The 2016 conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny was convened to define the term "Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah",[8] i.e. who are "the people of Sunnah and majority Muslim community",[9][Note 1] and oppose Takfiri groups.[11] The conference was held in the Chechen Republic capital of Grozny[12] from 25–27 August 2016, sponsored by the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and attended by approximately 200 Muslim scholars from 30 countries, especially from Russia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Kuwait, Sudan, Jordan, etc. at the invitation of Yemeni Sufi preacher, Ali al-Jifri.[8][13][14]

The conference was dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the birth of Kadyrov's father, Akhmad Kadyrov, the first President of Chechnya.[15][16]

The conference was notable for excluding representatives of Wahhabi and Salafi movements, and for its definition of Sunni Muslims in the final communiqué of the conference that included Sufis, Ash’arites and Maturidis, but not Wahhabis or Salafis.[8][9] It identified Salafism/Wahhabism as a dangerous and misguided sect, along with the extremist groups, such as ISIS, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Muslim Brotherhood and others.[17][18]

The conference definition stated:

“Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah are the Ash’arites and Maturidis (adherents of the theological systems of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi and Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari). In matters of belief, they are followers of any of the four schools of thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i or Hanbali) and are also the followers of the Sufism of Imam Junaid al-Baghdadi in doctrines, manners and [spiritual] purification."[19]