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[KavkazUzel] The practice of public repentance for misdeeds existed earlier in Chechen society and is provided for by Muslim law, Islamic scholars Alexander Arutyunov and Igor Alekseev pointed out. Chechen traditions do not provide for compulsion to make public apologies to the authorities, Oyub Titiev, a human rights activist from Chechnya, objected.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that residents of Chechnya are regularly subjected to public censure and public apologies for various misdeeds and for criticizing the authorities. The report of the international crisis group " Chechnya: Internal Abroad ", published in June 2015, noted that such apologies are the result of pressure and threats.
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You can read about the practice of public apologies in the reference of the "Caucasian Knot" "Fashion for apologies: from Chechnya to the very outskirts " and in the " Chronicle of public apologies in the Caucasus ". The "Caucasian Knot" publishes materials about such cases on the thematic page "Whom the Caucasus Forces to Apologize."
The question about the practice of public apologies in Chechnya was received by the Minister for National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information Akhmed Dudayev during a live broadcast on the Grozny ChGTRK and answered it there, the Grozny-inform news agency reported on July 19.
"When the leadership of the republic faces certain problems, solves various kinds of issues in large numbers, when, for example, explanatory work is carried out with a thousand people. And for the thousand and first time, a person makes the same mistake, and we see a tendency that people do not receive enough information that this or that behavior goes beyond our traditions or customs. This is the thousand and first person whom we show as an example for people. So that they understand: this is not allowed in our society, and it casts a shadow on the whole people," Duda said. ev, noting that this practice of public apologies is effective for young people.
According to him, the Chechen authorities received reproaches that "the Chechens had allegedly never practiced this before." "But, as you know, it has always been accepted with us: if a person committed a serious misconduct, their family gathered, a village gathered, usually in a mosque. And it was announced there that a representative of such and such a family had committed such and such a misconduct. They emphasized that this was unacceptable and cast a shadow on the family, on the clan, on the whole village. That is, such a practice existed," the agency quoted the minister as saying.
In Chechen society, there was a tradition of publicly apologizing in the mosque for misdeeds to the community and leading the offender to such an apology through a handshake, an ethnologist, doctor of historical sciences Alexander Arutyunov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
"If a person has not yet realized responsibility, then the imam of the mosque (and this is an elected position, since Islam is basically a democratic religion) can take the initiative to partially boycott a person by not giving back and not accepting salam. That is, they will not greet him with the words" assalamu alaikum "(peace be upon you) and will not respond to his greeting" wa alaikum assalam "(and peace be with you)," the scientist said.
He explained that an apology was an effective way to resolve a conflict situation, for example, between childbirth, without taking it to the extreme. In his opinion, the practice of public apologies to a large audience has long been both in the West and in the East, but, as a rule, this was practiced by court order.
"Public apologies, repentances take place in Christian denominations and in Islam. In Europe in the Middle Ages and until modern times, this is a common practice. This was carried out by the verdict of a court - church or royal. Previously, there was nothing special about it. Even in Soviet times there was such a punishment as public censure," Arutyunov said.
He noted that the impact of the apologies of some people on the behavior of others is deeply individual and can hardly be equally effective for everyone. “There are young people who, even a hooligan, doing bad deeds, nevertheless respect their father, older relatives and, in response to their exhortations, are ready to change their style of behavior.
Islamologist, Associate Professor of the Department of the Modern East of the Russian State University for the Humanities Igor Alekseev noted that he does not know about the practice of public apologies in a mosque in any Muslim region. "But in general, in Muslim law there is the concept of 'uzr': the violator of certain provisions is called for public repentance. If he repents, he is not subjected to a more severe punishment," Alekseev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Public apologies to the video camera under pressure from the authorities are not connected with the Chechen tradition of apologizing for misdeeds, said Chechen human rights activist Oyub Titiev .
"There was no tradition of apologizing specifically to representatives of the authorities. It's one thing - an ordinary person committed a misdeed against another person, and then apologized for it in the presence of mosque parishioners. And older relatives could indicate that he apologized to a member of a different clan, another teip. This is a normal situation, which can happen not only in Chechnya. Another thing is to apologize to representatives of the authorities and under duress from strangers, and not their relatives. This was not the case in our people," he said. he to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Public apologies on camera, according to the human rights activist, cannot become a deterrent in the behavior of Chechen youth outside the republic.
"This can give rise to fear, but it will not deter. If it is necessary to restrain, then it is necessary to explain the viciousness of certain actions. There may be punishment, but according to the law. And by force, forcing people to apologize on camera is an abnormal phenomenon," Titiev stressed.
Recall that the practice of public apologies, adopted in Chechnya at the suggestion of Ramzan Kadyrov, has spread to other regions of Russia. So, on August 5, 2022, a Muscovite apologized for a video with obscene comments, in which a resident of Chechnya walks along a Moscow beach with weapons. The author of the video admitted that he was "guilty about the Chechen people" and promised that this would not happen again.
In August 2022, a DJ who wore Chechen clothes and a headdress while performing dance music apologized for his behaviour.
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