Kadyrov opens Chechnya's first Islamic University

Russia's first islamic university opens in Chechnya.

SHOWS: GROZNY, CHECHNYA, RUSSIA (AUGUST 20, 2009) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. GROZNY'S MAIN AKHMAD KADYROV MOSQUE

2. MEN WALKING IN STREET

3. CROWD AT PRAYER CEREMONY IN MOSQUE

4. VARIOUS OF MEN IN MOSQUE PRAYING AND PERFORMING TRADITIONAL CHECHEN DANCE

5. KADYROV ON MOSQUE STEPS WITH RELGIOUS LEADERS WATCHING CEREMONY

6. MEN DANCING

7. STUDENTS CLAPPING AND CHANTING AS THEY WALK TO NEW UNIVERSITY COMPOUND

8. EXTERIOR OF NEW UNIVERSITY WITH RUSSIAN AND CHECHEN FLAGS

9. PEOPLE GATHERED FOR CEREMONY, LISTENING TO SPEECHES

10. RELIGIOUS LEADERS MAKING SPEECHES

11. KADYROV ADDRESSING CEREMONY

12. TV SCREENS SHOWING PUTIN GIVING TELEVISED MESSAGE OF CONGRATULATION

13. KADYROV AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS APPROACH GREEN RIBBON

14. VARIOUS OF KADYROV AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS CUTTING RIBBON AND TAKING PIECES OF RIBBON

15. VARIOUS OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND KADYROV PRAYING

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Chechen) ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY STUDENT INAN TSEGOYEV SAYING :

"I am very glad our young people now have the chance to study and get an Islamic education. I think we'll study here and get an education and everything we learn here we'll teach other young people. Thanks to our leaders and to President Kadyrov."

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ) ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY STUDENT DAOUD YUNUSOV SAYING :

"We hope to gain knowledge, a good education, and that at the end we get good jobs and then we can pass our knowledge onto others. "

18. DOOR TO STUDENT DORMITORY

19. INTERIOR OF STUDENT DORMITORY

20. MAN WALKING IN NEW UNIVERSITY CORRIDOR

21. KADYROV AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS TOURING NEW UNIVERSITY

22. COMPUTER ROOM

23. KADYROV AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS TOURING NEW UNIVERSITY

24. EXTERIOR OF NEW UNIVERSITY.

STORY: Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov opened Russia's first Islamic University on Thursday (August 20), another move in his campaign to establish Islamic values in the North Caucasus republic.

Kadyrov joined Chechen religious leaders at ceremonies to mark the opening of the Kunta-Khadzhi Russian Islamic University which is located next to Grozny's big central mosque.

Ceremonies started at the mosque with traditional Chechen dancing, followed by prayers. Then a formal televised congratulation by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was relayed on screens prominently displayed on the stage.

The first year students at the new university watched as Kadyrov, accompanied by the Grand Mufti of Russia, Mufti Ravil Gainutdin and other religious leaders, cut the green ribbon and declared the campus open.

Students at the new university, which remains under Russian jurisdiction, will study both Islamic and secular disciplines. The curriculum includes Russian and Chechen languages, sociology, political studies, philosophy and English.

During the first two years students can take a beginners course in Arabic which is a requirement for any student wanting to go on and study Islam.

Teachers at the institution have reportedly been recruited from the Egyptian University Al-Azhar, one of the oldest world universities, the Asia Minor University , the Abu-Nour University in Syria.

It offers places for nearly 300 students in its first year, of whom 270 are starting with the preparatory course - a two-year language course which they must complete before going on to the main five-year course.

"I am very glad our young people now have the chance to study and get an Islamic education. I think we'll study here and get an education and everything we learn here we'll teach other young people. Thanks to our leaders and to President Kadyrov," said university studen Inan Tsegoyev at the opening ceremony.

"We hope to gain knowledge, a good education, and that at the end we get good jobs and then we can pass our knowledge onto others, " said another student Daoud Yunusov, speaking in the gleaming new marble corridors inside the student halls.

The new university was built with money collected by the Akhmad Kadyrov Fund, a charity bearing the name of Kadryrov's father, the former Chechen president who was assassinated in a bomb attack over five years ago.

Ramzan Kadyrov, a 32-year-old former militia leader, who rules Chechnya with an iron hand, wants Chechens to return to what he calls a "true Islam" and its traditional customs and says he will fight mercilessly the radical Islamic groups who he blames for all the Chechnya's misfortunes in recent years.

In his drive to impose Islamic values in Chechnya Kadyrov has restricted the sale of alcohol, shut off gambling places, encouraged men to take more than one wife and ordered women and girls at government offices, universities and schools to wear headscarves.