Home to one of the oldest Islamic cultures in the world, Dagestan cherishes an extensive and exce... more Home to one of the oldest Islamic cultures in the world, Dagestan cherishes an extensive and exceptional history of engagement with the Qur’an. For scholars of European Islam, the region is of paramount importance as it offers a unique case study: local multilingual and multi-ethnic Muslim communities were practically fully proficient in written and spoken Classical Arabic from the eighth until the first half of the twentieth century, which resulted in practices of reading, understanding and using the Qur’anic text that differ from those of Volga-Ural Muslims or Belarusian Tatars, for example.1 Although there has been a steadily growing academic interest in this region’s linguistic and cultural past, the mediatory role of Dagestan in connecting the Arabic-speaking world with non-Arabophone Muslim communities in Europe remains largely understudied. In this contribution, as a way to address that lacuna, we aim to present a broad overview of local practices related to reading, copying, commenting on, and translating the Qur’an, as well as the use of the Qur’an as a sacred object. In addition, we aim to introduce the English-speaking reader to the existing literature, written mainly in Russian,2 Qur’ans produced in Dagestan. Far from being an exhaustive survey of any sort, this contribution rather outlines specifics of engagement with the scripture on the southeastern frontiers of Europe from the early medieval to the modern period.
Over the last decades Russian journalists and scholars of religious, political, and Islamic studi... more Over the last decades Russian journalists and scholars of religious, political, and Islamic studies have been discussing what makes “good” and “bad” Islam, what kind of Islam is useful, correct and “traditional” for Russia, and what Islam is harmful, wrong and “not traditional.” Government officials, religious functionaries, and the leaders of the Islamic communities in the Russian Federation participate in this debate. The various contributors to this debate often ignore the heterogeneity of Islam, including the multitude of Islamic trends and movements that developed in the various regions of Russia. Equally ignored are the historical conditions under which these trends emerged and developed, as well as the historical polemics and debates among various Muslim elites themselves. In the North Caucasus, debates about “right” and “wrong” forms of Islam have been unfolding from the late Russian imperial period and throughout the Soviet era. Already during the long jihād in Daghestan and Chechnya (ca. 1828–1859), Muslim scholars engaged in heated discussions and polemics about the legitimacy, from the point of view of sharīʿa, of Imam Shamil’s Islamic state project, of his jihād against Russia, as well as of his call to hijra, meaning his demand that Muslims living under non-Islamic rule should move to the regions he controlled to support the jihād.1 Equally heated were debates about the relationship between Sufism and jihād, that is, whether the Naqshbandiyya Sufi brotherhood indeed served as an instrument, or even as an ideology, of Shamil’s struggle against Russian rule. In Daghestan, these discussions continued after the end of the Great Caucasus War in 1864 in the polemical writings of pre-revolutionary Muslim scholars. The aim of this chapter is not to give a survey of these historical and contemporary debates; neither is it an attempt to answer the question of which Islam is “right” and which is “wrong.” Rather, this chapter will study the Soviet pre-history of the current Islamic discourse in the region by focusing on Daghestani writings from the 1920s to the 1980s. I am specifically interested in how the discourse about “traditional” Islam functioned in this period, and how different fractions of the religious elite presented their various positions on this issue after it had been legalized (with important limitations) in the USSR in the mid-1940s.
The Piety of Learning: Islamic Studies in Honor of Stefan Reichmuth, ed. by Michael Kemper, Ralf Elger. Series: Islamic History and Civilization, 2017
This paper is about two regional Naqshbandiyya groups in the late Russian
Empire—one in the Tata... more This paper is about two regional Naqshbandiyya groups in the late Russian
Empire—one in the Tatar and Bashkir lands of the Volga-Urals, and the other
in the multi-ethnic North Caucasus—and how they got in touch and became,
for a short period, connected. These inter-regional Sufi links were established
through active networking, and found their reflection in Arabic-language ijāza
documents; these are the “licenses to teach” that individual Sufi masters issue
to their disciples, and also, as we will see, to senior visitors. Ijāzas are therefore
central to our analysis of Sufi networks.
