After a visit to Mordovia, the Kazan imam, 57-year-old Suleiman Zaripov, and his companion, a sheikh from the United Arab Emirates, 62-year-old Najmeddin, disappeared without a trace. Religious figures disappeared at the moment when they were returning by car from Saransk to Kazan. Zaripov's car was found in the Buinsky district of Tatarstan. However, there is a version that the imam and his friend could have been kidnapped and taken back to Mordovia. The guest from the UAE represented a large charitable foundation in Russia and had the widest financial opportunities. For what purpose did the guests come to Saransk? Did they bring a large amount of money to Mordovia and for what purpose? Who is behind the disappearance of religious figures? What could have caused the disappearance of Zaripov and the sheikh? There are many questions left in this mysterious story.
Mysterious Disappearance
On February 6, Suleiman Zaripov took the guest - a Syrian by nationality, but a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Najmeddin - from the Korston Hotel in Kazan, and they went on a business trip to Saransk. In our city, they met with the chairman of the centralized religious organization of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Mordovia, Mufti Ilduz Iskhakov. The very next day, Zaripov, together with Nadzhmeddin, left Saransk for Kazan. On the way, they stopped at the mosque in the village of Starye Studentsy, Buinsky district of Tatarstan, for an afternoon prayer, after which they drove towards Buinsk. The next day, Zaripov's Toyota Corolla was found in Buinsk. The car was parked in front of the store on Vakhitova Street in the direction opposite to the movement towards Kazan. The whereabouts of the men is still unknown.
According to the employees of the Investigative Committee of Tatarstan, after examining the car of the missing, it turned out that there were no traces of a criminal nature in the car. Also, experts did not find fingerprints belonging to third parties in the car interior. Toyota Corolla was closed by the owner of the alarm key fob. Immediately after the disappearance of the imam and his foreign friend in Buinsk, the Investigative Committee of Tatarstan opened a criminal case under the article "Murder of two persons."
The missing could have been kidnapped by bandits and taken back to Saransk
“My father Zaripov Suleiman Garifovich, born in 1958, disappeared,” Zukhra Ganiyeva, the daughter of the missing Imam, wrote on her VKontakte page. - Respectable family man. Father of six children. I was driving home from Mordovia to Kazan. Last seen on February 7 in Buinsk at 2:30 pm. According to our standards, the house should have been around 18-19 hours. But still no news. Went with a friend. Phones are off. Toyota Corolla car number U071PE region 116. Please, who saw him in the city, in the villages along the way, on the highway, tell for God's sake!
The search for the missing imam of the mosque in the Kazan village of Petrovsky, the former deputy mufti of Tatarstan Suleiman Zaripov, is being conducted in four regions: Tatarstan, Mordovia, Chuvashia and the Ulyanovsk region. Among the activists of Muslim youth organizations and educational institutions of Tatarstan, groups of volunteers were formed to help in the search.
Volunteers combed the entire Buinsky region of Tatarstan, where Zaripov and his companion disappeared, but the search did not yield any results, although some interesting information appeared. The car of the imam, after he and his companion left Mordovia, did not reappear on the territory of this region, and the video confirmed that Zaripov did not drive along the highway from Buinsk to Kazan. Volunteers inspected the forest belt, stopped at roadside shops and cafes in search of possible witnesses, and in addition, studied all the records on surveillance cameras, but so far to no avail.
Soon, in the Buinsky district, the search for the missing was stopped, the search headquarters was moved to the Marjani mosque in Kazan. Another search headquarters was deployed in Saransk, from where the missing Suleiman Zaripov left with the Syrian. According to the search engines, they were interested in the recording from the cameras in the hotel in Saransk, where Zaripov spent the night. Suspicious cars were seen near the hotel, which did not enter the territory, but stopped several times. At the same time, the version that the criminals pursued Suleiman Zaripov and his companion while driving along the highway was not confirmed. This was not recorded on CCTV cameras.
According to one version, which is being worked out by law enforcement officers, the imam and his companion were kidnapped by bandits on the way and taken back to Saransk. Cars that were seen earlier at the hotel where Suleiman Zaripov stayed with a Middle Eastern guest are now being tracked. It is possible that the imam and his friend may be held captive somewhere in Mordovia.
“How hard it is to wake up and understand that all this is not a dream ... - said Zaripov's daughter Zukhra Ganieva. - Another day of searching, unfortunately, was inconclusive. In the rumors that are being spread, “like he has returned or is sitting somewhere”, please do not believe ...”.
Why Zaripov
and Najmeddin came to Mordovia?
Together with an Arab companion, Zaripov arrived in Saransk on Saturday evening, met with the leadership of the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Republic of Mordovia, spent the night in a hotel, and left for Kazan at about 10 am. “It was a purely fraternal visit, it was not the first time Suleiman hazrat came here, and this time we did not notice anything suspicious either in words, or in behavior, or in mood,” said Mufti of Mordovia Ilduz Iskhakov. “Let’s hope that everything will work out and they will be found.” According to Iskhakov, Kazan guests did not go to Belozerye at all.
