Imam Shamil - biography, photographs. Imam Shamil: biography, activities, achievements and interesting facts

In 1859, one of the bloody pages of the history of Russia and the Caucasus turned over. After a months-long siege, Russian troops took the village of Gunib in Dagestan and captured the famous leader of the highlanders, Imam Shamil. For more than a quarter of a century, he was one of the most stubborn and elusive enemies of the Russian Empire.

In the early 1830s, Shamil created multinational state, which united Chechens, Ingush, Avars (Shamil himself was an Avar), Lezgins and representatives of a number of small Dagestan nationalities. Shamil rallied them on the basis of muridism - a militant movement in Islam, the main idea of ​​which is a holy war against the “infidels” (gazavat) as the duty of every Muslim. Shamil became an autocratic ruler who concentrated spiritual, secular and military power in his hands - the imam of a theocratic state.

At first, Shamil was one of the companions of the first imam, Kazi-Mulla, who in 1829 rebelled against Russian domination in the Caucasus. But during the capture of the village of Gimry by Russian troops in 1832, Kazi-Mulla was killed. His successor Gamzat-bek also did not last long - he fell victim to inter-tribal squabbles. And then the supreme authority among the murids (fighters for the faith) passed to Shamil. He settled in the village of Akhulgo and gave rise to a new round of the struggle of the peoples of the Caucasus for independence.

Shamil skillfully used diplomatic methods. In the first years of his reign, he managed to keep the Russian administration from military action through negotiations. When Russian troops finally took Akhulgo in 1837, Shamil agreed to swear allegiance to the Russian emperor. However, Shamil used the peaceful respite thus obtained to strengthen his power and consolidate the forces of the mountaineers in order to resume the confrontation.

In 1839, Russian troops again captured Akhulgo, but Shamil managed to escape. The Russian authorities considered his case lost and did not pursue him, and again they miscalculated. Settling this time in the Chechen village of Dargo, Shamil repelled the Russian offensive in 1842. And in 1845, when Dargo finally fell under the onslaught of formations of the imperial army, our troops were ambushed during the retreat and were destroyed by the murids.

The next 12 years were the peak of Shamil's political power. The power of the imam extended to the entire Mountainous Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya and some northwestern regions of present-day Azerbaijan. In his state, Shamil steadily established order in accordance with Sharia. He cleverly strengthened his own power. And in order to prevent separatism, he divided the local military and judicial authorities.

Shamil had a broad political outlook. During the Eastern War (1853-1856), he tried to find allies in Turkey and England and asked them for help with weapons and money (but did not receive it due to communication difficulties). Shamil also established relationships with the fighters for independence in the Western Caucasus - the Circassian tribes.

Only after the end of the Eastern War Russian empire was able to return to the final conquest of the Caucasus. By that time, Shamil’s power was experiencing a crisis. Many mountaineers did not like the order established by Shamil, the arbitrariness of his qadis (judges) and naibs (military governors), and the unusual taxes introduced by the imam “to fight the infidels.” Some tribal authorities felt an increasing desire to make peace with the Russian administration on the terms of maintaining their traditional position. It became increasingly difficult for Shamil to control his comrades.

For a while, Shamil still managed to rally the highlanders in the face of the renewed offensive of the Russian army. But, when in the spring of 1859 the imperial troops under the command of infantry general A.A. Baryatinsky was besieged by Gunib, Shamil could either die or negotiate honorable terms of surrender. However, Shamil delayed the negotiations. Then Baryatinsky, on August 25, 1859, moved his units to storm Gunib. And Shamil was captured.

The Russian Empire treated its defeated enemies mercifully. In addition, the example of respectful treatment of Shamil should have prompted other leaders of the mountain resistance to stop fighting. Shamil was left the state treasury (which he turned into his personal one) and his harem. He also received a promise that in the future he would be given the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Shamil was settled in Kaluga, where the tsarist government rented for him the luxurious house of the local landowner Sukhotin. The noble captive was given a pension from the Russian treasury in the amount of 15 thousand rubles of that time per year. Emperor Alexander II himself received him and talked with him.

Shamil was allowed to travel around Russia. He watched with interest the innovations of technological progress that were then entering life - railways, steamships, telegraph; admired the huge stone buildings and temples, etc. They say that at the end of his life he expressed regret that he had fought the “white king” for so long. In 1866, on the anniversary of his capture, he solemnly took the oath of allegiance to the Russian crown.

In 1870, Shamil made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where, as predicted, he died the next year. He was buried in Medina. Shamil clearly made no mistake either when he fought or when he surrendered. He received everything from life - wealth, power, reverence and the sacred memory of the peoples he ruled, and at the end of his life, having lost only power, he received respect from the enemy who defeated him.

Origin

Shamil was born in the village of Gimry (Genub) of the Hindalal Avaria society (Avaristan; now Untsukul district, western Dagestan) on June 26 (July 7), 1797, according to the Muslim calendar, the first day of the month of Muharram, that is, on the first day of the New Year. His name was given in honor of his grandfather - Ali. As a child, he was sick a lot, and according to legend, his parents gave him a new name - Shamil (Shamuel - "Heard by God"), in honor of his uncle (mother's brother).

Spiritual formation

The boy was given the name Ali in honor of his grandfather. As a child he was thin, weak and often sick. According to the popular belief of the mountaineers, in such cases it was prescribed to rename the child. They decided to give him the name “Shamil” in honor of his uncle, his mother’s brother. Little Shamil began to recover and subsequently became a strong, healthy young man, amazing everyone with his strength.

As a child, he was distinguished by his liveliness of character and playfulness; He was playful, but not a single prank of his was aimed at harming anyone. Gimry elders said that Shamil in his youth was distinguished by a gloomy appearance, an unyielding will, curiosity, pride and a power-hungry disposition. He passionately loved gymnastics, he was unusually strong and courageous. No one could catch him as he ran. He also developed a passion for fencing; a dagger and saber never left his hands. In summer and winter, in all weathers, he walked with bare feet and an open chest.

Shamil's first teacher was his childhood friend Adil-Muhammad (Ghazi-Muhammad), originally from Gimra. Teacher and student were inseparable. Shamil began serious studies at the age of 12 in Untsukul, with his mentor Sheikh Jamaluddin Kazikumukhsky. At the age of 20 he completed courses in grammar, logic, rhetoric, Arabic and began courses in higher philosophy and law.

Imam Shamil

War with the Russian Empire

The sermons of Gazi-Muhammad, the first imam and preacher of the “holy war”, tore Shamil away from his books. New Muslim teaching of Ghazi-Muhammad; “Muridism” spread quickly. “Murid” means one who seeks the path to salvation. Muridism did not differ from classical Islam either in rituals or in teaching.

Besieged together with Imam Gazi-Muhammad in 1832 by troops under the command of General Velyaminov in a tower near his native village of Gimry, Shamil managed, although terribly wounded, to break through the ranks of the besiegers, while Imam Gazi-Muhammad, who was the first to rush into the attack, died. Much later, Shamil himself, while in Kaluga, described this battle as follows:

Kazi-Magomed said to Shamil: “Here we will all be killed and we will die without causing harm to the infidels; it’s better to go out and die fighting our way.” With these words, he pulled his hat over his eyes and rushed out of the door. He had just run out of the tower when a soldier hit him in the back of the head with a stone. Kazi-Magomed fell and was immediately stabbed to death with bayonets. Shamil, seeing that two soldiers stood opposite the doors with guns aimed, in an instant jumped out of the doors and found himself behind both. The soldiers immediately turned to him, but Shamil cut them down. The third soldier ran from him, but he caught up and killed him. At this time, the fourth soldier stuck a bayonet into his chest, so that the end entered his back. Shamil, grabbing the barrel of a gun with his right hand, chopped up a soldier with his left (he was left-handed), pulled out the bayonet and, holding the wound, began to chop in both directions, but did not kill anyone, because the soldiers ran away from him, amazed by his courage, and were afraid to shoot so that do not injure your own people surrounding Shamil.

On the advice of Said al-Arakani, in order to avoid new disturbances, the body of the imam was transported to Tarki, near the city of Petrovsk (now Makhachkala), to territory controlled by the enemy of Ghazi-Muhammad - Shamkhal Tarkovsky and Russian troops. In all likelihood, during a meeting with sister Fatimat, due to excitement in the blood, Shamil’s barely healed wound was opened, which is why it was not he who became the new imam, but Gamzat-bek Gotsatlinsky, another close associate of Gazi-Muhammad, the son of Aliskandirbek. This was at the end of 1832.

In 1834, Gamzat-bek managed to take Khunzakh and exterminate the Avar Nutsal dynasty. However, on September 19, 1834, Gamzat-bek was killed in the Khunzakh mosque by conspirators who took revenge on him for the extermination of the Nutsals.