The two documents that we are presenting and analyzing below are fatwas from the Soviet Spiritual... more The two documents that we are presenting and analyzing below are fatwas from the Soviet Spiritual Administration for the Muslims of the North Caucasus (Dukhovnoe upravlenie musul’man severnogo Kavkaza, DUMSK), dating, respectively from 1959 and 1986, that is, from the Khrushchev and from the Gorbachev period. The 1959 fatwas signed by Mufti Magomed-Khadzhi Kurbanov (1888-1975, in office 1950-1975), the one of 1986 was written by Mufti Makhmud Gekkiev (1935-2010, in office 1978-1989). Both fatwas attack shrine veneration in Daghestan, a practice commonly associated with Sufism. And still, the two fatwas and their authors differ in a number of interesting ways that reflect the history of the North Caucasian Islamic Administration over the Soviet decades.
Аннотация: Публикуется письмо Патимат Гусейновой из Нижнего Казанища на имя алима Нурмухаммада ал... more Аннотация: Публикуется письмо Патимат Гусейновой из Нижнего Казанища на имя алима Нурмухаммада ал-Авари (нач. ХХ в.), в котором речь идет о неравном положении женщин в дагестанском обществе. Приведено несколько примеров, которые иллюстрируют, что женщины, наравне с мужчинами, могут достигнуть немалых успехов в овладении религией и разными науками, а также в сочинении поэтических и других художественных произведений. Abstract: The authors of the article analyze the letter written by Patimat Guseinova from Nizhnee Kazanishche to Nurmukhammad al-Avari (the beginning of the 20 th century), which deals with women's disadvantage in Dagestan society. The article presents several examples illustrating that women can keep up with men in mastering religion and various sciences, and in making poetry and other types of fiction as well. Ключевые слова: Патимат Гусейнова, Нурмухаммад ал-Авари, положение женщины в мусульманском мире. Keywords: Patimat Guseinova, Nurmukhammad al-Avari, position of women in the Muslim world. Автор публикуемого ниже письма Фатима (Патимат Гусейнова) являлась дочерью известного шейха накшбандийского тариката – устаза Арслан'али-хаджи Гусейнова из Нижнего Казанища (ныне Буйнакского района РД). Её отец был арестован в первые годы Советской власти в 1927 г. и как духовное лицо осужден на длительный срок. В селе он построил на свои средства медресе, где состоял мударрисом и обучал как мальчиков, так и девочек. Здесь же обучалась и его дочь Патимат, которая оказалась девушкой необычайно талантливой: она прекрасно знала арабский язык, великолепно владела рядом религиозных наук, писала собственные стихотворения на кумыкском и арабском языках. Волею судеб небольшой сборник её стихов оказался в городе Хасавюрте, где был обнаружен нами в личной коллекции Джабраила Хайруллаева, уроженца Нижнего Казанища, в 1983 году. Патимат, дочь шейха Арслан'али умерла в возрасте 24–25-и лет от роду, в начале 20-х гг. прошлого столетия. Год ее рождения пока неизвестен. Она похоронена в родном селении, а на её могиле, над которой имеется арабоязычная стела, установленная в ее честь, земляки построили зиярат (пир), который часто посещают сельчане и другие люди из окрестных сёл, особенно женщины, почитая её как непорочную и святую девушку.
Home to one of the oldest Islamic cultures in the world, Dagestan cherishes an extensive and exce... more Home to one of the oldest Islamic cultures in the world, Dagestan cherishes an extensive and exceptional history of engagement with the Qur’an. For scholars of European Islam, the region is of paramount importance as it offers a unique case study: local multilingual and multi-ethnic Muslim communities were practically fully proficient in written and spoken Classical Arabic from the eighth until the first half of the twentieth century, which resulted in practices of reading, understanding and using the Qur’anic text that differ from those of Volga-Ural Muslims or Belarusian Tatars, for example.1 Although there has been a steadily growing academic interest in this region’s linguistic and cultural past, the mediatory role of Dagestan in connecting the Arabic-speaking world with non-Arabophone Muslim communities in Europe remains largely understudied. In this contribution, as a way to address that lacuna, we aim to present a broad overview of local practices related to reading, copying, commenting on, and translating the Qur’an, as well as the use of the Qur’an as a sacred object. In addition, we aim to introduce the English-speaking reader to the existing literature, written mainly in Russian,2 Qur’ans produced in Dagestan. Far from being an exhaustive survey of any sort, this contribution rather outlines specifics of engagement with the scripture on the southeastern frontiers of Europe from the early medieval to the modern period.