One can only guess about the true purpose of the visit of Zaripov and his friend from the Middle East. Perhaps the guests brought a large amount of money to Mordovia, which could be used to support fellow believers, or a guest from the UAE promised such assistance at the meeting. It is worth saying that Zaripov's companion Najmeddin is a representative in Russia of the Dar al Ber charitable association from the United Arab Emirates, whose activities are controlled by the Emirate of Dubai. Officially, the organization helps in the construction of mosques, madrasahs and orphanages.
According to information from Tatarstan, Sheikh Najmeddin assisted in the construction of 26 mosques in the Tyumen region and other regions of Russia. Najmeddin is a native of Syria, lived in Turkey for some time, then moved to the UAE. The fund from the UAE operates in 42 countries. According to colleagues from online publications, at the end of last year, the Azerbaijani representative of the fund was suspected of having links with the "Wahhabi sect." And in Serbia, an investigation was carried out against the fund, there were suspicions about financing Chechen fighters through it in the 1990s.
As you know, the Wahhabi movement in Mordovia has its followers. Most of them live in Belozerye. In addition, it is no secret to anyone that more than a dozen residents of this particular village went to fight in Syria on the side of the Islamic State. Some travel to the Middle East with their whole families, and, as you know, decent sums are needed to move. The question is, did the Belozersk residents who left for Syria use the sponsorship of foreign philanthropists?
Suleiman Zaripov is also an interesting personality. He is a relative of the former head of the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Republic of Tatarstan, Gusman Iskhakov, and worked as his deputy for a long time. He was considered the curator of the religious elite of Tatarstan for interaction with Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries of the Middle East. In the mid-1990s, Zaripov himself studied in Saudi Arabia and was considered by many to be an unofficial "liaison" to the Salafi East. It was he who organized forums, conferences and meetings of Islamic organizations from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. But the promotion of the Salafi trend in Islam did not take root in Tatarstan, and soon Gusman Iskhakov was replaced as the chief mufti of Tatarstan by an adherent of the Hanafi - traditional for Russia Islam. Zaripov also lost his position. He also had to leave the post of the first vice-rector of the Russian Islamic University. Recently, he remained an imam in one of the mosques in the suburbs of Kazan.
Who is behind the disappearance of the Imam and Sheikh?
Now in the press various versions of the disappearance of Zaripov and Najmeddin are being discussed. The main one is criminal. According to her, the disappearance of religious figures has a financial trail. A visitor from the UAE has repeatedly provided assistance in the construction of mosques. This suggests that he disposed of huge money. The wide financial possibilities of the visiting sheikh could attract the attention of bandits, who could organize the disappearance of Najmeddin and his guide. Law enforcement officers suggest that the disappearance of Zaripov and his companion was planned and carried out by one of the gangster groups. Surveillance at the Saransk hotel speaks in favor of this version. There is an assumption that the kidnapped religious figures were taken from Buinsk to Mordovia or another region.
According to another version, the disappearance could be related to the professional activities of Suleiman Zaripov. Before becoming an ordinary imam in the mosque of the Petrovsky village and the second imam of the Nurulla mosque, he held quite serious posts and, as already mentioned, was considered Tatarstan's curator for interaction with Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries of the Middle East. During his stay in the religious elite of Tatarstan, Zaripov could easily make enemies for himself.
According to another version, the disappearance of Zaripov and the sheikh was staged. Allegedly, the missing decided to hide from problems for a while. Well, and another most incredible version, which is actively discussed by the Internet community, is the abduction by the special services. In support of this version, the following argument is expressed - the special services had claims against Najmeddin, and he had to be detained along with Zaripov. However, the citizen of the United Arab Emirates was a frequent visitor to Tatarstan, why claims against him arose only now and why the special services had to kidnap him at all, it is not clear. I must say that law enforcement officers do not take this version into account. So, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan, Artem Khokhorin, at the request of journalists to comment on the version of the kidnapping by special services, said: “Why comment on nonsense?”
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09.02.2016, 13:54
Toyota of the former deputy Mufti Gusman Iskhakov, who mysteriously disappeared the day before yesterday, was found untouched on the main street of Buinsk
Today, a search group is gathering in Kazan - 57-year-old Suleiman Hazrat Zaripov, ex-vice rector of the Russian Islamic University, has disappeared. In Buinsk, where he stopped to read namaz on the way from Mordovia, meanwhile they open his car, which was found without any damage. The companion of the hazrat from the UAE also disappeared without a trace. Experts in a conversation with BUSINESS Online mentioned that the missing person was suspected of having Salafi views, and among the versions that are circulating in the Ummah, there is also a “hand of Moscow”.
THE CAR FOUND ON THE CENTRAL STREET OF BUINSKA
Today in Tatarstan continue to search for the missing person on Sunday Suleiman Khazrat Zaripov- imam-hatyba of the mosque in Petrovsky, who also read Friday sermons in the Nurulla mosque. The 57-year-old clergyman, returning to Kazan from a trip to Mordovia, disappeared in Buinsk. Here he was seen by the imam of the mosque, where Hazrat Suleiman went to read namaz - it was time for prayer. Zaripov's daughter told BUSINESS Online about this Nuria. Zaripov left Mordovia at 10 am on February 7, at 2:30 pm he was in Buinsk, after which he went home to Kazan. Relatives were waiting for him by 18:00 - 19:00, but after they did not wait, they began to sound the alarm. It was already late in the evening, the phones of Zaripov and his friend were turned off, which is unusual for a hazrat. On February 8, in the morning, relatives turned to the police with a statement about the missing person, they searched for him in hospitals and even morgues, but to no avail. However, yesterday a group of friends and relatives of Zaripov went in search of Buinsk. In the city, right on the main street of Vakhitov, a hazrat car was found - Toyota Corolla U071PE region 116.
