Geydar Dzhemal

Geydar Dzhahidovich Dzhemal was a Russian-Azerbaijani Islamic philosopher and political activist. He founded and led the Islamic Committee of Russia, in which he promoted Marxism and non-sectarian pan-Islamism, though formally identifying as a Twelver Shia Muslim. He wrote extensive apologetics in support of Wahhabism and the Salafi movement, participating in the First Chechen War and Tajik Civil War. He was also a founder of the Islamic Renaissance Party, Co-chairman and Presidium member of the Movement "Russian Islamic Heritage," a permanent member of the Popular Arab and Islamic Congress, as well as one of the founders and a member of the Coordinating Council of the Left Front and The Other Russia, taking part in the Dissenters' March. Dzhemal was born in Moscow and his father was the Azerbaijani artist Dzakhid Dzemal. His mother was Irina Shapovalova. He was expelled from Moscow State University for 'bourgeois nationalism'. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dzhemal joined underground organizations. He later developed his own 'post-traditionalist' view. From 1980, he was a member of the Islamic movement of Tajikistan. In 1990, he joined the formation of an umbrella Islamic Revival Party. He worked as an advisor to Davlat Usmon during the Civil War in Tajikistan. In 1995, the Islamic Council became affiliated with the Union of Muslims of Russia. From 1996 he became advisor to Alexander Lebed. In 1993, Djemal got acquainted with Ahmad Khomeini. In the early 1990s, Dzhemal put on a few TV shows on Islamic issues. In May 1994, Djemal's documentary, 'Islamic Republic of Iran', was broadcast by Russian channels, creating a political scandal. In 2010 Dzhemal commented on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He was also among the 34 first signatories of an online anti-Vladimir Putin manifesto, 'Putin Must Go'. Djemal died on 5 December 2016 in Almaty. On 30 July 2018, his son, journalist Orkhan Dzhemal, was killed along with film director and cameraman while filming a documentary about the activities of a Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group in the Central African Republic.