Over the last decades Russian journalists and scholars of religious, political, and Islamic studi... more Over the last decades Russian journalists and scholars of religious, political, and Islamic studies have been discussing what makes “good” and “bad” Islam, what kind of Islam is useful, correct and “traditional” for Russia, and what Islam is harmful, wrong and “not traditional.” Government officials, religious functionaries, and the leaders of the Islamic communities in the Russian Federation participate in this debate. The various contributors to this debate often ignore the heterogeneity of Islam, including the multitude of Islamic trends and movements that developed in the various regions of Russia. Equally ignored are the historical conditions under which these trends emerged and developed, as well as the historical polemics and debates among various Muslim elites themselves. In the North Caucasus, debates about “right” and “wrong” forms of Islam have been unfolding from the late Russian imperial period and throughout the Soviet era. Already during the long jihād in Daghestan and Chechnya (ca. 1828–1859), Muslim scholars engaged in heated discussions and polemics about the legitimacy, from the point of view of sharīʿa, of Imam Shamil’s Islamic state project, of his jihād against Russia, as well as of his call to hijra, meaning his demand that Muslims living under non-Islamic rule should move to the regions he controlled to support the jihād.1 Equally heated were debates about the relationship between Sufism and jihād, that is, whether the Naqshbandiyya Sufi brotherhood indeed served as an instrument, or even as an ideology, of Shamil’s struggle against Russian rule. In Daghestan, these discussions continued after the end of the Great Caucasus War in 1864 in the polemical writings of pre-revolutionary Muslim scholars. The aim of this chapter is not to give a survey of these historical and contemporary debates; neither is it an attempt to answer the question of which Islam is “right” and which is “wrong.” Rather, this chapter will study the Soviet pre-history of the current Islamic discourse in the region by focusing on Daghestani writings from the 1920s to the 1980s. I am specifically interested in how the discourse about “traditional” Islam functioned in this period, and how different fractions of the religious elite presented their various positions on this issue after it had been legalized (with important limitations) in the USSR in the mid-1940s.
The Piety of Learning: Islamic Studies in Honor of Stefan Reichmuth, ed. by Michael Kemper, Ralf Elger. Series: Islamic History and Civilization, 2017
This paper is about two regional Naqshbandiyya groups in the late Russian
Empire—one in the Tata... more This paper is about two regional Naqshbandiyya groups in the late Russian
Empire—one in the Tatar and Bashkir lands of the Volga-Urals, and the other
in the multi-ethnic North Caucasus—and how they got in touch and became,
for a short period, connected. These inter-regional Sufi links were established
through active networking, and found their reflection in Arabic-language ijāza
documents; these are the “licenses to teach” that individual Sufi masters issue
to their disciples, and also, as we will see, to senior visitors. Ijāzas are therefore
central to our analysis of Sufi networks.
The two documents that we are presenting and analyzing below are fatwas from the Soviet Spiritual... more The two documents that we are presenting and analyzing below are fatwas from the Soviet Spiritual Administration for the Muslims of the North Caucasus (Dukhovnoe upravlenie musul’man severnogo Kavkaza, DUMSK), dating, respectively from 1959 and 1986, that is, from the Khrushchev and from the Gorbachev period. The 1959 fatwas signed by Mufti Magomed-Khadzhi Kurbanov (1888-1975, in office 1950-1975), the one of 1986 was written by Mufti Makhmud Gekkiev (1935-2010, in office 1978-1989). Both fatwas attack shrine veneration in Daghestan, a practice commonly associated with Sufism. And still, the two fatwas and their authors differ in a number of interesting ways that reflect the history of the North Caucasian Islamic Administration over the Soviet decades.