“The car was found in good condition, the alarm was turned on,” Zaripov’s daughter told BUSINESS Online. - Our brothers and friends have connected operatives and are now looking for their father in Buinsk. Apparently, he stopped or went somewhere. Unclear".
As told "BUSINESS Online" Ilmir Khazrat Khasanov, imam-muhtasib of the Buinsky district, the car was found yesterday at about 10 pm by the local traffic police. “They didn’t open it, they didn’t inspect it, they took it to a warm garage to thaw. The car was calmly turned off, put back on, there were no signs of violence. Criminologists should come now. Inspection will be carried out, most likely, in the presence of relatives.
Hazrat was not traveling alone, but with some guest, but no one knows who it was: the Imam's companion also disappeared. The place, however, is crowded - now the police are studying the cameras, interviewing saleswomen, taxi drivers (there is a taxi stand nearby). Khasanov himself does not understand how a clergyman, wise, calm and literate, could get lost.
Information about the missing hazrat is widely circulated in social networks. In particular, a call for help to all volunteers can be found on the VKontakte social network. In the open group "Auto parsing" the user Gulnaz Gusmanova writes that a respectable family man, the father of six children and the uncle of her friend, has disappeared. “Please: whoever saw this car or this person in the city, in the villages along the way, on the highway, tell for God's sake! (They searched in hospitals, morgues...) They found the car. And they're not there." She also indicates a contact phone number for communication.
“A lot of people wrote to me and said they wanted to look for their father,” said Nuria. - Chelny, Ulyanovsk, Kazan - everyone is waiting and want to search. The fact that he disappeared and does not answer is not normal. He can't do that!" The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan "BUSINESS Online" confirmed that a statement was received from relatives about a missing person, the police are working out the information.
LOOKING FOR POLICE AND FSB
Today at 9:00 near the Petrovsky mosque, a collection was announced for leaving for Buinsk in search of Zaripov. Near the fence, behind which the prayer house is located, five taciturn men gathered. They flatly refused to introduce themselves.
“One of the options is to go out in search, but this is banal, you don’t want to,” one of them, in a long down jacket, smoothed his long curly beard gloomily. - I think that at the level of organs they will find everything. In the neighboring region (Mordovia), you need to ask around.
The village of Petrovsky, in which the mosque is located, is located far from Kazan. Next to the mosque behind the same fence is a two-story red brick house where Zaripov and his family live. The daughter of the hazrat came out to the audience Zulfiya.
“He went to Kazan with a friend from the Emirates, they went to Mordovia, to visit the Mufti of Saransk, there was no other news from him,” Zulfiya told BUSINESS Online. According to the woman, in addition to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB officers are involved in the investigation. “This is a religious figure,” Zulfiya explained. - All these special services are now in place and should open the car. It is uncharacteristic for a father to disappear like that, in broad daylight he read a prayer and disappeared. Where could he go?
Nothing is known for certain about Zaripov's passenger. “We need a father, we need this person [passenger]... They will find it, it’s good, but we would like to find our father alive and unharmed,” Zulfiya added, wearily rubbing her face with her hands. - Now they will go in search, they will search in the ravines of Buinsk. It is strange that after the prayer he went in the opposite direction from Kazan. Albeit not far from the mosque, but his car is in the other direction. The very fact that he deviated from the route is surprising, this is unusual for his father.
When asked if Suleiman Khazrat Zaripov had enemies, the relative waved her hands: “He didn’t even scold his children for pranks, the version about the enemies is immediately cut off, however, there were many envious people,” the woman concluded.
SON-IN-LAW OF GUSMAN HAZRAT, WHO COULD BECOME THE Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan
Suleiman hazrat is a well-known person in the republic. He was born in 1958, in 1986 he graduated from the higher madrasah "Mir-Arab" in Bukhara, where all the imams in the USSR studied, then he became the imam-hatib of the mosque in Bugulma. Suleiman Hazrat worked here for 12 years - during this period the Cathedral Mosque was built in the city. He received further education at Al-Imam Muhammad Sogud University in Saudi Arabia.
In Tatarstan, he was called the right hand of the mufti Gusman Khazrat Iskhakov, which is not surprising, because he was not only the deputy head of the DUM, but also married to his sister. And in the position of the first vice-rector, Khazrat Suleiman actually led the Russian Islamic University from 1998 to 2006. During the election of the new head of the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2011, he was named among the contenders for the post of mufti, but he was elected Ildus Hazrat Faizov. At that time, experts said that the ummah was going through a real split.