Having become the third imam of Chechnya and Dagestan, Shamil united the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya for 25 years, successfully fighting against those who outnumbered him Russian troops. Less hasty than Gazi-Muhammad and Gamzat-bek, Shamil had military talent, and most importantly, great organizational skills, endurance, perseverance, and the ability to choose the time to strike. Distinguished by his strong and unyielding will, he knew how to inspire the highlanders to selfless struggle, but also to force them to obey his authority, which he extended to the internal affairs of the subject communities; the latter was difficult and unusual for the highlanders and especially the Chechens.

Shamil united under his rule all the societies of Western Dagestan (Avaro-Ando-Tsez jamaats) of Chechnya. Based on the teachings of Islam about " holy war"with the infidels (gazavat), and the struggle for independence attached to it, he tried to unite the disparate communities of Dagestan and Chechnya. To achieve this goal, he sought to abolish all orders and institutions based on age-old customs - adat; He made the basis of the life of the mountaineers, both private and public, Sharia, that is, a system of Islamic precepts based on the text of the Koran used in Muslim legal proceedings. The time of Shamil was called by the mountaineers “The Time of Sharia”, his fall - “The Fall of Sharia”.

The entire country subordinate to Shamil was divided into districts, each of which was under the control of a naib, who had military-administrative power. For the court, each naib had a mufti who appointed a qadi. Naibs were prohibited from deciding Sharia matters under the jurisdiction of the mufti or qadi. Every four naibs were first subordinated to a murid, but Shamil was forced to abandon this establishment in the last decade of his rule due to constant strife between the jamaat amirs and the naibs. The assistants of the naibs were the jamaats, who, as having been tested in courage and devotion to the “holy war” (gazavat), were entrusted with more important tasks. The number of jamaats was uncertain, but 120 of them, under the command of a yuzbashi (centurion), constituted Shamil’s honor guard, were with him continuously and accompanied him on all his trips. Officials were obliged to obey the imam unquestioningly; for disobedience and misconduct they were reprimanded, demoted, arrested and punished with lashes, from which the murids and naibs were spared. Everyone capable of bearing arms was required to perform military service; they were divided into tens and hundreds, who were under the command of tens and sots, subordinate in turn to naibs.
In the last decade of his activity, Shamil created regiments of 1 thousand people, divided into 2 five-hundred, 10 hundred and 100 detachments of 10 people, with corresponding commanders. His personal guard included a group of Polish cavalry defectors from the Russian army; was the chief of artillery of the Imamate Polish officer. Some villages that were especially affected by the invasion of Russian troops, as an exception, were exempt from military service, but were obliged to deliver sulfur, saltpeter, salt, etc. in return. Shamil’s largest army did not exceed 30 thousand people. In 1842-1843, Shamil started artillery, partly from abandoned or captured guns, partly from those prepared at his own factory in Vedeno, where about 50 guns were cast, of which no more than a quarter turned out to be usable. Gunpowder was produced in Untsukul, Gunib and Vedeno.

The state treasury was made up of casual and permanent income; the first consisted of trophies, the second consisted of zakat - the collection of a tenth of income from bread, sheep and money established by Sharia, and kharaj - taxes from mountain pastures and from some villages that paid the same tax to the khans. The raiding system significantly replenished the treasury of the Imamate; of the trophies obtained in the raids, the highlanders gave a fifth to Shamil. Speaking about Shamil’s income, Haji-Ali Chokhsky wrote:

I was Shamil’s secretary and kept track of all his income and expenses. Shamil's largest incomes came from Irib and Ullukale, where the Muhajirs lived. From where they raided Georgia, Akusha and other places and gave a fifth of their spoils to Shamil.

The exact figure of the imam's income is unknown.

Captivity and later life

In the 1840s, Shamil won a number of major victories over Russian troops. However, in the 1850s, Shamil's movement began to decline. On the eve of the Crimean War, Shamil, counting on the help of Great Britain and Turkey, intensified his actions, but failed.

After being received in St. Petersburg by Emperor Alexander II, Shamil was given Kaluga to live, where he arrived on October 10, and on January 5, 1860, his family also arrived there. Under him, General Boguslavsky, an expert in Arabic, was entrusted with the task. April 28 - May 1 Shamil meets with his former naib Muhammad-Amin, who stopped in Kaluga on his way to Turkey.

On July 29, 1861, Shamil’s second meeting with the emperor took place in Tsarskoe Selo. Shamil asked Alexander II to let him go on the Hajj, but was refused.

On August 26, 1866, in the front hall of the Kaluga Provincial Assembly of Nobles, Shamil, together with his sons Gazi-Muhammad and Muhammad-Shapi, took the oath of allegiance to Russia. In the same year, Shamil was a guest at the wedding of Tsarevich Alexander, and then his third meeting with the emperor took place. On August 30, 1869, by the Highest Decree, Shamil was elevated to hereditary nobility.

In 1868, knowing that Shamil was no longer young, and the Kaluga climate was not having the best effect on his health, the emperor decided to choose a more suitable place for him, which was Kiev, where Shamil moved in November - December of the same year.

The image of Shamil among European authors

In the 1850s, European publicists developed a romanticized image of Shamil. Thus, according to the German author Friedrich Wagner, he appears as the “leader and spiritual leader” of the highlanders, whose name was surrounded by a “mysterious aura”, was “the subject of admiration for all who follow his affairs”, acted as a “model of oriental eloquence”, “inspired orator" and "wise lawmaker".

In the French press, Shamil was also called a “prophet” and compared to Abd al-Qadir. In a French poem dedicated to Shamil, he turns to the forces of nature (winds, Kuban, Black Sea) and learns from them about the deplorable situation of the region. Then he takes his scimitar and “rises against the invaders,” despite the “ratio of one to ten,” with such force that “Elbrus and Kazbek shake from the base to the top.”

Scottish journalists were amazed at how events in the Caucasus could hold back an empire “equal to half the diameter of the world,” and Shamil and his associates were called “selfless martyrs for freedom in the war against despotism.” Poems published in the same magazine a year earlier compared Shamil with King Saul and emphasized that “the Lord endowed his soul with power, and taught his heart to be bold” to fight for freedom when “the flame of the Holy War rushes from Anapa to Baku.”

Describing Imam Shamil, the famous Turkish historian Albay Yashar Inoglu writes:

In the history of mankind there was no such commander as Shamil. If Napoleon was the spark of the war, then Imam Shamil was its pillar of fire.

He was deeply interested in the fact that the Russian emperors sent the most experienced generals to fight against Shamil. Thus, Russian troops in the Caucasus in the war against Shamil were commanded by Adjutant General G. V. Rosen (1831-1837), Adjutant General E. A. Golovin (1837-1842), Adjutant General A. I. Neitgart (1842- 1844), Field Marshal M. S. Vorontsov (1844-1854), Adjutant General N. N. Muravyov (1854-1856) and Field Marshal A. I. Baryatinsky (1856-1862).

Family

After the death of his father, Shamil's mother married Dengau Mohammed. In this marriage, a daughter was born, Fatimat, who was married first to Magoma, and subsequently to Khamulat of Gimrinsky, who was killed during the capture of old Dargo in 1845. Fatimat died during the capture of the Akhulgo fortress by Russian troops in 1839. She threw herself into the Koisu River to avoid falling into the hands of her opponents and drowned. Fatimat left a daughter, Mesedu, who was married twice to the Ali-Mohammeds; From her first husband she had a son, Gamzat-bek, who was sent to Russia in 1837 as an amanate and was returned during the prisoner exchange in 1855.

Shamil had five wives in total. One of them, Zagidat (1829-1871), daughter of Sheikh Jamaluddin of Kazikumukh, the imam’s mentor and closest ally. The other, Shuainat (1824-1876), born Anna Ivanovna Ulukhanova, was of Armenian origin, captured by Naib Akhberdil Mohammedod during the raid on Mozdok in 1840.

sons

The second son of Imam Shamil was Gazi-Muhammad (1833-1902) - at the age of six he received his first wound (in the leg) during a breakthrough from the besieged village of Akhulgo. In 1850 he was appointed naib of the Karat society, where he earned universal respect. The military success that glorified him was the campaign against Georgia, during which the estate of the princes Chavchavadze was ruined. In May 1855, Sultan Abdul Majid sent Gazi-Muhammad a green banner and a silver and gold medal decorated with diamonds, celebrating his merits. In addition, the son of the imam was granted the rank of pasha. In the spring of 1859, Gazi-Muhammad led the defense of the village of Vedeno, the capital of the Imamate. Surrounded on all sides by tsarist troops and fired upon by heavy guns, Vedeno was doomed, despite its inaccessibility. After a long siege, the village was taken, and Gazi-Muhammad with the remaining defenders headed to Dagestan. In August 1859, Gazi-Muhammad was next to his father in Gunib. He and his younger brother Muhammad-Shapi held the defense on the approaches to the fortification. After the surrender of Gunib, by order of the tsar, Shamil, Gazi-Muhammad and three murids were to be taken to St. Petersburg, and then Kaluga was appointed as the place of residence. After the death of his father, he had difficulty obtaining permission to travel to Turkey and Arabia due to the need to take care of the family of his deceased father. In the Ottoman Empire he entered military service, during the Russian-Turkish War he commanded a division, took part in the siege of Bayazet, and rose to the rank of marshal. In 1902 he died in Medina and was buried next to his father.