Аннотация: Публикуется письмо Патимат Гусейновой из Нижнего Казанища на имя алима Нурмухаммада ал... more Аннотация: Публикуется письмо Патимат Гусейновой из Нижнего Казанища на имя алима Нурмухаммада ал-Авари (нач. ХХ в.), в котором речь идет о неравном положении женщин в дагестанском обществе. Приведено несколько примеров, которые иллюстрируют, что женщины, наравне с мужчинами, могут достигнуть немалых успехов в овладении религией и разными науками, а также в сочинении поэтических и других художественных произведений. Abstract: The authors of the article analyze the letter written by Patimat Guseinova from Nizhnee Kazanishche to Nurmukhammad al-Avari (the beginning of the 20 th century), which deals with women's disadvantage in Dagestan society. The article presents several examples illustrating that women can keep up with men in mastering religion and various sciences, and in making poetry and other types of fiction as well. Ключевые слова: Патимат Гусейнова, Нурмухаммад ал-Авари, положение женщины в мусульманском мире. Keywords: Patimat Guseinova, Nurmukhammad al-Avari, position of women in the Muslim world. Автор публикуемого ниже письма Фатима (Патимат Гусейнова) являлась дочерью известного шейха накшбандийского тариката – устаза Арслан'али-хаджи Гусейнова из Нижнего Казанища (ныне Буйнакского района РД). Её отец был арестован в первые годы Советской власти в 1927 г. и как духовное лицо осужден на длительный срок. В селе он построил на свои средства медресе, где состоял мударрисом и обучал как мальчиков, так и девочек. Здесь же обучалась и его дочь Патимат, которая оказалась девушкой необычайно талантливой: она прекрасно знала арабский язык, великолепно владела рядом религиозных наук, писала собственные стихотворения на кумыкском и арабском языках. Волею судеб небольшой сборник её стихов оказался в городе Хасавюрте, где был обнаружен нами в личной коллекции Джабраила Хайруллаева, уроженца Нижнего Казанища, в 1983 году. Патимат, дочь шейха Арслан'али умерла в возрасте 24–25-и лет от роду, в начале 20-х гг. прошлого столетия. Год ее рождения пока неизвестен. Она похоронена в родном селении, а на её могиле, над которой имеется арабоязычная стела, установленная в ее честь, земляки построили зиярат (пир), который часто посещают сельчане и другие люди из окрестных сёл, особенно женщины, почитая её как непорочную и святую девушку.
Статья посвящена исследованию художественных особенностей и типологии над-могильных памятников, ... more Статья посвящена исследованию художественных особенностей и типологии над-могильных памятников, а также арабских надписей на них, сохранившихся на террито-рии средневекового дагестанского городища Таргу. Установлена приблизительная дати-ровка памятников. Аргументировано предположение о том, что саркофагообразные надгробия принадлежат представителям знати огузского происхождения. Ключевые слова: Таргу, надмогильные памятники, арабская эпиграфика, декор, типология. Городище Таргу расположено на реке Гамри-озень в предгорной зоне, не-далеко от кумыкских селений Алхаджакент и Гаша Каякентского района Рес-публики Дагестан. До разрушения в VIII в. арабами Таргу являлся главным го-родом средневекового дагестанского владения Хамрин. В августе 2006 г. на территории городища нами исследован комплекс ста-рых надгробий, которые расположены рядом с почитаемым местными мусуль-манами святилищем, известным под названием «Пир Огланбеги». Пир пред-ставляет собой прямоугольную камеру с размерами 280 × 225 × 230 см. Внутри камеры находится небольшая плита 50 × 36 × 10 см из камня скальной породы со сколотым заострённым верхом. Стена камеры напротив входа направлена на киблу, а сам памятник – на юго-восток. Плита покрыта толстым слоем извести, что делает чтение имеющихся на ней надписей невозможным. Текст из трёх строк не читается, но рельефно просматривается, как и орнаментальная лента с геометрическим рисунком. Судя по всему, памятник – средневекового проис-хождения. Примерно в 10 м ниже по пологому склону расположен другой пир, внутри которого находится небольшая прямоугольная плита с размерами 59 × 40 × 16 см из светло-коричневого камня скальной породы. Арабоязычная эпитафия из пяти строк выполнена крупными буквами в низком рельефе с сохранением окру-жающего фона. Текст читается частично: «1) Владелец этой [могилы] 2) умер от… 3) ради Аллаха и ради 4) послан-ника Аллаха 5) …Аллах…». Манера нанесения текста и его палеографические особенности позволяют предполагать, что эпитафия была составлена не позже XVIII в.