Recall that in religious and expert circles, Mufti Iskhakov is a person who, at least, did not counteract the penetration of the so-called Salafi views (they are often referred to as “Wahhabism”), which in recent years have been regarded as extremist in Russia (although in fairness it should be noted that that these views are the official ideology of a number of states, for example, the same Saudi Arabia). Rumors about the resignation of his team circulated for several years, until it finally. There were quite a lot of players on this field - including experts noted the influence from abroad, and the influence of the “pro-Gusman” group was quite large. But something was still possible even before the departure of the mufti: for example, Suleiman Khazrat left the Russian Islamic University in 2006 and was headed by Rafik Mukhametshin.
Zaripov himself was also called almost one of the main ideologists of Salafism in Tatarstan - in particular, the historian writes about this in his blog A. N. Yusupov. According to some reports, analytical notes with a similar assessment also came to the table of high officials, and at the same time, insufficient control was noted by the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Republic of Tatarstan over what is happening in mosques. Evil tongues also said that their house in Petrovsky, located very close to the mosque, was built with the very funds that were supposed to go to the madrasah. Well-wishers, on the other hand, argued that the hazrat, on the contrary, invested his money in the construction of the mosque itself.
On the other hand, after the appointment of Faizov, Zaripov supported the Mufti in his efforts to combat non-traditional Islam and work with existing theological differences. He became one of the voices of the DUM and began to appear more often in the public sphere, setting out the official position. “You see, even great empires reached their perfection and collapsed, some kind of evolution was always needed, some kind of replacement of views, the spiritual component of people,” Zaripov himself explained the situation in an interview. - If we talk about the situation related to our clergy, then the most important thing is that we set a vector, a vector that our fathers and ancestors set. We are returning to the roots. The roots of our spirituality, the roots of our ideology of the traditional Hanafi madhhab. And when people come and support these ideas, it makes me very happy.”
“Ignorance is, unfortunately, one of the qualities of the imams of our mosques, which gives rise to a departure from the traditional Hanafi madhhab for our people,” he explained. According to Hazrat Suleiman, not only the Islamic ummah, but also the state should participate in the training of an educated Muslim clergy, if it is interested in resisting the penetration of non-traditional movements of foreign Islam into the region.
It is curious that in one of the interviews, Zaripov admitted that he and his entourage watched the sermons of the former patriarch Kirill. “We do not shy away from listening to his sermons. In many ways, he is our teacher,” said the imam.
“DIFFERENT VIEWS ARE EXPRESSED. SOMEONE ASSOCIATES THIS DISAPPEARANCE WITH THE POWER STRUCTURES, SEES THE "HAND OF MOSCOW"
BUSINESS Online asked the experts to characterize Hazrat Suleiman.
Azat Akhunov- Associate Professor of the Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies of the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies of KFU:
- Suleiman hazrat is a relative of the former mufti Gusman hazrat Iskhakov. This is one religious clan: Gusman Khazrat, Ravil Gainutdin, Talgat Tadzhutdin, Suleiman Zaripov, the late Mufti of Crimea Seitdzhelil Ibragimov - this is one clan that is somehow connected with the mother of Gusman Hazrat Iskhakov Rashida Abystay Iskhakova. Her daughters, the sisters of Gusman hazrat, are the wives of famous Muslim figures, including Suleiman hazrat. He did a lot for the formation of RIU, he did the main work as the first vice-rector.
But various negative opinions were expressed towards him, primarily due to the fact that he studied in Saudi Arabia, there were accusations that he sympathized with the Wahhabis. Recently, after Khazrat Gusman ceased to be a mufti, he also retired, became simply the imam-hatib of his mosque and did not participate in the religious life of the republic.
Why he could disappear is very difficult to say. Different opinions are expressed, someone connects this disappearance with law enforcement agencies, sees the “hand of Moscow”. There may be different situations. Although Buinsk is quite a calm city, there is a well-known madrasah, a mosque, and there is an adequate leader of a religious organization. There are no extremist religious groups. It's hard to guess what happened. If it fell into the hands of law enforcement agencies, it would probably already be known by this time. Maybe just a domestic situation, some kind of conflict. It's hard to guess.
It remains to wish that everything ends well and he returns to his family. I had to communicate with him a lot, he is a calm, balanced, benevolent person, despite all the accusations of ill-wishers, he is very good. He is a purely Tatar person, a classic Tatar imam, with whom one could discuss any religious and secular topics.
Rafik Muhammetshin- Rector of RIU:
— I have known Hazrat Suleiman since the mid-1990s, when I came from Bugulma to Kazan. He began to communicate more closely, working at RIU, where he came in 1998, he already worked there, then became the first vice-rector. I do not know a more subtle psychologist who would work with students so skillfully. He is very accommodating, very educated, with good Arabic. Until the last days, we often crossed paths with him. A very good imam of the Bukhara school, professionally trained. So I have only good impressions about him both as a person and as a professional.
Recently Suleiman Hazrat was an ordinary imam, so some activity outside the mosque was not noticed at all. I do not think that there were serious prerequisites for any action. Recently, he has positioned himself as the imam of the mosque, without any claims, public statements. Therefore, to assume some theological or ideological reasons ( his disappearance— approx. ed.) pretty hard.