The third son of the imam, Said, died in infancy, along with his mother Dzhavgarat, during the assault by Russian troops on the village of Akhulgo.

The fourth son, Muhammad-Shapi (1840-1906) - after the fall of the village, Gunib was also brought to St. Petersburg, and then sent to Kaluga. He expressed a desire to enter the Russian service and on April 8, 1861, he became a cornet of the Life Guards in the Caucasian squadron of His Imperial Majesty's Own Convoy. Muhammad-Shapi had no children from his first marriage. Soon he married a second time. The second wife was also a mountain woman - named Jariyat, she gave birth to Muhammad-Shapi's son, named Muhammad-Zagid. In less than three years of military service, the 25-year-old highlander was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and two years later he became a staff captain. Three years later, Muhammad-Shapi was sent on official military business on a long business trip abroad, during which he visited France, England, Germany, Turkey and Italy. Upon returning to Russia, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, and was sent to the Caucasus to select young highlanders for the Caucasian squadron. Soon, impeccable service was followed by promotion to captain and appointment as commander of a platoon of highlanders in the Tsar's Convoy. In 1873, he was awarded another order - St. Stanislav, 2nd degree. At the age of less than 37 he became a colonel. During the Russian-Turkish War, he asked to go to the front in the active army, but was refused by the tsar (his older brother commanded a large unit in the Turkish army). In 1885 he was promoted to major general. At the age of 45, he married for the third time the 18-year-old daughter of the merchant Ibrahim Ishakovich Apakov, Bibi-Mariam-Banu, and received as a wedding gift a stone two-story house on Yunusov Square in the Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda in Kazan, where he lived until the end of his days. Both of his daughters from his last marriage were married in turn to public figure Dakhadaev, after whom Makhachkala is named. One of these marriages had a son. Muhammad-Shapi died in 1906 during treatment for mineral waters in Kislovodsk.

ABOUT youngest son, Muhammad-Kamila (1863-1951), is least known. He was born in Kaluga. His mother was the daughter of Sheikh Dzhemaluddin Kazikumukh, Zagidat. He lived most of his life in Turkey and Arabia. He was married to Nabiha Shamil. Buried in Istanbul. He is the father of the famous figure of the Mountain Republic Mehmed Said-bek Shamil. In addition to Said Bek, Muhammad-Kamil had two daughters - Najia and Najavat. Neither Said Bek nor his sisters were married and have no offspring.

Memory

• Shamilsky district - since 1994 the name of the Sovetsky district (Dagestan);
• Shamilkala - since 1990, the name of the hydraulic construction village of Svetogorsk in the Untsukul region (Dagestan);
• Collective farm named after Imam Shamil - a collective farm in the village of Argvani, Gumbetovsky district (Dagestan);
• Imam Shamil Avenue - since 1997 the name of Kalinin Avenue in Makhachkala;
• Imam Shamil Avenue - avenue in Kizilyurt (Dagestan);
• Imam Shamil Street - a street in Khasavyurt (Dagestan);
• Shamilya Street - a street in Izberbash (Dagestan);
• Shamilya Street - a street in Buinaksk (Dagestan);
• Imam Shamil Street - Sukhum Street (Abkhazia);
• Sheikh Shamil Street in the center of Baku (Azerbaijan);
• Sheikh Shamil Street in Istanbul (Türkiye);
• Bust of Imam Shamil in Zagatala (Azerbaijan)
• Bust of Imam Shamil in Yalova (Türkiye)
• Bust of Imam Shamil in Spokane (USA)
• “Shamil Tower” in Lgov (Kursk region);
• "Shamil's House" in Kazan, where his son lived for many years;
• "Shamil's House" in Kaluga, where he lived from 1859 to 1868 and where a memorial plaque is now installed.
• Tank column "Shamil" - operating as part of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War.

see also

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Notes

1. D. Dunlop. Russia and Chechnya: a history of confrontation. The roots of the separatist conflict. / Per. from English N. Banchika. - M.: Valent, 2001. - P. 30. - 231 p.
2. A. M. Khalilov. National liberation movement of the highlanders North Caucasus under the leadership of Shamil. Daguchpedgiz, 1991.
3. V. V. Degoev. Imam Shamil: prophet, ruler, warrior. Russian panorama, 2001.
4. Bartold V.V.// Collected works in 9 volumes. - M.: Publishing House of Eastern Literature, 1963. - T. II, part 1. - P. 873.

   Original text(Russian)

   Like his predecessors, he was from the Avars.

6. Great encyclopedia: Dictionary of publicly available information on all branches of knowledge. / Ed. S. N. Yuzhakova. In 20 volumes. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of the "Enlightenment" t-va. Volume 1. - P. 37
7. Sheikh Nazir ibn Hadjimuhammad ad-Durgeli ad-Dagistani.
8. Gadzhieva M. N.. - Makhachkala: Epoch, 2012. - ISBN 978-5-98390-105-6.
9. Avksentyev V. A., Shapovalov V. A.. - Stavropol: State pedagogical institute, 1993. - P. 91. - 222 p.
10. Bliev M. M.. - M.: Mysl, 2004. - P. 279. - ISBN 5-244-01004-2.
11. Khalilov A. M., Idrisov M. M.. - Makhachkala, 1998. - 119 p.
12. Khalilov A. M.. - Makhachkala: Daguchpedgiz, 1991. - 181 p.
13. Chichagova M. N. Shamil in the Caucasus and Russia (biographical sketch). - St. Petersburg. : Typo-lithography by S. Muller and I. Bogelman, 1889. - P. 14-15. - ISBN 978-5-9502-0384-8.
14. Chekalin S. V.// Cadet Roll Call. - N.Y., 1997. - No. 62-63. - P. 131.
15. Maikov P. M.// Russian biographical dictionary
16. Chichagova M. N. Shamil in the Caucasus and Russia, St. Petersburg. , 1889 (reprint: M., 2009, Publisher: University Book, ISBN 978-5-9502-0384-8), pp. 22-23
17. Gusterin P.V. The Koran as an object of study. - Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing. - 2014. - P. 54. - ISBN 978-3-659-51259-9.
18. , ed. “Meridiani”, Tb., 2011, art. 108 - ISBN 978-9941-0-3391-9
19. Wagner F. Schamyl als Feldher, Sultan und Prophet. Leipzig, 1854. S. v, 1-4, 60-63.
20. Zaccone P. Schamyl ou le libérateur du Caucase. Paris, 1854. P. 6-7.
21. Texier E. Schamyl. Paris, 1854. P. 3.
22. Ibid. P. 33-34.
23. Shamyl and the War in the Caucasus // Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Vol. LXXVII (1855). P. 173-175.
24. Ibid. Vol. LXXVI (1854). P. 95-97.
25. Gamzaev M. Imam Shamil. Mkh., Tarikh, 2010.
29. Gadzhiev B.I.// Dagestan in history and legends / Under. ed. F. Astratyantsa. - Mh. : Dagknigoizdat, 1965. - pp. 73-78. - 203 p.
30. Pronin A.// AiF Long-Liver. - M.: Arguments and Facts, July 18, 2003. - No. 14 (26).
33. "Izvestia" (2003)
34. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR

Literature

• Maikov P. M.// Russian biographical dictionary: in 25 volumes. - St. Petersburg. -M., 1896-1918.
• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Shamil in the Caucasus and Russia: Biographical sketch: (Reprint reproduction of the 1889 edition) / Comp. M. N. Chichagova. - M.: Russian book, Polygraph resources, 1995. - 208 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-268-01176-6.(in translation)
• Shapi Kaziev.. - M.: Young Guard, 2010. - ISBN 5-235-02677-2.
• Ahulgo.
• Bushuev S.K. The mountaineers' struggle for independence under the leadership of Shamil. - L., 1939.

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Excerpt characterizing Shamil

The Count and Semyon jumped out of the edge of the forest and to their left they saw a wolf, which, softly waddling, quietly jumped up to their left to the very edge at which they were standing. The evil dogs squealed and, breaking away from the pack, rushed towards the wolf past the legs of the horses.
The wolf stopped running, awkwardly, like a sick toad, turned his big forehead to the dogs, and also softly waddling, jumped once, twice and, shaking a log (tail), disappeared into the edge of the forest. At that same moment, from the opposite edge of the forest, with a roar similar to crying, one, another, a third hound jumped out in confusion, and the whole pack rushed across the field, through the very place where the wolf had crawled (ran) through. Following the hounds, the hazel bushes parted and Danila’s brown horse, blackened with sweat, appeared. On her long back, in a lump, lolling forward, sat Danila, without a hat, with gray, tousled hair over a red, sweaty face.
“Whoop, whoop!” he shouted. When he saw the count, lightning flashed in his eyes.
“F...” he shouted, threatening the count with his raised arapnik.
-About...the wolf!...hunters! - And as if not deigning to deign the embarrassed, frightened count with further conversation, he, with all the anger he had prepared for the count, hit the sunken wet sides of the brown gelding and rushed after the hounds. The Count, as if punished, stood looking around and trying with a smile to make Semyon regret his situation. But Semyon was no longer there: he, taking a detour through the bushes, jumped the wolf from the abatis. Greyhounds also jumped over the beast from both sides. But the wolf walked through the bushes and not a single hunter intercepted him.

