Afraid they would not accept him with the Russian name Seleznyov he dropped it for the more Islamic name Odizhev. He studied there one year before joining the Confederation of Caucasus Peoples' Kabardin Battalion who fought in the Abkhaz rebellion against Georgia in 1992. When the barge that his platoon was on, sank, he had to stay in ice-cold water for hours and damaged his lungs.[2] One year later, he returned to the Islamic Institute, but soon left it to study at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.