyranny in the Caucasus Emirate.
“In the Republic, people die under mysterious circumstances, and disappear without a trace [...] Conflict situations produce a failure of the state structures, and particularly the educational institutions, to ensure the conditions for the realization of the religious aspirations of the population, mainly young people. There are also cases where believers are persecuted because of their appearance. For example, a believing woman may be denied a job because she wears Hijab.” says Gereev.
The combination of these factors is, according to him, the reason of the “exit” of Muslim youth of the Wilayah “out of control.”
But Gereev mistakenly focuses on the socio-economic component, and forget the ideological one, namely the religious beliefs of Muslims and their desire to obey the laws of the Creator and properly carry out His orders. And this is a major factor in Jihad.
Gereev also points the trend of rejuvenation of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Emirate, which is surely a sign of the progressive development of the Islamic Resistance:
“[...] There is a rejuvenation of the radically-minded people. According to the representatives of law enforcement agencies, if two years ago, the age of the armed underground participants was 25-40 years old, today the average age is 18-30 years old. Independent experts report even more terrible figures: 14-45 years old. Begins a period when we have to fight for the youth. In fact, there is an undeclared war for the minds of the young generation.” said Ruslan Gereev.
Nevertheless, according to the Dagestani journalist Artur Mamaev, the results of the monitoring group for the youth environment of Dagestan poll does not reflect the true picture of the religious sentiment in the Wilayah. According to him, there are much more people who support the Mujahideen:
“One thing is the respondents answers, another is the actions whose respondents are capable of. It is unlikely that people who actually turned to radical actions answered the questions” Mamaev said.
In turn, the Candidate of Political Sciences Rinat Mukhametov indicates that in W. Dagestan, Jihad attract not only villagers who are often illiterate, but also a large number of Muslims who have higher education, as well as former puppet ministers, scientists, masters of culture and world-renowned athletes who are aware of their duty toward Allah and took up arms.
Translation (with adaptations) from UmmaNews, by the Kavkaz-Jihad blog.