Nikolai Rostov, meanwhile, stood in his place, waiting for the beast. By the approach and distance of the rut, by the sounds of the voices of dogs known to him, by the approach, distance and elevation of the voices of those arriving, he felt what was happening on the island. He knew that there were arrived (young) and seasoned (old) wolves on the island; he knew that the hounds had split into two packs, that they were poisoning somewhere, and that something untoward had happened. Every second he waited for the beast to come to his side. He made thousands of different assumptions about how and from which side the animal would run and how it would poison it. Hope gave way to despair. Several times he turned to God with a prayer that the wolf would come out to him; he prayed with that passionate and conscientious feeling with which people pray in moments of great excitement, depending on an insignificant reason. “Well, what does it cost you,” he said to God, “to do this for me! I know that You are great, and that it is a sin to ask You for this; but for the sake of God, make sure that the seasoned one comes out on me, and that Karai, in front of the “uncle” who is watching from there, slams into his throat with a death grip.” A thousand times during these half-hours, with a persistent, tense and restless gaze, Rostov looked around the edge of the forest with two sparse oak trees over an aspen underhang, and the ravine with a worn edge, and the uncle’s hat, barely visible from behind a bush to the right.
“No, this happiness will not happen,” thought Rostov, but what would it cost? Will not be! I always have misfortune, both in cards and in war, in everything.” Austerlitz and Dolokhov flashed brightly, but quickly changing, in his imagination. “Only once in my life would I hunt down a seasoned wolf, I don’t want to do it again!” he thought, straining his hearing and vision, looking to the left and again to the right and listening to the slightest shades of the sounds of the rut. He looked again to the right and saw something running towards him across the deserted field. “No, this can’t be!” thought Rostov, sighing heavily, like a man sighs when he accomplishes something that has been long awaited by him. The greatest happiness happened - and so simply, without noise, without glitter, without commemoration. Rostov could not believe his eyes and this doubt lasted more than a second. The wolf ran forward and jumped heavily over the pothole that was on his road. It was an old beast, with a gray back and a full, reddish belly. He ran slowly, apparently convinced that no one could see him. Without breathing, Rostov looked back at the dogs. They lay and stood, not seeing the wolf and not understanding anything. Old Karai, turning his head and baring his yellow teeth, angrily looking for a flea, clicked them on his hind thighs.
- Hoot! – Rostov said in a whisper, his lips protruding. The dogs, trembling their glands, jumped up, ears pricked. Karai scratched his thigh and stood up, pricking his ears and slightly shaking his tail, on which felts of fur hung.
– Let in or not let in? - Nikolai said to himself while the wolf moved towards him, separating from the forest. Suddenly the whole face of the wolf changed; he shuddered, seeing human eyes that he had probably never seen before, fixed on him, and turning his head slightly towards the hunter, he stopped - back or forward? Eh! anyway, forward!... obviously,” he seemed to say to himself, and set off forward, no longer looking back, with a soft, rare, free, but decisive leap.
“Whoops!...” Nikolai shouted in a voice that was not his own, and of its own accord his good horse rushed headlong down the hill, jumping over water holes and across the wolf; and the dogs rushed even faster, overtaking her. Nikolai did not hear his cry, did not feel that he was galloping, did not see either the dogs or the place where he was galloping; he saw only the wolf, who, intensifying his run, galloped, without changing direction, along the ravine. The first to appear near the beast was the black-spotted, wide-bottomed Milka and began to approach the beast. Closer, closer... now she came to him. But the wolf glanced slightly sideways at her, and instead of attacking her, as she always did, Milka suddenly raised her tail and began to rest on her front legs.
- Whoop! - Nikolai shouted.
Red Lyubim jumped out from behind Milka, quickly rushed at the wolf and grabbed him by the hachi (hips of his hind legs), but at that very second he jumped in fear to the other side. The wolf sat down, clicked his teeth and got up again and galloped forward, escorted a yard away by all the dogs that did not approach him.
- He will go away! No, It is Immpossible! – Nikolai thought, continuing to scream in a hoarse voice.
- Karai! Hoot!...” he shouted, looking with the eyes of the old dog, his only hope. Karai, with all his old strength, stretched out as much as he could, looking at the wolf, galloped heavily away from the beast, across it. But from the speed of the wolf’s leap and the slowness of the dog’s leap, it was clear that Karai’s calculation was wrong. Nikolai could no longer see the forest far ahead of him, which, having reached it, the wolf would probably leave. Dogs and a hunter appeared ahead, galloping almost towards them. There was still hope. Unknown to Nikolai, a dark, young, long male from someone else's pack quickly flew up to the wolf in front and almost knocked him over. The wolf quickly, as could not have been expected from him, stood up and rushed towards the dark dog, snapped his teeth - and the bloody dog, with a torn side, shrieked shrilly and stuck his head into the ground.
- Karayushka! Father!.. - Nikolai cried...
The old dog, with his tufts dangling on his thighs, thanks to the stop that had taken place, cutting off the wolf’s path, was already five steps away from him. As if sensing danger, the wolf glanced sideways at Karai, hid the log (tail) even further between his legs and increased his gallop. But here - Nikolai only saw that something had happened to Karai - he instantly found himself on the wolf and together with him fell head over heels into the waterhole that was in front of them.
The moment when Nikolai saw the dogs swarming with the wolf in the pond, from under which one could see the wolf’s gray fur, his outstretched back leg, and his frightened and choking head with his ears pressed back (Karai was holding him by the throat), the minute when Nikolai saw this was the happiest moment of his life. He had already taken hold of the pommel of the saddle to dismount and stab the wolf, when suddenly the animal’s head poked up from this mass of dogs, then its front legs stood on the edge of the waterhole. The wolf flashed his teeth (Karai was no longer holding him by the throat), jumped out of the pond with his hind legs and, tucking his tail, again separated from the dogs, moved forward. Karai with bristling fur, probably bruised or wounded, had difficulty crawling out of the waterhole.
- My God! For what?...” Nikolai shouted in despair.
The uncle's hunter, on the other side, galloped to cut off the wolf, and his dogs again stopped the beast. They surrounded him again.
Nikolai, his stirrup, his uncle and his hunter hovered over the beast, hooting, screaming, every minute getting ready to get down when the wolf sat on its backside and every time starting forward when the wolf shook itself and moved towards the notch that was supposed to save it. Even at the beginning of this persecution, Danila, hearing hooting, jumped out to the edge of the forest. He saw Karai take the wolf and stop the horse, believing that the matter was over. But when the hunters did not get down, the wolf shook himself and ran away again. Danila released his brown one not towards the wolf, but in a straight line towards the notch in the same way as Karai - to cut off the beast. Thanks to this direction, he jumped up to the wolf while the second time he was stopped by his uncle's dogs.
Danila galloped silently, holding the drawn dagger in his left hand and, like a flail, swinging his arapnik along the toned sides of the brown one.
Nikolai did not see or hear Danila until a brown one panted past him, panting heavily, and he heard the sound of a falling body and saw that Danila was already lying in the middle of the dogs on the back of the wolf, trying to catch him by the ears. It was obvious to the dogs, the hunters, and the wolf that it was all over now. The animal, with its ears flattened in fear, tried to get up, but the dogs surrounded it. Danila, standing up, took a falling step and with all his weight, as if lying down to rest, fell on the wolf, grabbing him by the ears. Nikolai wanted to stab, but Danila whispered: “No need, we’ll make a joke,” and changing position, he stepped on the wolf’s neck with his foot. They put a stick in the wolf's mouth, tied it, as if bridling it with a pack, tied its legs, and Danila rolled the wolf from one side to the other a couple of times.
With happy, exhausted faces, the living, seasoned wolf was loaded onto a darting and snorting horse and, accompanied by dogs squealing at him, was taken to the place where everyone was supposed to gather. Two young ones were taken by hounds and three by greyhounds. The hunters arrived with their prey and stories, and everyone came up to look at the seasoned wolf, who, hanging his forehead with a bitten stick in his mouth, looked at this whole crowd of dogs and people surrounding him with large, glassy eyes. When they touched him, he trembled with his bound legs, wildly and at the same time simply looked at everyone. Count Ilya Andreich also drove up and touched the wolf.
“Oh, what a swear word,” he said. - Seasoned, huh? – he asked Danila, who was standing next to him.
“He’s seasoned, your Excellency,” answered Danila, hastily taking off his hat.
The Count remembered his missed wolf and his encounter with Danila.
“However, brother, you are angry,” said the count. – Danila said nothing and only smiled shyly, a childishly meek and pleasant smile.