This article analyzes the interplay of Jadidism and " Qadimism " in the North Caucasus region of ... more This article analyzes the interplay of Jadidism and " Qadimism " in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan, through the twentieth century, with a focus on educational methods for teaching Arabic and Islam. In the multi-ethnic context of Daghestan the issue of pedagogy was important not only for teaching the vernaculars but also for the transmission of Arabic, which retained its importance as a lingua franca of Daghestani scholars and intellectuals well into the Soviet period. We argue that all through the Soviet era, " Qadimism " (as the traditional teaching system) continued to be practiced in Daghestan alongside Jadid approaches, and both are still employed in the new Islamic schools that emerged in the early 1990s. Innovative aspects of this paper are: (1) it brings Daghestan into the debate about Jadidism, which has so far centered on the Volga-Urals and Central Asia; (2) it examines Jadidism in constant interaction with its competitor " Qadimism " , not as its antipode; and (3) it uses a longitudinal approach that covers the whole of the twentieth century, all historical breaks notwithstanding. Finally, this paper explores new methodologies by using the personal educational experience of one of its co-authors, who went through the mixed " Qadim " /Jadid/ Soviet system in the 1980s and early 1990s. Our observations challenge the widespread assumption that Jadidism was overall an undoubted success story, and that " Qadimism " as a method was, after the establishment of Soviet power and even more so after its dissolution, bound to disappear.
В начале ХХ века дагестанские шейхи Шарафуддин ал-Кикуни, Шуайб ал-Багини и Хасан ал-Кахи написал... more В начале ХХ века дагестанские шейхи Шарафуддин ал-Кикуни, Шуайб ал-Багини и Хасан ал-Кахи написали биографии суфийских накшбандийских шейхов, в том числе дагестанских. В своих сочинениях авторы описывают многочисленные примеры чудотворств, которые обозначаются термином «карамат». В данной статье приводятся примеры чудотворств шейхов, описанные авторами сочинений, они типологизируются, также рассматриваются теоретические взгляды суфиев на природу «караматов».
Резюме: Основываясь на новейшем эмпирическом материале, описывающем современное со-стояние исламс... more Резюме: Основываясь на новейшем эмпирическом материале, описывающем современное со-стояние исламской традиции на Северо-Восточном Кавказе, авторы статьи показывают важнейшие направления и тенденции развития суфизма, процессы взаимодействия и дивергенции суфийских структур (в том числе с учетом чрезвычайно важного на этой территории этнического фактора), общие духовные истоки, ценности и авторитеты, сложное и неоднозначное отношение к политическому исламу. Подчеркивается мысль, что противопоставлять суфизм политическому исламу нельзя: в определенных общественно-политических условиях суфизм сам может вы-ступать и в подобной ипостаси. Исследование проводилось с использованием методологии системно-коммуникационного подхода, различающего политическую, этническую, религиозную и иные формы коммуникации. В центре внимания авторов находятся локальные формы бытования суфизма в условиях культурно-сложных обществ, их преобладание в местной религиозной практике, реальное содержание, способы и формы этнорелигиозной коммуникации, проблемы взаимодействия различных суфийских традиций с другими течениями ислама, в том числе с исламским фундаментализмом. Изучение очерченных проблем позволяет делать вывод о том, что процессы общественной трансформации на Северо-Восточном Кавказе, начавшиеся после распада СССР, уже, вероятно, вступили в завершающую стадию.
