The head of the Ministry of Nationalities of Ingushetia responded to the controversy surrounding the imam's words about waiters

The discussion around the statement of the Ingush imam about male waiters is "an attempt to destabilize the situation in the region," said the republic's Minister of Foreign Relations and National Policy. This statement came after criticism of the passive position of the Ingush authorities by Telegram channels.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, the discussion on social networks was caused by the statement of the imam of the central mosque of Malgobek, Ibragim Batyrov, who said that Ingush men should not work as waiters and serve women. Batyrov's position was supported by the head of the Muslim community of the city, Yakub Kurskiyev. Some commentators considered it to be in accordance with the adats, while others insist that honest work that allows you to feed your family cannot be considered a disgrace.

A video of the imam of one of the mosques of Ingushetia, Ibragim Batyrov, in which he criticizes Ingush men working as waiters in local catering establishments, which was distributed on social networks, is an attempt to destabilize the situation in the region. This was reported to TASS by the Minister of Foreign Relations, National Policy, Press and Information of the republic.

The head of the Ministry of Nationalities of Ingushetia, Ruslan Miziev, accused bloggers and hostile forces of trying to “destabilize the situation” in the republic by paying attention to the statement of Imam Ibragim Batyrov about men working as waiters.

According to the head of the department, the video of Batyrov’s speech was filmed a long time ago. "The video with the speech of the imam of one of the mosques, Ibrahim Batyrov, was filmed a year ago, but did not cause a wide resonance then, but now some bloggers decided to hype it up, plus there are those who want to destabilize the situation in the region. In his sermon, Batyrov referred to the Ingush adats, stating that working as a waiter does not contradict Islam, but is perceived ambiguously from the point of view of traditions," TASS-Kavkaz quotes Miziev as saying.

Expressing the position of a secular official, the minister added that “in conditions of high unemployment, honest work is always preferable, and the right to choose a profession is enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.” At the same time, he did not publish his comment on Batyrov's statements either in his personal Telegram channel or in the official channel of the Ministry of Nationalities of Ingushetia.

Batirov's statement caused a stir at the federal level, but the head of Ingushetia, Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov, once again distanced himself from the situation and did not comment on the imam's statements, fearing "to spoil relations with the Muslim ummah of the republic," the Telegram channel "Aktsenty Kavkaza" indicated.

"These statements are not just offensive and discriminatory, they are a direct challenge to modern society, the constitutional principles of equality and freedom, as well as common sense. Instead of solving the issues of poverty, unemployment, education and health care, they are trying to impose medieval views on Ingush society. At the same time, the secular authorities of Ingushetia, by their silence, indulge this reaction and obscurantism,” the channel’s publication says.

The Telegram channel of the human rights group “Marem” also drew attention to Batyrov’s statement today. “In neighboring republics, men have long been working in restaurants, cafeterias, as cashiers and waiters. They don’t seem to be embarrassed. Maybe they just hide well that they are disgusted by serving women?” the publication says.

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