The old count went home; Natasha and Petya promised to come right away. The hunt went on, as it was still early. In the middle of the day, the hounds were released into a ravine overgrown with young, dense forest. Nikolai, standing in the stubble, saw all his hunters.
Opposite from Nikolai there were green fields and there stood his hunter, alone in a hole behind a prominent hazel bush. They had just brought in the hounds when Nikolai heard the rare rutting of a dog he knew, Volthorne; other dogs joined him, then falling silent, then starting to chase again. A minute later, a voice was heard from the island calling for a fox, and the whole flock, falling down, drove along the screwdriver, towards the greenery, away from Nikolai.
He saw horse-dwellers in red hats galloping along the edges of an overgrown ravine, he even saw dogs, and every second he expected a fox to appear on the other side, in the greenery.
The hunter standing in the hole moved and released the dogs, and Nikolai saw a red, low, strange fox, which, fluffing its pipe, hurriedly rushed through the greenery. The dogs began to sing to her. As they approached, the fox began to wag in circles between them, making these circles more and more often and circling its fluffy pipe (tail) around itself; and then someone’s white dog flew in, followed by a black one, and everything got mixed up, and the dogs became a star, with their butts apart, slightly hesitating. Two hunters galloped up to the dogs: one in a red hat, the other, a stranger, in a green caftan.
"What it is? thought Nikolai. Where did this hunter come from? This is not my uncle’s.”
The hunters fought off the fox and stood on foot for a long time, without rushing. Near them on chumburs stood horses with their saddles and dogs lay. The hunters waved their hands and did something with the fox. From there the sound of a horn was heard - the agreed signal of a fight.
“It’s the Ilaginsky hunter who is rebelling with our Ivan,” said the eager Nikolai.
Nikolai sent the groom to call his sister and Petya to him and walked at a walk to the place where the riders were collecting the hounds. Several hunters galloped to the scene of the fight.
Nikolai got off his horse and stopped next to the hounds with Natasha and Petya riding up, waiting for information about how the matter would end. A fighting hunter with a fox in torokas rode out from behind the edge of the forest and approached the young master. He took off his hat from afar and tried to speak respectfully; but he was pale, out of breath, and his face was angry. One of his eyes was black, but he probably didn’t know it.
-What did you have there? – Nikolai asked.
- Of course, he will poison from under our hounds! And my mousey bitch caught it. Go and sue! Enough for the fox! I'll give him a ride as a fox. Here she is, in Toroki. Do you want this?...” said the hunter, pointing to the dagger and probably imagining that he was still talking to his enemy.
Nikolai, without talking to the hunter, asked his sister and Petya to wait for him and went to the place where this hostile Ilaginskaya hunt was.
The victorious hunter rode into the crowd of hunters and there, surrounded by sympathetic curious people, told his exploit.
The fact was that Ilagin, with whom the Rostovs were in a quarrel and trial, was hunting in places that, according to custom, belonged to the Rostovs, and now, as if on purpose, he ordered to drive up to the island where the Rostovs were hunting, and allowed him to poison his hunter from under other people’s hounds.
Nikolai never saw Ilagin, but as always in his judgments and feelings, not knowing the middle, according to rumors about the violence and willfulness of this landowner, he hated him with all his soul and considered him his worst enemy. He now rode towards him, embittered and agitated, tightly clutching the arapnik in his hand, in full readiness to take the most decisive and dangerous actions against their enemy.
As soon as he left the ledge of the forest, he saw a fat gentleman in a beaver cap on a beautiful black horse, accompanied by two stirrups, moving towards him.
Instead of an enemy, Nikolai found in Ilagin a personable, courteous gentleman, who especially wanted to get to know the young count. Having approached Rostov, Ilagin lifted his beaver cap and said that he was very sorry for what happened; that he orders to punish the hunter who allowed himself to be poisoned by other people's dogs, asks the count to be acquainted and offers him his places for hunting.
Natasha, afraid that her brother would do something terrible, rode not far behind him in excitement. Seeing that the enemies were bowing in a friendly manner, she drove up to them. Ilagin raised his beaver cap even higher in front of Natasha and, smiling pleasantly, said that the Countess represented Diana both by her passion for hunting and by her beauty, about which he had heard a lot.
Ilagin, in order to make amends for the guilt of his hunter, urgently asked Rostov to go to his eel, which was a mile away, which he kept for himself and in which, according to him, there were hares. Nikolai agreed, and the hunt, having doubled in size, moved on.
It was necessary to walk to the Ilaginsky eel through fields. The hunters straightened out. The gentlemen rode together. Uncle, Rostov, Ilagin secretly glanced at other people's dogs, trying so that others would not notice, and anxiously looked for rivals for their dogs among these dogs.
Rostov was especially struck by her beauty by a small pure-dog, narrow, but with steel muscles, a thin muzzle and bulging black eyes, a red-spotted bitch in Ilagin’s pack. He had heard about the agility of the Ilagin dogs, and in this beautiful bitch he saw his Milka’s rival.
In the middle of a sedate conversation about this year's harvest, which Ilagin started, Nikolai pointed out to him his red-spotted bitch.
- This bitch is good! – he said in a casual tone. - Rezva?
- This? Yes, this is a good dog, it catches,” Ilagin said in an indifferent voice about his red-spotted Erza, for which a year ago he gave his neighbor three families of servants. “So you, Count, don’t boast about threshing?” – he continued the conversation he had started. And considering it polite to repay the young count in kind, Ilagin examined his dogs and chose Milka, who caught his eye with her width.
- This black-spotted one is good - okay! - he said.
“Yes, nothing, he’s jumping,” answered Nikolai. “If only a seasoned hare ran into the field, I would show you what kind of dog this is!” he thought, and turning to the stirrup man said that he would give a ruble to anyone who suspected, that is, found a lying hare.
“I don’t understand,” Ilagin continued, “how other hunters are envious of the beast and the dogs.” I'll tell you about myself, Count. It makes me happy, you know, to take a ride; Now you’ll get together with such a company... what’s better (he again took off his beaver cap in front of Natasha); and this is to count the skins, how many I brought - I don’t care!
- Well, yes.
- Or so that I would be offended that someone else’s dog catches it, and not mine - I just want to admire the baiting, right, Count? Then I judge...
“Atu - him,” a drawn-out cry was heard at that time from one of the stopped Greyhounds. He stood on a half-mound of stubble, raising his arapnik, and once again repeated in a drawn-out manner: “A—tu—him!” (This sound and the raised arapnik meant that he saw a hare lying in front of him.)
“Oh, I suspected it,” Ilagin said casually. - Well, let's poison him, Count!
- Yes, we need to drive up... yes - well, together? - Nikolai answered, peering at Erza and the red Scolding uncle, two of his rivals with whom he had never managed to match his dogs. “Well, they’ll cut my Milka out of my ears!” he thought, moving towards the hare next to his uncle and Ilagin.
- Seasoned? - Ilagin asked, moving towards the suspicious hunter, and not without excitement, looking around and whistling to Erza...
- And you, Mikhail Nikanorych? - he turned to his uncle.
The uncle rode frowning.
- Why should I meddle, because yours are pure marching! - in the village they pay for the dog, your thousands. You try on yours, and I’ll take a look!
- Scold! On, on,” he shouted. - Swearing! - he added, involuntarily using this diminutive to express his tenderness and hope placed in this red dog. Natasha saw and felt the excitement hidden by these two old men and her brother and was worried herself.
The hunter stood on the half-hill with a raised arapnik, the gentlemen approached him at a step; the hounds, walking on the very horizon, turned away from the hare; the hunters, not the gentlemen, also drove away. Everything moved slowly and sedately.
-Where is your head lying? - Nikolai asked, approaching a hundred paces towards the suspicious hunter. But before the hunter had time to answer, the hare, sensing the frost by tomorrow morning, could not stand still and jumped up. A pack of hounds on bows, with a roar, rushed downhill after the hare; from all sides the greyhounds, who were not in the pack, rushed at the hounds and the hare. All these slowly moving hunters are screaming: stop! knocking down the dogs, the greyhounds shout: atu! guiding the dogs, they galloped across the field. Calm Ilagin, Nikolai, Natasha and uncle flew, not knowing how or where, seeing only dogs and a hare, and only fearing to lose sight of the course of the persecution even for a moment. The hare was seasoned and playful. Jumping up, he did not immediately gallop, but moved his ears, listening to the screaming and stomping that suddenly came from all sides. He jumped ten times slowly, allowing the dogs to approach him, and finally, having chosen the direction and realizing the danger, he put his ears to the ground and rushed at full speed. He was lying on the stubble, but in front there were green fields through which it was muddy. The two dogs of the suspicious hunter, who were closest, were the first to look and lay after the hare; but they had not yet moved far towards him, when the Ilaginskaya red-spotted Erza flew out from behind them, approached a dog's distance, with terrible speed attacked, aiming at the hare's tail and thinking that she had grabbed it, rolled head over heels. The hare arched his back and kicked even harder. Wide-bottomed, black-spotted Milka came out from behind Erza and quickly began to sing to the hare.
- Honey! mother! – Nikolai’s triumphant cry was heard. It seemed that Milka would strike and catch the hare, but she caught up and rushed past. The Rusak moved away. The beautiful Erza swooped in again and hung over the hare’s very tail, as if trying to grab him by the back thigh so as not to make a mistake now.
- Erzanka! sister! – Ilagin’s voice was heard crying, not his own. Erza did not heed his pleas. At the very moment when one should have expected her to grab the hare, he whirled and rolled out to the line between the greenery and the stubble. Again Erza and Milka, like a pair of drawbars, aligned themselves and began to sing to the hare; at the turn it was easier for the hare; the dogs did not approach him so quickly.
- Scold! Swearing! Pure march! - shouted at that time another new voice, and Rugai, his uncle’s red, humpbacked dog, stretching out and arching his back, caught up with the first two dogs, moved out from behind them, kicked with terrible selflessness right over the hare, knocked him off the line onto the green, Another time he pushed even harder through the dirty greens, drowning up to his knees, and you could only see how he rolled head over heels, getting his back dirty in the mud, with the hare. The star of dogs surrounded him. A minute later everyone was standing near the crowded dogs. One happy uncle got down and walked away. Shaking the hare so that the blood would drain, he looked around anxiously, running his eyes, unable to find a position for his arms and legs, and spoke, not knowing with whom or what.
“This is a matter of march... here is a dog... here he pulled out everyone, both thousandths and rubles - a pure matter of march!” he said, gasping and looking around angrily, as if scolding someone, as if everyone were his enemies, everyone had offended him, and only now he finally managed to justify himself. “Here are the thousandths for you - a pure march!”
- Scold me, fuck off! - he said, throwing the cut-off paw with the earth stuck on it; – deserved it – pure march!
“She pulled out all the stops, gave three runs on her own,” Nikolai said, also not listening to anyone, and not caring whether they listened to him or not.
- What the hell is this! - said Ilaginsky the stirrup.
“Yes, as soon as she stopped short, every mongrel will catch you from stealing,” said Ilagin at the same time, red-faced, barely catching his breath from the galloping and excitement. At the same time, Natasha, without taking a breath, squealed joyfully and enthusiastically so shrilly that her ears were ringing. With this screech she expressed everything that other hunters also expressed in their one-time conversation. And this squeal was so strange that she herself should have been ashamed of this wild squeal and everyone should have been surprised by it if it had been at another time.
The uncle himself pulled the hare back, deftly and smartly threw him over the back of the horse, as if reproaching everyone with this throwing, and with such an air that he didn’t even want to talk to anyone, sat on his kaurago and rode away. Everyone except him, sad and offended, left and only long after could they return to their former pretense of indifference. For a long time they looked at the red Rugay, who, with his hunchbacked back and dirt stained, rattling his iron, with the calm look of a winner, walked behind the legs of his uncle’s horse.
“Well, I’m the same as everyone else when it comes to bullying. Well, just hang in there!” It seemed to Nikolai that the appearance of this dog spoke.
When, long after, the uncle drove up to Nikolai and spoke to him, Nikolai was flattered that his uncle, after everything that had happened, still deigned to speak with him.