ВЕСТНИК САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА. ВОСТОКОВЕДЕНИЕ И АФРИКАНИСТИКА, 2020
The village of Khadagi is a small settlement of historical Kaytag (Khaydaq), located at the cross... more The village of Khadagi is a small settlement of historical Kaytag (Khaydaq), located at the crossroads of the oldest tracks connecting the north and the south, the coast of the Caspian Sea and the mountains. This circumstance seems to explain the presence of extreme diversity of tombstones in the Khadagi village and its vicinity, which comprised of various cultural traditions. This fact greatly distinguishes it from the neighboring mountain areas, where for centuries there has been a continuity in burial traditions as well as in the form, epigraphy and decoration of tombstones. The article describes the most notable tombstones of the Khadagi burial grounds: gravestone complexes consisting of horizontal tombstones with vertical stelas adjacent to them; horizontal sarcophagus-like tombstones; burial complex of a vertical tombstone and an adjoining vertical stela; vertical stelas of various shapes, including anthropomorphous ones. The paper provides with texts of the epitaphs and their translation into Russian. Due consideration was also given to features of the writing style, methods of engraving and ornamentation of the monuments. Some of the monuments described in the article are dated in writing, more specifically by the following dates: A.H.753 (1352-53); A.H. 868 (1463-64); A.H.1050 (1640-41); A.H.1210(1795-96).This fact will play a crucial role in dating typologically similar (in forms, epigraphy, ornamentation) tombstones of the region, and will contribute to uncovering the cultural ties. The following method of dating the Khadagi stelas has been used: some of the stelas are associated with certain periods of history due to their typological similarity with already known and dated monuments of the region.
Вестник Московского университета. Востоковедение, 2020
The article presents the study of tombstones dated between the 13th – beginning of the 18th c., l... more The article presents the study of tombstones dated between the 13th – beginning of the 18th c., located in the Dagestan village of Shiri, and is mainly devoted to Arabic epitaphs. The article provides the texts, translations of the epitaphs from Arabic into Russian as well as the features of the writing style and engraving methods. Analysis of the epitaphs, their consideration in the context of forms of stelas and their ornamentation allow to date the monuments and trace back the development of stone-cutting art in the region, obtain valuable information on the religious, political, economic and cultural history of the East Caucasus.
The article is devoted to the references to the Tatar scholar Shihabaddin Mardjani in the Dagesta... more The article is devoted to the references to the Tatar scholar Shihabaddin Mardjani in the Dagestani Arabic-script manuscripts written in the first third of the 20th century. Daghestani scholars noted the important role of Mardjani and his works in the intellectual history of Islam. For this reason, they travelled to Kazan to get an acquaintance with him and copied his works. Dagestani scholars wrote reviews on his works as well as dedicated poems to Mardjani himself. Later, the name Mardjani entered the Dagestani legal tradition in the framework of debates on taqlid and ijtihad. Along with classical Arab scholars, the name of Mardjani has been often referred in Daghestani manuscripts on the theory of Muslim Law. Althoug Dagestani Muslim jurists held different views on issues of taqlid and ijtihad, each of them interpreted the ideas of Mardjani on Islamic legal issues in his own way. Regardless of their preferences in the matters of theory of Islamic law, Dagestani scholars highly va...
Анализ ряда статей имперских и раннесоветских газет и журналов, включая издание «Джаридат Дагиста... more Анализ ряда статей имперских и раннесоветских газет и журналов, включая издание «Джаридат Дагистан», показывает, что в них в некоторой степени перекочевала та богословская дискуссия, которая существовала в Дагестане в рукописной традиции на протяжении более трехсот лет. Это касается некоторых вопросов теории мусульманского права (проблема таклида и иджтихада), равно как и некоторые практические правовые вопросы в области культа (‘ибада) и сфере взаимоотношений между людьми (му‘амала). В конце 1960-х гг. в Ташкенте был основан журнал «Мусульмане Советского Востока», многие экземпляры которого на узбекском (в арабской графике) и на арабском языке рассылались в Дагестан; разные номера этого журнала в настоящее время встречаются в ряде частных коллекций в Дагестане. Во многих статьях ощутимо влияние уже сформировавшейся к тому периоду советской востоковедной академической традиции. Статьи, посвященные теории и практике мусульманского права, разным вопросам мусульманского богословия, пр...
