Press Release
The Next Collection of Hadith is Going to be Banned in Russia

On 9 October, Apastovsk District Court in Republic of Tatarstan recognized collection of "Sahih al-Bukhari" Hadith posted on one of the sites as an extremist material, as at the same time recognized it forbidden.

According to Apastovsk district RT prosecutors, the text promotes "exclusivity of one of the world's religions", or, according to a senior assistant of the prosecutor of Tatarstan Ruslan Galliev, "a militant Islam" which "arouse an ethnic, religious enmity."

Once stopping on an attempt to ban one of the translations of the Quran the authorities again encroach on fundamental Islamic books, which is the collection of hadith "Sahih al-Bukhari." By such actions, the authorities are acting once again on the blatant provocation of the Muslims of Russia, and apparently want to check the stock of their strength and patience.

It is evident that a so-called "list of extremist materials" was made only for consecutively depriving Muslims of Islamic education. From year to year, a list of what is prohibited by law expands with the various printed and audio-visual materials, and the authorities at the time studied the reaction of Muslims. It is the lack of an adequate response from Muslims that led to the fact that in June 2012, by the decision of the Leninsk District Court of Orenburg more than 60 books, booklets and articles of Islam were listed as extremist materials. Among the banned books were the collections of hadith "Gardens of the Righteous" and "40 Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi", and many other works of Islamic scholars.

This was followed by a high Muslims' indignation, but the court's decision was not revoked, and eventually the indignations became a "duty". Noticing this, in September 2013, the authorities decided to go even further and attempted to ban the most widely read Quran in the Russian translation. But after the Muslims expressed their united protest, the authorities were forced to abandon their plans. Refusing to ban the Quran, the authorities retaliated against the Islamic Ummah and imprisoned those of its sons who truly stood in defense of the Book of Allah (swt).

But today in Russia they again begin to ban the fundamental Islamic books, which shows their systematic, goal-oriented struggle with Islam. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the ban of the fundamental Islamic books for 20 millions of Muslims in Russia. Moreover, it seems that the authorities are almost obsessed in this struggle against the increase of external and internal problems; they do not leave any attempts to deprive Muslims of their education.

"Sahih al-Bukhari" is one of the most authoritative collections of hadith, i.e. it was collected by the reliable chain of speakers from the Prophet Muhammad (saw) by Imam al-Bukhari as yet in the 8th century and since forms the basis of Islamic law.

And today, this priceless heritage of the Islamic Ummah is being subjected to potential bans. Their goal is clear: they want to deprive Muslims of their strength, forbidding that what shapes their notions being the second source of knowledge after the Quran.

In this regard, Hizb ut Tahrir / Russia expresses its strong protest against the repeated attempts to deprive Muslims of the sources of education and calls upon everyone, especially the religious and public figures whose voices are heard in the community, to express their words in defense of "Sahih al-Bukhari". This trial is for Muslims not only whether they can defend the collection of hadith, but also in their unification of their willingness to defend their religion.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Russia