PYATIGORSK, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - Islamic relics connected with the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, have been delivered by a special flight from the United Arab Emirates to Grozny, the capital of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, where they will be put on show, the republic’s Muftiyat reported on Thursday.
The Islamic relics, which arrived on Wednesday, will be exhibited at the city’s central mosque, named after former Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov. The event was timed to coincide with the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, marked on January 24.
“They will be kept in the republic for one year. All those who want to see the relics will be able to do that,”a Muftiyat spokesman told RIA Novosti, adding the relics comprised a fragment of the Prophet Muhammad’s shirt and a lock of his hair.
“The decision to send the relics to Grozny was made by the keeper of the holy relics, Sheikh Ahmad bin Muhammad Al-Khazraji,” he said.
Updated with correct date.