This article analyzes the interplay of Jadidism and “Qadimism” in the North Caucasus region of Da... more This article analyzes the interplay of Jadidism and “Qadimism” in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan, through the twentieth century, with a focus on educational methods for teaching Arabic and Islam. In the multi-ethnic context of Daghestan the issue of pedagogy was important not only for teaching the vernaculars but also for the transmission of Arabic, which retained its importance as a
As one of the first scholarly studies of Jirāb al-Mamnūn, a collection of letters by the Daghesta... more As one of the first scholarly studies of Jirāb al-Mamnūn, a collection of letters by the Daghestani Shāfiʿī scholar Ḥasan al-Alqadārī (1834–1910), this article challenges the ijtihād/taqlīd dichotomy within Islamic legal thought and argues for a more comprehensive understanding of the dialectic between reason and authority. Along the way, we examine the influence of al-Alqadārī’s taqlīd-based methodology on his attitudes toward confessional differences within and outside Islam. The article contributes to current debates on the role of reason and authority in the writings of Muslim scholars living under colonial rule.
The Soviet government's post-WWII resettlement policy as well as the spontaneous migrations o... more The Soviet government's post-WWII resettlement policy as well as the spontaneous migrations of highlanders to the lowlands in the 1990s has deeply modified vectors and contents of the development of Dagestan's religious culture. Despite the harsh measures successively taken by the Soviet power against Sufism, and the overall secularization policy implemented in the USSR, rural mass migration from uplands to lowlands produced unprecedented change in the level of religious consciousness and of religious culture among open country dwellers. Lowland districts, initially secularised after the antireligious campaigns of the 1920s-30s, were transformed in the 1950s-80s by the immigration of settlers from the highlands into major religious centres with different types of religious culture, from the Sufis of varied affiliations to non-Sufi bearers of the Shafii juridical tradition and recent Salafis, endowed with the diverse confessional cultures borne, respectively, by dwellers and ...
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Empire—one in the Tatar and Bashkir lands of the Volga-Urals, and the other
in the multi-ethnic North Caucasus—and how they got in touch and became,
for a short period, connected. These inter-regional Sufi links were established
through active networking, and found their reflection in Arabic-language ijāza
documents; these are the “licenses to teach” that individual Sufi masters issue
to their disciples, and also, as we will see, to senior visitors. Ijāzas are therefore
central to our analysis of Sufi networks.
Empire—one in the Tatar and Bashkir lands of the Volga-Urals, and the other
in the multi-ethnic North Caucasus—and how they got in touch and became,
for a short period, connected. These inter-regional Sufi links were established
through active networking, and found their reflection in Arabic-language ijāza
documents; these are the “licenses to teach” that individual Sufi masters issue
to their disciples, and also, as we will see, to senior visitors. Ijāzas are therefore
central to our analysis of Sufi networks.
The article describes the most notable tombstones of the Khadagi burial grounds: gravestone complexes consisting of horizontal tombstones with vertical stelas adjacent to them; horizontal sarcophagus-like tombstones; burial complex of a vertical tombstone and an adjoining vertical stela; vertical stelas of various shapes, including anthropomorphous ones. The paper provides with texts of the epitaphs and their translation into Russian. Due consideration was also given to features of the writing style, methods of engraving and ornamentation of the monuments.
Some of the monuments described in the article are dated in writing, more specifically by the following dates: A.H.753 (1352-53); A.H. 868 (1463-64); A.H.1050 (1640-41); A.H.1210(1795-96).This fact will play a crucial role in dating typologically similar (in forms, epigraphy, ornamentation) tombstones of the region, and will contribute to uncovering the cultural ties.
The following method of dating the Khadagi stelas has been used: some of the stelas are associated with certain periods of history due to their typological similarity with already known and dated monuments of the region.