Rustam hazrat Khairullin- Deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan:
- Now the DUM RT is in touch with the Buin mukhtasib, he reassures the relatives who have arrived, tells them that everything is in the hands of the Almighty. Suleiman Khazrat is an honorary aksakal who has been serving in the bosom of spiritual government for many years. He is from a large family, he has a lot of grandchildren, he has always been characterized on the positive side. So we are completely confused about what happened. I was driving from Mordovia, it was prayer time, I stopped by the Buinsk mosque for prayer. The mosque in Petrovsky Suleiman hazrat has been heading since its construction - more than 10 years. He was the deputy mufti, the first vice-rector of the RIU during the time of Gusman Hazrat Iskhakov, whose sister is his wife. After the new mufti came, Suleiman hazrat left his post and continued his activities as the imam-khatib of the mosque in Petrovsky. He was often attracted to the Nurulla mosque, where he read sermons on Fridays. Many grew up before his eyes, he named many as an imam, read nikakhs. As the imam has been serving since the late 80s, this is the old school of the Bukhara madrasah, all the students of Talgat Tadjuddin.
Today marks exactly two years since Suleiman Khazrat Zaripov disappeared without a trace with his companion Sheikh Najim
Exactly two years ago, Khazrat Suleiman Zaripov did not return home, having disappeared without a trace. During this time, the investigation of the criminal case initiated under the article "Murder" was suspended, and information about his fate did not appear. In the meantime, the security forces continue to remain silent in public, both his relatives and people they do not know are praying and worrying about him. Meanwhile, it is very symbolic - on the day of the disappearance of a prominent religious figure, one of his daughters is waiting for replenishment in the family - if a boy is born, he will bear the name of his grandfather. Details are in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Two years without news
Exactly two years have passed since the disappearance of Suleiman Khazrat Zaripov. On February 7, 2016, the former Deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan, with his companion Sheikh Khuuju Abde Najim Eldin, was heading from Mordovia to Kazan, but his relatives did not wait for him at home. Later, the hazrat's car was found in Buinsk. Two days later, a criminal case was already opened on the murder, and volunteers joined the search for the missing. They were looking for them in Tatarstan, Mordovia, Udmurtia and the Penza region, but all this did not bring the long-awaited result. Among the versions of what happened was a kidnapping for ransom. However, none of them has received official confirmation so far. However, and unofficial too. The investigation of the criminal case was suspended on October 24, 2016 due to the absence of suspects. If new information becomes available, the investigation will be reopened.
The disappearance of a well-known religious figure in the republic caused a great resonance at that time. True, now, two years later, the hype has completely subsided, and the requests of his relatives to the authorities of Tatarstan and Russia to take the investigation under their personal control did not lead to anything. The security forces themselves do not publicly recall this case, unlike other criminal cases - for example, the pogrom at the Novo-Tatar cemetery.
The latest information about the mysterious disappearance of Suleiman Zaripov and Sheikh Najim dates back to 2016, and the VKontakte group dedicated to the search for the imam has become a stronghold of his memory and hope to see the missing person alive and well.
They searched for the Imam and his companion in Tatarstan, Mordovia, Udmurtia and the Penza region, but all this did not bring any result. Photo buinsk-tat.ru
“Until now, both acquaintances and complete strangers call very often”
As one of the daughters of the hazrat, Nuria Shafikova, told Realnoe Vremya, the last year was marked by a complete lull on the part of law enforcement agencies. But people who knew her father did not forget about him.
Until now, both acquaintances and complete strangers call very often. When they find out that I am his daughter, they ask if there is any news, they say that they are very worried and pray for him. At all events there will be people who empathize with us, - said the interlocutor of the publication.
The family of Suleiman Zaripov continues to pray for him, and on February 7, remember him with kind words. According to her daughter, this day is especially difficult for them.
This year, the day of the father's disappearance symbolically coincided with the replenishment in the family of his other daughter, Zulfiya Miftakhova. Nuria Shafikova said that if she gives birth to a boy, they know who to name him after - he will bear the name of his grandfather Suleiman Hazrat.
Relatives of Suleiman Zaripov. Photo vk.com
Talented and educated preacher who is remembered
Deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan, rector of the Russian Islamic Institute and the Bulgarian Islamic Academy Rafik hazrat Mukhametshin recalls that two years ago the tragedy caused a great resonance in society.
Of course, this was a resonance, since Khazrat Suleiman is a well-known figure in Tatarstan, he worked for us for quite a long time as a vice-rector at the Islamic University, and among the clergy such as he could be counted on the fingers. He was a very famous preacher, but, unfortunately, there is no news on this case, - says the interlocutor of the publication.
He calls Suleiman Zaripov a very talented and educated imam. True, there are no plans to hold any events in memory of him in the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Republic of Tatarstan.
We do not know his fate - he just disappeared. Naturally, we remember him, but this is a very delicate issue, - Mukhametshin notes.
Maria Gorozhaninova
A Coordinating Headquarters has been set up in Kazan to search for the missing Imam Suleiman Zaripov: as BUSINESS Online has learned, the army of volunteers looking for him already numbers several hundred people. Donations have been organized to help them.
According to media reports, the security forces and relatives of the missing person are not very willing to comment on what is happening. However, as told IA IslamNews the daughter of the missing imam, Nuria, the family still does not know anything concrete at the moment. “No trace, nothing. The investigation does not tell us anything, we call, they are silent, they do not say anything. It's all the same," she told IN.