When Ilagin said goodbye to Nikolai in the evening, Nikolai found himself at such a far distance from home that he accepted his uncle’s offer to leave the hunt to spend the night with him (with his uncle), in his village of Mikhailovka.
- And if they came to see me, it would be a pure march! - said the uncle, even better; you see, the weather is wet, the uncle said, if we could rest, the countess would be taken in a droshky. “Uncle’s proposal was accepted, a hunter was sent to Otradnoye for the droshky; and Nikolai, Natasha and Petya went to see their uncle.
About five people, large and small, courtyard men ran out onto the front porch to meet the master. Dozens of women, old, big and small, leaned out from the back porch to watch the approaching hunters. The presence of Natasha, a woman, a lady on horseback, brought the curiosity of the uncle's servants to such limits that many, not embarrassed by her presence, came up to her, looked into her eyes and in her presence made their comments about her, as if about a miracle being shown, which is not a person, and cannot hear or understand what is said about him.
- Arinka, look, she’s sitting on her side! She sits herself, and the hem dangles... Look at the horn!
- Father of the world, that knife...
- Look, Tatar!
- How come you didn’t somersault? – said the bravest one, directly addressing Natasha.
The uncle got off his horse at the porch of his wooden house overgrown with a garden and, looking around at his household, shouted imperiously that the extra ones should leave and that everything necessary for receiving guests and hunting would be done.
Everything ran away. Uncle took Natasha off the horse and led her by the hand along the shaky plank steps of the porch. The house, unplastered, with log walls, was not very clean - it was not clear that the purpose of the people living was to keep it stain-free, but there was no noticeable neglect.
The hallway smelled of fresh apples, and there were wolf and fox skins hanging. Through the front hall, the uncle led his guests into a small hall with a folding table and red chairs, then into a living room with a birch round table and a sofa, then into an office with a torn sofa, a worn carpet and with portraits of Suvorov, the owner’s father and mother, and himself in a military uniform . There was a strong smell of tobacco and dogs in the office. In the office, the uncle asked the guests to sit down and make themselves at home, and he himself left. Scolding, his back not cleaned, entered the office and lay down on the sofa, cleaning himself with his tongue and teeth. From the office there was a corridor in which screens with torn curtains could be seen. Women's laughter and whispers could be heard from behind the screens. Natasha, Nikolai and Petya undressed and sat on the sofa. Petya leaned on his arm and immediately fell asleep; Natasha and Nikolai sat in silence. Their faces were burning, they were very hungry and very cheerful. They looked at each other (after the hunt, in the room, Nikolai no longer considered it necessary to show his male superiority in front of his sister); Natasha winked at her brother, and both did not hold back for long and laughed loudly, not yet having time to think of an excuse for their laughter.
A little later, the uncle came in wearing a Cossack jacket, blue trousers and small boots. And Natasha felt that this very suit, in which she saw her uncle with surprise and mockery in Otradnoye, was a real suit, which was no worse than frock coats and tails. Uncle was also cheerful; Not only was he not offended by the laughter of his brother and sister (it could not enter his head that they could laugh at his life), but he himself joined in their causeless laughter.
- That’s how the young countess is - a pure march - I’ve never seen another like it! - he said, handing one pipe with a long shank to Rostov, and placing the other short, cut shank with the usual gesture between three fingers.
“I left for the day, at least on time for the man and as if nothing had happened!”
Soon after the uncle, the door opened; judging by the sound of her feet, a girl was obviously barefoot, and a fat, ruddy, beautiful woman 40 years old, with a double chin, and full, rosy lips. She, with hospitable presence and attractiveness in her eyes and every movement, looked around at the guests and bowed respectfully to them with a gentle smile. Despite her greater-than-usual thickness, which forced her to stick her chest and stomach forward and hold her head back, this woman (the uncle’s housekeeper) walked extremely lightly. She walked up to the table, put down the tray and deftly with her white, plump hands removed and placed bottles, snacks and treats on the table. Having finished this, she walked away and stood at the door with a smile on her face. - “Here I am!” Do you understand uncle now?” her appearance told Rostov. How not to understand: not only Rostov, but also Natasha understood her uncle and the meaning of the frowning eyebrows, and the happy, self-satisfied smile that slightly wrinkled his lips as Anisya Fedorovna entered. On the tray were herbalist, liqueurs, mushrooms, cakes of black flour on yuraga, comb honey, boiled and sparkling honey, apples, raw and roasted nuts and nuts in honey. Then Anisya Fedorovna brought jam with honey and sugar, and ham, and freshly fried chicken.
All this was Anisya Fedorovna’s farming, collecting and jamming. All this smelled and resonated and tasted like Anisya Fedorovna. Everything resonated with richness, purity, whiteness and a pleasant smile.
“Eat, young lady countess,” she said, giving Natasha this and that. Natasha ate everything, and it seemed to her that she had never seen or eaten such flatbreads on yurag, with such a bouquet of jams, nuts on honey and such chicken. Anisya Fedorovna came out. Rostov and his uncle, washing down dinner with cherry liqueur, talked about the past and future hunt, about Rugai and the Ilagin dogs. Natasha, with sparkling eyes, sat straight on the sofa, listening to them. Several times she tried to wake Petya up to give him something to eat, but he said something incomprehensible, apparently not waking up. Natasha was so happy in her soul, so happy in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon. After an occasional silence, as almost always happens when people welcome their acquaintances into their home for the first time, the uncle said, answering the thought that his guests had:
- So here I am, living out my life... If you die, it’s a pure matter of marching - there will be nothing left. So why sin?
Uncle's face was very significant and even beautiful when he said this. At the same time, Rostov involuntarily remembered everything that he had heard good from his father and neighbors about his uncle. Throughout the entire region of the province, the uncle had a reputation as the noblest and most disinterested eccentric. He was called upon to judge family matters, he was made an executor, secrets were entrusted to him, he was elected to judge and other positions, but he stubbornly refused public service, spending the autumn and spring in the fields on his brown gelding, sitting at home in the winter, lying in his overgrown forest in the summer. garden.
- Why don’t you serve, uncle?
- I served, but quit. I’m no good, it’s just a matter of march, I won’t understand anything. This is your business, but I don’t have enough sense. As for hunting, it’s a different matter; it’s pure marching! “Open the door,” he shouted. - Well, they closed it! “The door at the end of the corridor (which my uncle called the kolidor) led to the hunting room: that was the name of the men’s room for hunters. Bare feet quickly padded and an invisible hand opened the door to the hunting room. From the corridor the sounds of a balalaika, which was obviously played by some master of this craft, could be clearly heard. Natasha had been listening to these sounds for a long time and now went out into the corridor to hear them more clearly.

