Islam has traditionally played an important role in the life of Chechen society. It has been a part of its ethnic identity for more than two centuries, and at critical times of national history it was a powerful source of social mobilization.Islamization of ChechnyaThe religion of the Muslims started to spread in the region in the 14th and 15th centuries. It was promoted by missionaries from the neighboring Dagestan (especially Kumyks), as well as through contacts of lowland Chechens with neighboring Kabardinians, Nogays, and Crimean Tatars. In Ichkeria – the mountainous region in south-eastern Chechnya – and in Ingushetia (where...