Before the disappearance, nothing unusual happened to her father, according to Nuria: no one contacted him, no one voiced any threats, no wishes, no recommendations. “Nothing foreshadowed such events, I am not aware of any new unknown people communicating with him,” said the daughter of the missing person.
As for the companion of the missing person along with the imam, he is known as a Muslim figure from the UAE with Syrian citizenship, who since the 90s has been providing financial assistance in the construction of mosques and madrasahs in Russia.
One of the last photos of Suleiman Zaripov with Talgat Tadzhuddin and Gabdulla Galiullin in the Nurulla mosqueA week after the disappearance of 57-year-old Imam Suleiman Zaripov and 62-year-old resident of the United Arab Emirates Khuja Abde in the Buinsky district Najim Eldina(Najmuddin) nothing is known about them.
On February 7, the men were returning from Saransk to Kazan in Zaripov's car, but they were last seen in the village of Stary Studenets, Buinsky district.
A large-scale search for the missing, which involved hundreds of volunteers and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan, has not yet led to visible results. Meanwhile, in the criminal case initiated on February 9 by the investigative committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan under the article “Murder of two or more persons”, there are several mysteries. The priest's car Toyota Corolla U071PE was found parked in front of a store on Vakhitova Street in Buinsk in the opposite direction to Kazan.
The Muftiate of Tatarstan commented on the situation extremely sparingly. “DUM RT denies the arrival of Khuja Abde. We didn’t even know who accompanied our imam on a trip to Saransk,” said Deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Khairullin.
However, as it turned out, the DUM RT had contacts with a benefactor from the UAE. "BUSINESS Online" published a photo in which Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan Kamil Samigullin is next to Sheikh Najmuddin from the UAE. Judging by the date of the photo, the meeting took place in December 2014.
"Khouja Abde Najim Eldin is the official representative of the Dar al Ber Charitable Association (UAE) in Russia, whose activities are controlled by the Emirate of Dubai," the mufti's press service commented on the photo. - This organization helps in the construction of mosques, madrasas and orphanages. Mufti Kamil Hazrat Samigullin held three working meetings with Khuja Abde Najim Eldin over the course of two years, where they discussed the issue of providing charitable assistance in publishing the Koran in Braille for the blind and the Koran for free distribution in mosques.
Other sources speak about Khuja as a philanthropist and builder of mosques and madrasahs. According to Radio Azatlyk with reference to Hazrat Galimzyan (former mufti of the Tyumen region - ed. note), Sheikh Najmuddin assisted in the construction of 26 mosques in the Tyumen region. The ex-mufti of the DUM of the Tyumen region also reports that Najmuddin is a native of Syria, lived in Turkey for some time, then moved to the UAE. The Dar al Ber Foundation sponsored construction projects in other regions, in particular, in the Kurgan and Sverdlovsk regions, and in Tatarstan.
The active participation of Najmuddin in the construction of mosques in the regions of Russia "BUSINESS Online" was confirmed by the former imam-mukhtasib of Kazan, the mukhtasib of the Volga and Vakhitovsky districts Mansur hazrat Jalyaletdin.
The Dar Al Ber Foundation is a large and reputable organization founded in 1979 in the UAE and operating in 42 countries. However, this respected organization also has problems: at the end of last year, the head of the Azerbaijani representative office of this organization, 45-year-old Rashad Akhundov, was put on the wanted list through Interpol. Allegedly due to non-payment of taxes, however, information was disseminated in the Azerbaijani media about his connections with a certain “Wahhabi sect”. In 2014, searches were carried out in the Baku office of the organization, Akhundov was detained, but released a day later. Interestingly, after that, the vice-president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, paid a visit to the country. In addition, information can be found on the Internet that the fund was being investigated in Serbia, and there were also suspicions about financing Chechen militants through it in the 1990s. Nevertheless, all these speculations remain at the level of rumors, the activities of the organization in Russia are not prohibited, the publication reports.
In the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, the results of the search for the missing imam are kept in the bitterest secret. Earlier, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan Artem Khokhorin, speaking with a report at the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, said that “The work is being carried out jointly with the investigative committee, the prosecutor's office and the FSB. All activities were carried out immediately and will be carried out in the future. There is nothing to say yet."
For several days, headquarters for the search for the missing in Buinsk and Kazan have been working around the clock: several hundred volunteers are participating in the search. According to the former Mufti of Kazan, over the past three days, volunteers, together with investigators, found and seized all the recordings from cameras in Buinsk along Zaripov’s route from shops and cafes. One of the recordings shows how Zaripov’s car first passes, and after a short time two more cars drive close to each other - it is possible that the abductors were in them ... However, an inspection of the Toyota car by employees of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan showed that there are no traces of a criminal nature in the car. Also, experts did not find prints belonging to third parties in the interior of the car. The car was locked and alarmed. Despite the fact that believers from several regions have joined in the search for the missing, their efforts have not yet been crowned with success.
The missing Khazrat Suleiman himself is a well-known personality in the republic. In Tatarstan, he was called the right hand of Mufti Gusman Iskhakov, which is not surprising, because he was not only the deputy head of the DUM, but also married to his sister. Also, as the first vice-rector, Khazrat Suleiman actually led the Russian Islamic University from 1998 to 2006.
