In a video statement made available to the news agency Daymohk, a transcript of which was posted on 11 February by chechenpress.org, Chechen President and resistance forces commander Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev addressed the issue of Chechnya\'s Islamic orientation, which has been the subject of a recent polemic between recently dismissed Deputy Prime Minister Akhmed Zakayev and Press and Information Minister Movladi Udugov. Sadulayev stressed that the work of bringing Chechnya\'s constitution into conformity with the norms of Islam began under then President Djokhar Dudayev in 1995 and continued under his successor Aslan Maskhadov, who in February 1999 declared the transition to rule exclusively by Islamic law. Sadulayev said the process of amending the constitution of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria was completed during the extended session of the War Council in the summer of 2002. (It was at that session that Sadulayev was chosen as Maskhadov\'s successor.) He said Article 1 of the constitution now reads: \"The Chechen Republic Ichkeria (ChRI) is a sovereign, independent, Islamic state based on the rule of law and created as a result of the self-determination of the Chechen people. The source of all decisions made is the Koran and the Sunna.\" Sadulayev further said that \"fulfilling their sacred duty before Allah, the Muslims of the Caucasus are uniting around the leadership of the ChRI and waging a national-liberation struggle to de-colonize the entire Caucasus.\" Finally, in what could be construed as a rebuke to Zakayev, who currently lives in London, Sadulayev stressed that the Koran differentiates between those who engage in jihad (holy struggle) and those who do not, ranking the former superior to the latter. The latter should bear in mind, Sadulayev continued, that they serve as assistants and advisers to the former, not as their bosses. (RFE/RL)