Russian hegemony and Islamic resistance: Ideology and political organization in Dagestan 1800–1930

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Notes

Please note that the spelling of Arabic words in the text of this paper reflects local pronunciation.

1. Islam does not recognize a divine right in hierarchical social relations. Rather Islamic law and morality require, in the words of M.A. Rodionov, that ‘All Muslims are brothers, and the nobility of each is measured by his personal piety, and not by his line of predecessors. People are as equal as the teeth of a comb, and there is no advantage of one man over another, apart for that which comes through piety’ (M.A. Rodionov, Islam the Classical, St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoye Vostokovedeniye 2001, p.35.) Whereas Islamic society is also characterized by class structures, these derive from personal qualities without religious legitimation.

2. ‘The Basilica of Truth and the Garden of Refinement’, in the Manuscript Archive of the Dagestan Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Science, F3, No.94.

3. Centres of Sufi education and practice.

4. This is the theory of A. Alikberov, who thinks that this was the way that Islam spread through Dagestan. See A. Alikberov, The ‘Raikhan al – Khakaik va bustan ad-Dakaik’ of Mohammad ad Darbandi as a Monument of Islamic Historiography, Doctoral Abstract, St. Petersburg, 1991. Also see articles by the same author in Islam on the Territory of the Former Russian Empire: Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1st edn, Moscow, 1998 (‘al-Barrak’, ‘al-Gadayiri’, ad-Darbandi', ‘al Lakzi Yousuf’, ‘al Ikzy Mammus’, ‘al-Fukayi’).

5. A tariqat is a Sufi brotherhood consisting of a teacher, or sheikh, and his disciples, or murids.

6. These famous words are commonly quoted in numerous documents from the period. For example, see A. Neverovsky, On the Rise of Unrest in the Northern and Middle Caucasus, St. Petersburg, 1847.

7. Koran, 2:43.

8. Islamic judges.

9. Koran, 2:271.

10. F. Bodenstedt, People's of the Caucasus and their Wars of Liberation, translated from German, (Mahachkala: Daggiz – Dagestani Editorial House – 1996), p.44. The original edition was published in Berlin in 1847. Four chapters of the book, in which the events of the emergence of Muridism were described were translated into Russian and published in the journal, Our Dagestan. In 1996, the same chapters were published as a pamphlet.

11. This conception may be compared usefully to Western notions of ‘liberation theology’. These refer to claims that people should liberate themselves from social, economic and political repression in this world, and not wait until the imperfections of this world are corrected in the other world. Doctrines of liberation theology are associated particularly with radical Catholic groups that appeared in Latin America during the 1960s. For example, see T. Louson and G. Harrod, Sociology A–Z Dictionary (Moscow: Grand, 2000), p.479.

12. A.G. Agaev, Magomed Yaragsky: Islamic Philosopher, Champion of Faith, Freedom, Morality (Mahachkala: 1996), pp.85–6.

13. Ibid. 76.

14. During the Crimean War, Britain briefly considered intervention in the Caucasian War on the side of Shamil.

15. Adat (Arabic tradition) – folk traditions customary among various ethnic groups. Islamic jurisprudence recognizes the importance of adat in the regulation of everyday life within Islamic law. The movement of muridism in Dagestan declared ‘the war against adat on behalf of sharia,’ and this slogan played an important role. Dagestani folklore refers to this period in the struggle against the Russian colonial regime as ‘the time of sharia’.

16. Islamic jurisprudence (Fikh) allows additional sources of judicial authority besides the ‘four roots’: 1) Koran, 2) Sunna, 3) Idjm, unanimous opinion of spiritual leaders, and 4) Kiyas, decision made by analogy with the Koran and the Sunna. For example, it is possible to use Istislakh (Arabic – taking into account all interests or considering the interests.) At the base of the concept of Istaslakh is the idea that the main goal of Sharia is the preservation of Islam as the religion, maintenance of Muslim well-being, care for their spiritual state, ensuring the continuation of generations, protection of property, etc. Therefore, the Fakikhs (lawyers) could make independent judicial decisions, so long as these are consistent with the preceding objectives. Another method, known as Istikhsan (preference) is based on the possibility of making individual or isolated decisions as exceptions in a particular case. The reason for such an exceptional decision might be, for instance, the fact that another decision prescribed by Sharia would contradict local tradition with a potential for social disruption. Shafiya Mazkhab (one of the four common Islamic judicial interpretations), which is commonly practised in Dagestan, recognizes decisions that are based on traditional law – adat – and common sense.

17. In practice, even Shail was forced to deviate from sharia strictures when these fell too far from traditional Dagestani conceptions of justice.

18. Province.

19. S.G. Rybakov, Islam in the Russian Empire: Legislation, Descriptions, Statistics (Moscow: Academkniga, 2001), p.267.

20. Including maktabs, or mosque schools, and medrese.

21. M.O. Kosven, Study of the History of Dagestan, Vol.1, (Mahachkala: 1957), p.371.

22. Then the capital of Dagestan, this central Dagestani town is now known as Buinaksk.

23. A. Isaev, ‘Spiritual Literature of the Native Dagestani Languages’, Islam and Islamic Culture in Dagestan, Moscow 2001.

24. See M.B. Broxup, ‘The Last Ghazawat: The 1920–21 Uprising’, in M.B. Broxup et al. (eds.), The North Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance towards the Muslim World (London: C. Hurst, 1992).

25. Vedeno, in the mountains of south-eastern Chechnya, near the border of Dagestan, is the home of the contemporary Chechen leader, Shamil Basaev.

26. J. Stalin, Works (Moscow: Politzdat, 1947), Vol.4, pp.395–6.

27. National committee, or ministry.

28. G.N. Kakagasanov, ‘Religious Muslim Mosque Schools in Dagestan’, Islam and Islamic Culture in Dagestan (Moscow: Nauka, 2001), p.132.

29. G.Sh. Kaimarazov, ‘The Muslim System of Education in Dagestan’, Islam and Islamic Culture in Dagestan (Moscow: Nauka, 2001).

30. N.P. Samursky, Dagestan (Mahachkala: 1925), pp.126–7.

31. G.N. Kakagasanov, ‘Religious Muslim Mosque Schools in Dagestan’, Islam and Islamic Culture in Dagestan (Moscow: Nauka, 2001).

32. M.O. Kosven, Study of the History of Dagestan (Mahachkala: 1957), Vol.2, p.212.

33. O. Bobrovnikov, Muslims of the Northern Caucasus: Tradition, Law, Violence: The Study of the History and Ethnography of Law of Mountain Dagestan (Moscow: Nauka, 2002), p.230.

34. G.N. Kakagasanov, ‘Religious Muslim Mosque Schools in Dagestan’, Islam and Islamic Culture in Dagestan (Moscow: Nauka, 2001).

35. See R. Christopher Preston, ‘Islam in Russia under the Federal Law on Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations: Official Tolerance in an Intolerant Society’, Brigham Young University Law Review, 2 (2001), pp.773–815.

36. A djuma mosque is a main mosque, analogous to a ‘cathedral’ mosque. See E. Kisriev, ‘Factors of Stability in Dagestan: Russia and Islamic World’, Bulletin of Referential and Analytical Information, 7, 2001.

37. Ibid.