What is behind his sudden disappearance? According to the most popular version in the ummah itself, special services were involved in the kidnapping, having become interested in Zaripov's companion, Business-online writes. However, the publication's journalists "do not understand the unexpected interest in the sheikh, who has been to Russia many times since the 90s."
“Second version: Muslim leaders were kidnapped, on the contrary, by Islamic radicals. But in that case, after some time, they would probably take responsibility for themselves, and some frightening video would appear on the Internet. Enough time has passed. Finally, the third version is a common crime. A sheikh from the UAE, who oversees financial flows from there, is really a good bait. Even if he had no money with him, there are bills, cards and, in the end, the opportunity to ask for a ransom, ”the newspaper writes.
Recall: in February 2014, in a similar way, the imam in the Stavropol Territory. The imam of the village of Mirny Shamil Khubiev was on his way to meet with the mufti of the region Muhammad Rakhimov, only his car was found (as it is now). Two years after his disappearance, nothing is known about him.
Mysterious events are taking place in the Muslim world! In early February, the 57-year-old imam of the Nurulla Kazan mosque, Suleiman Zaripov, suddenly disappeared. On February 6, he paid a “secret visit” to the Mufti of Mordovia, Ildus Khazrat Iskhakov, in a Toyota Corolla car. Together with a guest from Tatarstan, a 62-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khuja Abde Najim Eldie Najmeddin, a major philanthropist, disappeared. According to one version, the guests were transporting a large sum of money for purposes that are not yet clear and, apparently, turned out to be victims of criminals who found out about this. It is possible that they were followed. The traces of the imam and the sheikh-benefactor break off in the Tatar city of Buinsk. According to the media of Tatarstan, the security council of this republic received information that the wanted foreigner is an adherent of "not quite pure ideas." Meanwhile, the Leninsky District Court of Saransk put on the international wanted list a resident of Belozerye who is fighting in Syria on the side of the ISIS terrorist organization. Scandalous details, unpleasantly reeking of big money, were found out by VALERY YARTSEV.
The missing
Curious moment. Mufti of Mordovia Ildus Iskhakov did not mention the visit to Saransk of the imam of the Kazan mosque Suleyman Zaripov and Sheikh Najmeddin on his website. Until the moment when the guests suddenly disappeared. One can only guess for what purpose they visited the republic ... Soon some circumstances of their mysterious disappearance were established. After spending the night in a Saransk hotel, on February 7, Imam Zaripov and Sheikh Najmiddin safely left region-13. It is known that on the way they stopped for afternoon prayers at the mosque in the Tatar village of Starye Studentsy. And the next day, their empty car was found in the city of Buinsk near the Albina store. Phones were turned off. There were no signs of struggle or resistance in the cabin. In addition to law enforcement officers, hundreds of volunteers were engaged in the search for the Tatar imam and his foreign companion. According to the leaders of the Marjani mosque, the volunteer groups included people of various nationalities and religions. They even created a special headquarters. About 70 thousand rubles were collected. With the help of this money, the search groups were provided with hot meals, shovels, gasoline. In the Buinsky district, records from almost all video cameras were collected and viewed. According to local media, the volunteers studied all the routes leading towards the Ulyanovsk region, Chuvashia and Mordovia. They examined forest belts, abandoned villages, roadside shops and cafes. The headquarters of the search engines was also created in Saransk. They studied video footage near the hotel where the guests stayed overnight, but did not notice anything suspicious. Meanwhile, the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Tatarstan decided to provide financial assistance to the family of the missing Suleiman Zaripov. Recently, a delegation headed by the mufti of the republic, Kamil-Khazrat Samigullin, visited the relatives of the religious figure. Buinsk investigators opened a criminal case under the article "Murder of two or more persons." According to Andrei Sheptytsky, senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee for Tatarstan, there is reason to believe that the missing could become victims of criminals. According to “C”, rumors are circulating that Saransk bandits hid Zaripov and the foreigner in the forest, demanding a ransom. According to the Investigative Committee, the kidnapping could have been carefully planned. The fact is that the imam's foreign car turned out to be "very successfully" parked in the very place where there are no CCTV cameras at all. In addition, they really could have a large amount of money with them. Maybe it only remained to wait until the rich guests safely leave Mordovia in order to remove traces from it? By the way, according to another unconfirmed version, the police are currently checking whether the resident of the Emirates, whose charitable foundation is located in Dubai, could be involved in the disappearance of Mufti Zaripov as a result of the conflict ... Be that as it may, all these questions can be answered just a consequence...
Zaripov was the first vice-rector of the Russian-Islamic University. According to acquaintances, "the mufti's sermons did not call for something radical." By the way, he is a relative of the former head of the DUM of Tatarstan, and he himself worked for a long time as the deputy head of this spiritual administration. Zaripov was considered the curator of the republic for interaction with Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries of the Middle East. It is also known that Sheikh Najmeddin has been financing the construction of mosques in various regions of Russia since the early 1990s. However, according to “S”, the purpose of his visit to small Mordovia has not yet been finally clarified by the investigation ... 
