Chechnya’s side. “Freedom-loving” Chechen elders who used general Djohar Dudajev and company as a cover-up were not freedom-loving in reality. When they sensed the government’s weakness (as far back as the Soviet times) robbing transit trains became almost a nation-wide business employing a fairly large part of the autonomy’s population. Covert unemployment created by the USSR’s Gosplan some time before helped this business to get started and flourish. Taking captives for enslaving them or getting ransom started to happen more often as the government composed of the “perestroika”-era traitors remained passive. But when the Chechen leaders faced a demand from the Kremlin “democratisers” to pay their debts on equal terms with other Russian citizens, Chechnya started along the separatist line.
To make a long story short, the Kremlin followed the concept of “civilised cultured slavery” exercised by means of financial and usurious yoke. And the Chechen “pahanat” (leaders with criminal background) followed the primitive concept of slavery exercised by means of brutal force (zindans, iron collars and manacles, intimidation, mutilation and killing slaves). And both sides of the conflict are unjust in their devotion to slavery.
A conclusion follows: Chechnya is right in putting up resistance to the regime of financial and usurious slavery that the Kremlin is seeking to establish; the Kremlin is right in putting down an attempt to establish a primitive society with slave-owning system and to form a separate slavery state equipped with modern technical means on the territory of Russia.
It also follows that lord Judd, the European parliament and other foreign “supporters” of Chechen separatists are either scoundrels and hypocrites or idiots. The same goes to those inside Russia who are bent on protecting the “human rights” of Chechens presumably violated by federal troops, advocate withdrawing federal troops and granting “independence” to “Ichkeria”. But it is fair that the politicians and common people of Russia who are sure that the Russian government is the only just party who has proved its case in this conflict and that its’ local representatives thus enjoy the “privilidge” for unlawful actions and bear no responsibility for abuse of state power and armed force, - in the face of people and God - are no less hypocrites.
If both sides keep their current vision and ambitions to exercise the “pseudo-right” of slavery in the conflict for control over Chechnya between the Kremlin and the Chechen tribal “elite” will find the task insoluble. Being controlled from outside Russia the conflict can evolve to the detriment of both sides as long as the “world backstage” needs or until it, unless it is cut off from controlling this process.
Jihad
Michael Leontjev (one of “Odnako” program’s hosts on ORT channel) concluded his comment on hostage-taking at the “Nord-Ost” performance and extermination of terrorists with a folly: “For every Jihad there is Russian spetsnaz”.
“Jihad” means “holy war” when translated from the Arabic. Essentially it means that the followers of God’s kingdom upon Earth are forced to defend themselves, their families and allies because murder is a sin. But murder is a smaller sin than impiety brought in openly or indirectly by the enemies of those who forcedly resorted to Jihad.[3]
But what is going on in Chechnya is not Jihad. It is a pseudo-Jihad.
If one turns to the history of how one of the world’s regional civilisations developed its culture on the basis of Koran’s revelation one notices that before the prophet Muhammad started a Jihad he spent ten years preaching peacefully. During that time:
On the one hand, all opponents of Muhammad and his first followers had every chance of getting to know the revelation of Koran, delving into its meaning and thinking about their personal attitude to the Revelation and their personal relationship to God ( this is what religion actually is). As a result some of them adopted Islam according to their personal understanding of good and evil, benefits to the community.
On the other hand, first Muslims themselves were firm in enduring everything their opponents used against them – conspiracy and violence amounting to murders including attempts to assassinate Muhammad himself, hunger and economic genocide caused by a trade boycott organised by the clan leaders of Islam’s opponents.
And only after that did they start the Jihad which resulted in the complete defeat of their enemy. Taking precedent into consideration had Chechnya started a true Jihad then Chechen leaders themselves would have put an end to the train-robbing “business”. The same goes to the issue of taking hostages for ransom or slavery.
In this case Chechnya would not be striving for “independent statehood” and at the same time commit a great many crimes. Chechen deputies in the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation (or in the Duma if this historic scenario would include the fall of the Supreme Soviet as well) would build their speeches on ethic and philosophical principles of the Koran and would try to point out a way to solve the problems of multinational Russia in concord with God’ will. Our knowledge of the Koran’s texts even in Russian translations, our understanding of the present events, our experience of exchanging views with people of different social strata suggest that if this were the case the reformers and democratisers would quickly lose their air of intellectuals and freedom-lovers in many people’s opinion, because it would then come to light that by their idle talk they hush up an international fascist dictatorship of usurers coming into being and their legislative activity is aimed at it.
Islam as a teaching of human freedom inside God’s will. It condemns slavery no matter what means are used to exercise it[4] and especially does not tolerate the power of usurers over economy and social life. Despite this we did not witness events, when Chechen representatives in Duma would fight against this kind of enslavery.
It was the course of history that the Koran was revealed to people in the times when slavery was in the order of things and the mighty of this world preferred to misuse Koranic texts in their interpretation of life, justifying slavery by pettyfogging reference to the Koran. Acting contrary to the slave-owning custom of the Islam that existed in the historically real Islam one of the founders of the Muslim civilisation, Muhammad’s relative and fellow-fighter - Ali, bought slaves as was customary in those times, taught them the Koran getting them to know Islam and in a year freed them and gave them enough money to live independently in a Muslim society and return to their homeland as free people. Many of those released slaves upon returning to their home started teaching Islam to their peoples.
Certainly the Chechen leaders in the 11 years that passed since the break-up of the Soviet Union (this is a longer period than the one preceding the Jihad started by Muhammad) managed to get many people bowing to a prayer rug five times a day. Muhammad said, “The prayer gives to the servant of God[5] only what he has understood from it”.