Those who condemn, blame, and dislike Imam Shamil need to quickly repent

There is a hadith that says that only worthy people can appreciate worthy people. There is also a saying that when mentioning pious people, the grace of the Almighty is sent down. Therefore, with the hope of Allah’s mercy, a few words about Imam Shamil.

Unfortunately, dear brothers, among us there are people who condemn, blame Imam Shamil, and express disapproving words about him. For example, some say that the imam and his murids fought for the sake of worldly wealth. Others say that the imam fought for glory and power, and still others say that the imam was a cruel man who did not know mercy. There is also a category of people who claim that the imam surrendered and was captured, and that it was his mistake, allegedly, he should have fought to the end.

Today there are people, although there is nothing human left in them, who, under the slogan of jihad, sow confusion and discord, and without any shame they put their madness on the same level as the holy cause of Imam Shamil. Here, dear brothers, there is nothing to be surprised at, because even at that time the so-called “Muslims” fought against the imam on the side of the royal army; there were several thousand of them. People who express disapproval of the Imam may suffer an evil fate. Why? Because the Almighty says in Hadith al-Qudsi: “Whoever experiences hostile feelings towards My favorite, I truly declare war on him.” Those people who condemn, blame, and dislike Imam Shamil need to quickly repent before Allah’s punishment overtakes them.

Sixth Rightly Guided Caliph

Truly, Imam Shamil was a favorite of Allah (avliya) of a very high level, a spiritual mentor. He was a phenomenon who was endowed by the Almighty with a clear mind. He was a very wise politician, a great commander, and Allah chose him to save Dagestan from unbelief. After the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions, one can say that Imam Shamil was the most just imam. For example, Shuaib-afandi al-Baghini in the book “Tabakat” writes: “After the ghazavat of Imam Shamil ended, the Sharia was orphaned.” The great ulama called Imam Shamil the sixth righteous caliph. Shuaib-Afandi writes that after Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz there was no imamate in history where Sharia rules were observed so perfectly as in the imamate of Imam Shamil. The alims say that the ghazavat of Imam Shamil were similar to the ghazavat of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We know that Imam Shamil, like the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), had to make hijra (migration).

Shamil was a true Naqshbandi Ustaz. In “Tabakat,” al-Baghini writes that in addition to the ustaz Muhammad Yaraghi and Jamalutdin Kumuhi, Ismail Kurdumerdi also gave permission to mentor (ijaz) the imam.

Sometimes you hear the statement that Imam Shamil was not a sheikh of the tariqa. In fact, in those days the alleys of the village of Gimry were crowded with murids who came to the ustaz Gazimuhammad and Shamil. This is confirmed historical fact. They were on the true path, and this confirms that the Imam was supported from all over the world. In mosques in Arabia, Asia, and Turkey, they asked the Almighty to help the imam. The great scholars of Mecca sent him letters, confirming the truth of the path of the Imam, and warning those who would go against him against the danger of falling into error.

Karamats of the Imam

The Almighty endowed Imam Shamil with many features, karamat. For example, the Almighty already punished the one who opposed the imam in this world, without waiting for the Akhirat. The same decision is still in effect today, since it was not annulled after the death of the imam. Why? Because the Almighty is eternally alive and punishes people who dislike Imam Shamil even today.

Imam Shamil, when looking at a person, could determine which category he belonged to: the category of believers or non-believers. Why? Because Allah gave him such an opportunity. Based on this, he treated everyone accordingly.

Here is another manifestation of the karamat of Imam Shamil and Gazimuhammad: when representatives of the royal troops demanded that the mountaineers be given to them as amanat (trust), Gazimuhammad said that they needed to hand over the people, and Imam Shamil was against it, and a small quarrel arose between them. People who did not like Imam Shamil approached Gazimuhammad and said: “How long will we tolerate the arrogance of this Shamil, let’s kill him.” To this Gazimuhammad replied: “We’ll kill him, but who will deliver his body to Medina?” Gazimuhammad knew that his body was made of clay from Yathrib (Medina). Each of us is created from the soil in which we will be buried.

Love for science

The imam paid the greatest attention to knowledge, and although he fought for 25 years, it cannot be assumed that the imam did not think about anything other than battles. He paid great attention to mutaalim (students). From the public treasury (bayt-ul-mal) he allocated large funds for the dissemination of knowledge (ilmu). In every locality The imam created a madrasah. Imam Shamil freed gifted people from ghazavat and sent them to study science. In those days, the literacy level of the mountaineers increased tenfold compared to what it was before Gazavat. We can say that among the mountaineers there were few who could not write and read. Russian scientist, General Uslar writes: “If you compare the population and the number of madrassas in Dagestan at that time, the literacy level of Dagestanis far exceeded the literacy level of Europeans.”

Did the imam pursue the goal of destroying non-believers?

Imam Shamil, like the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), did not have the goal of destroying the unbelievers. Because in Sharia there is a rule, which Ramazan Buti writes about in the book “Al-Jihad fil-Islami”, that truly jihad with weapons is carried out with the aim of eliminating enmity, and not with the aim of destroying disbelief. The proof is the fact that Imam Shamil, like the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), said to his murids before the ghazavat: “Do not kill old people, women and children, do not cut down trees, do not burn fields, if you make peace even with the infidels, do not break it." From this it is clear that the goal of the imam and his murids was not the destruction of unbelievers. The imam treated his captives with respect. He respected them and did not force them to accept Islam. It is written that Imam Shamil allowed the captives to freely practice their religion - Christianity. It is also reported that many unbelievers, having heard about the justice of Imam Shamil, went over to his side, including two priests. Tsarist generals This is what they were afraid of. They were afraid that, having heard about justice, the majority would go over to the side of the imam.

Great commander

Europeans watched the war in the Caucasus and wondered how it was royal Russia, such a strong power that defeated Napoleon himself, cannot cope with such a small number of highlanders. They knew that the Russian Tsar sent twice as many troops against Imam Shamil as against Napoleon himself. Assessing Imam Shamil, the famous Turkish historian Albay Yashar writes: “In world history there was no such great commander as Imam Shamil.” He further states: “If Napoleon is the coal of war, then Imam Shamil is the fiery pillar of war.” The Russian generals themselves, who fought against Shamil, gave him a worthy assessment. They called him a genius of war. They were surprised at his mastery of battle tactics, amazed at how he always managed to emerge victorious from a battle, having no money, and being in need of medicine, weapons and human resources. The Tsar's generals were amazed. For example, in the battles for Akhulgo, the tsarist army lost 33,000 soldiers, while Imam Shamil lost only 300 murids. They even say that the aggressors killed about 5,000 soldiers in one day in the battles for Akhulgo. There were times when a general returned from battle with only two soldiers. But, unfortunately, the closest, most trusted people betrayed Shamil. Once, in a state of despair, the imam expressed the words of Imam Shafii in poetic form:

Those who pledged to protect me,

Suddenly they became allies of enemies,

And the arrows of those whom I trusted completely,

Having pierced my chest, they returned.

Was Imam Shamil captured?

Dear brothers, there was no captivity and it could not be that Imam Shamil surrendered to the infidels, because Muhammad-Tahir al-Karahi writes: “And at the last hour on Mount Gunib, the imam approached each murid separately and asked to fight to the end, until the death of the Shahid. But everyone refused and asked the imam to accept the Russians’ offer, come to them for negotiations and conclude a peace treaty.” Here's what we need to know. There was no surrender. There is also evidence: firstly, when the imam went out to the royal troops, he was armed to the teeth, and we know that weapons are not left to prisoners, but the imam was armed, and even his murid Yunus from Chirkey, who was with him, was armed Secondly, the imam set conditions for the Russians, only after accepting which would he stop the war. The Russians accepted his condition and the peace treaty came into force. The conditions were as follows:

1. Do not interfere with Islam in Dagestan;

2. Do not spread Christianity in Dagestan;

3.Do not be lecherous;

4. Do not call on mountaineers to serve in the tsarist army;

5. Do not pit the peoples of Dagestan against each other.

In addition to these, there were many other conditions, and all of them were accepted. When the imam was in Russia, he was very respected, and he once said: “Praise be to Allah, who gave the Russians so that I could lead the gazavat with them when I was full of strength and so that they would honor and respect me when I grew old and my strength left me.” . Abdurakhman Suguri, when he heard these words of the imam, said: “This praise of Allah (shukr) is comparable to a 25-year-old ghazavat.”