"Where it smells of money - the bandits are always there"! - Meanwhile, this is exactly what the secretary of the Security Council of Tatarstan Airat Shafigullin told reporters last week. He believes that the disappearance of religious figures has a financial impact. According to him, the Security Council of Tatarstan received information that the wanted representative of the Islamic charitable foundation was an adherent of not entirely pure ideas! True, as representatives of the local media notice, Shafigullin found it difficult to answer the question why this fact had not been assessed earlier. He also did not say how many Tatar mosques were built with the financial participation of the foundation, which was represented by Sheikh Najmeddin. “My opinion: there are no missing sheikhs and imams in Tatarstan! - said the deputy chairman of the committee on law and order of the State Council of Tatarstan, the former deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of this republic Rafil Nugumanov. - Maybe they are somewhere in the neighboring regions - the Ulyanovsk region, Mordovia ... The version about the bandits has the right to exist. It was reported on the Internet that this guest assisted in the construction of mosques. This suggests that he had money, and, most likely, this time he again came with a large sum ... "
Outlaw
Meanwhile, 32-year-old native of Belozerye Nail Abdrashitov was put on the international wanted list. According to “S”, he joined an illegal armed group that is waging war against the regular Syrian army. The Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of Mordovia upheld the decision of the Leninsky District Court to place him in custody. Abdrashitov is the brother of the former Mufti of Mordovia, Abdulkarim-Khazrat Abdrashitov, who died not so long ago in an accident. By the way, it was after this accident that Iskhakov came to his place. As follows from the decision of the senior investigator for particularly important cases of the investigation department of the FSB for the Republic of Moldova, the disappeared resident of Belozerye adhered to the ideas of armed struggle against persons who do not profess Islam. To this end, in December 2007, Abdrashitov flew to Iran to avoid detention. Then the "son of Mordovia" joined an illegal armed group in the Afghan-Pakistani zone. At that time, the "warriors of Allah" acted against the armed forces of NATO. And in 2013, the Belozerets joined an armed gang, which began to take an active part in hostilities against the regular Syrian army. According to some information, now Nail Abdrashitov is in the territory of this country. He has been put on the international wanted list. A native of Mordovia was charged in absentia under the article “Participation in an illegal armed formation” (up to 5 years in captivity).
According to the estimates of the Russian special services, about 200 people left the territory of the Volga region for "jihad". This was discussed last fall at a press conference organized by the Islamic Cultural Center with the support of the administration of the Head of Mordovia and the Mordovian Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, it is not uncommon for Volga Islamists who are leaving for the Middle East to collect money by asking for alms from ordinary passers-by in city parks. Ravil Abdullov, a resident of the village of Belozerye, and Radik Gilvanov, a resident of the Bashkir city of Sibay, have already been convicted for this practice of providing assistance to “our warring brothers in Syria”.
As a well-known religious scholar, researcher of Islam and associate professor of the Moscow Linguistic University Roman Silantyev told correspondent "C", at present, more than a dozen representatives of this Romodan village are in the ranks of the banned ISIS organization. One of the main dangers, according to the expert, is the possible mass return of Wahhabis from Syria home. These "jihadists" will have combat and ideological experience behind them. According to Silantiev, at the beginning of February, more than 15 people from the Romodan village of Belozerye were in the ranks of the banned ISIS organization ... Also, only a general estimate of the number of Russians who converted to Islam can be given. According to experts, there are several tens of thousands. In Mordovia - about 70 people. Roman Silantiev emphasizes that out of 100 converts, as a rule, 40 become militants of illegal formations. By the way, against the background of sending some militant residents of the Romodanovsky district to the “holy war”, the question involuntarily arises: for what purpose, without much publicity, did the sheikh-benefactor from the United Arab Emirates come to visit us? And if he really had a large amount of money with him, for what purposes was it really intended?
“Is it not in vain that Russia intervened in Syrian affairs after the events in Ukraine?” - Correspondent "C" asked the expert Roman Silanyev at the end of the conversation. “We did everything right! - the authoritative religious specialist has no doubts. - ISIS promotes the caliphate - the most rigid form of Islam. Its goals are clearly marked - to kill ... Therefore, we have only one way out: to destroy the enemy on his territory with little bloodshed! By the way, ISIS supporters are actively penetrating the territory of Russia. But the tracking and timely elimination of these extremists gives hope for a favorable outcome. Terrorists and radicals should know: you can’t interfere in our country!” “Don’t you think that we are on the verge of a third world war?” “She has been going for several years! Silantiev says. - But it is of a hybrid nature, that is, it does not look like either the First World War or the Second ... "
And one more important fact, which, as they say, is in plain sight. At present, there are several spiritual Muslim organizations in Mordovia at once. And for some reason, only one of them, headed by Ildus Iskhakov, appears in the news with a criminal connotation. That Kazan imam, together with a sheikh from a not entirely friendly country, for some reason secretly arrives in Mordovia, and then suddenly disappears. Then the brother of the previous mufti from the same spiritual administration is actively fighting against the Syrian troops, and in fact against Russia. And the number of residents of the Romodanovsky village of Belozerye, who go to the Middle East with unknown funds, with weapons in their hands, does not dry out ...