The Imam's stay in Turkey and Medina

When the imam arrived in Turkey, he was met by the Turkish Sultan Abdul Aziz. The imam reproached him for promising financial assistance and not helping. The Sultan asked the imam: “Shamil! You fought for 25 years with non-believers, how did you stay alive? Or maybe you didn’t take part in the battles, but sent your murids?” Imam Shamil got angry, stood up, exposed his body, and the Sultan counted more than 40 wounds from the waist to the head. Then Abdul-Aziz began to cry, showed the imam his throne and said that he was worthy of this place.

In Turkey, the imam was asked what he regrets most? The Imam said: “What I regret most are those heroes who remained in the mountains, each of whom cost an entire army.” Sheikh Badruddin Afandi, telling the story of the imam, said that upon arriving in Medina, the imam first visited the mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The inhabitants of Medina, having learned of his intention, gathered in the mosque to look at the imam. Seeing the crowd, the imam thought, who should he greet first, these people or the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? And the imam first approached the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), cried and said: “ Assalamu alayka, I rasulullah", and everyone saw how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from the holy grave extended his hand in radiance and, shaking the hand of the imam, replied: " Wa aleyka ssalam I am imamal muzhahidin!».

During the imam's stay in Medina, there was a direct descendant of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), a tariqat murshid, the famous alim Nakibu Sadat, already of advanced age. He asked his children to meet with the imam because he was sick and could not move. At the sight of the imam, the descendant of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fell to his knees and began to kiss his feet. The imam helped him up. He told the imam that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) appeared to him in a dream and said that there was a revered guest among them, commanding them to respect (adab) towards him.

Death of the Imam

In 1287 Hijri, on the 10th of the month of Dhul-Qaeda, Imam Shamil left this world. A huge number of people gathered to perform the funeral prayer (janaza prayer) behind him. Everyone tried to touch the imam in order to receive grace, and those who could not touch lay down on the ground so that the body of the imam was carried over them. He is buried in the sacred cemetery of Baqiya in Medina.

When the body of the Imam was laid next to the grave, it rose, bent over the grave, and said: “Oh my grave! Be my consolation and the Garden of Eden, don’t be the abyss of hell for me!” Seeing this, everyone lost consciousness. He is buried next to the uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) Abas. Ahmad Rifai, the great alim of those times, wrote in his own hand on the tombstone: “This grave belongs to a murshid close to Allah, who fought in the path of Allah for 25 years, an imam who followed the path of truth, a great alim, the ruler of the faithful, Sheikh Shamil-Afandi from Dagestan . May Allah purify his soul and increase his good deeds.” Many who disliked the imam, seeing how he was exalted by the Russian Tsar, the Turkish Sultan, the Sheriff of Mecca, and learning about the sacred place where the Imam was buried, began to cry and made a tawbah.

In one of his letters to Hassan-afandi, Saifullah-qadi writes: “Know, my brother, this is reliable, without doubts and assumptions. Truly Dagestan is the only place in the land where the values ​​of religion remained, and where the source of light of Islam was preserved, and in other places only the name remained.” He further writes that the reason for all this was the barakat of imams Gazimuhammad and Shamil.

May the Almighty make them leaders and inhabitants of Paradise. O Allah, strengthen Dagestan on the foundations of faith and fear of God. May Allah not deprive us of Imam Shamil’s barakat and may he prolong the life of our ustaz. Amine.

Prepared Ansar Ramazanov

Imam Shamil is a famous leader of the Caucasian highlanders who was active in the second quarter of the 19th century. In 1834, he was officially recognized as the imam of the North Caucasus Imamate, which was considered a theocratic state. It was located on the territory of modern Chechnya and the western part of Dagestan. Counts national hero peoples of the North Caucasus.

Origin of Shamil

Imam Shamil is an Avarian by origin. His father was a blacksmith, and his mother was the daughter of an Avar bek. He was born in 1797 in the small village of Gimry on the territory of modern western Dagestan. They named him Ali in honor of his grandfather.

At a young age, the future imam Shamil was a very sickly child. Therefore, in order to protect him from misfortunes, his parents decided to give him another name - Shamil, which literally means “Heard by God.” That was the name of his mother's brother.

Hero's childhood

Whether it happened by chance or not, having received a new name, Shamil soon recovered and began to amaze everyone around him with his health, strength and energy.

As a child, he was a very lively and playful child, often caught in pranks, but rarely any of them were aimed at harming anyone. It was often said about Shamil that outwardly he was distinguished by a very gloomy appearance, a strong will, unprecedented curiosity, lust for power and a very proud disposition.

He was a very athletic child, he was fond of gymnastics, for example, few could catch up with him while running. Many noted his strength and courage. Therefore, his passion for fencing and his passion for edged weapons, especially checkers and daggers, popular in the Caucasus, are understandable. IN adolescence he hardened his body so much that in any weather, even in winter, he appeared with his chest open and barefoot. This quote from Imam Shamil characterizes him well:

If you're afraid, don't speak; he said, don't be afraid.

His first mentor is considered to be his childhood friend Adil-Muhammad, who was born in the town of Gimry. For many years they were inseparable. By the age of 20, Shamil had completed courses in logic, grammar, Arabic, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and even higher philosophy. His education was the envy of many of his contemporaries.

Passion for "holy war"

The sermons that Ghazi-Muhammad read eventually captivated the future Imam Shamil. He broke away from the books from which he drew knowledge and became interested in muridism, which at that time began to spread rapidly. The name of this teaching comes from the word “murid”, which literally means “seeking the path to salvation.” In its rituals and teachings, Muridism differed little from classical Islam.

In 1832, Shamil took part in the Caucasian War, which was quite expected due to his hobbies. Together with Ghazi-Muhammad, he found himself in the village of Gimry, besieged by Russian troops. The operation was led by General Velyaminov. The hero of our article was seriously wounded, but still managed to break through the besiegers. At the same time, Ghazi-Muhammad, who was the first to rush into the attack, leading the troops, was killed. Quotes from Imam Shamil are still reproduced by many of his fans and followers. For example, he described this, one of the first battles in his career, as follows:

Kazi-Magomed said to Shamil: “Here we will all be killed, and we will die without causing harm to the infidels; it’s better to go out and die fighting our way.” With these words, he pulled his hat over his eyes and rushed out of the door. He had just run out of the tower when a soldier hit him in the back of the head with a stone. Kazi-Magomed fell and was immediately stabbed to death with bayonets. Shamil, seeing that two soldiers stood opposite the doors with guns aimed, in an instant jumped out of the doors and found himself behind both. The soldiers immediately turned to him, but Shamil cut them down. The third soldier ran from him, but he caught up and killed him. At this time, the fourth soldier stuck a bayonet into his chest, so that the end entered his back. Shamil, grabbing the barrel of a gun with his right hand, chopped up a soldier with his left (he was left-handed), pulled out the bayonet and, holding the wound, began to chop in both directions, but did not kill anyone, because the soldiers ran away from him, amazed by his courage, and were afraid to shoot so that do not injure your own people surrounding Shamil.

The body of the murdered imam was transported to Tarki to avoid new disturbances (these are places in the area of ​​modern Makhachkala). The territory was controlled by Russian troops. Shamil managed to meet his sister, presumably because of this he became so excited that a fresh wound opened. Some of those around him considered him close to death, so they did not choose him as the new imam. His associate named Gamzat-bek Gotsatlinsky was appointed to this place.

Two years later, during the Caucasian War, the highlanders managed to win several significant victories. For example, Khunzakh was taken. But already in 1839 they suffered a severe and devastating defeat at Akhulgo. Shamil then left Dagestan; he was forced to urgently move to Chechnya, where he lived for some time in the village of Gush-Kort.

Congress of the Chechen People

In 1840, Shamil took part in the congress of the Chechen people. To do this, he arrives in Urus-Marta, where Isa Gendargenoevsky invites him. There is a preliminary congress of Chechen military leaders taking place there.

And the very next day, at the congress of the Chechen people, he was elected imam of Chechnya and Dagestan. IN short biography Imam Shamil this fact is necessarily mentioned, being one of the key ones. The future hero of the Caucasian people becomes the third imam. He sets his main task to unite the highlanders, while continuing to fight against Russian troops, who, as a rule, outnumber the Dagestanis and Chechens quantitatively, and their weapons and uniforms are of better quality.

Shamil differs from the previous imam of Dagestan in his military talent, slowness and prudence; he displays organizational skills, as well as perseverance, endurance, and the ability to choose the moment to strike.

With his charisma, he managed to raise and inspire the highlanders to fight, while at the same time forcing them to obey his authority, which extended to the internal affairs of almost all subject communities. The last moment was especially unusual for the Dagestanis and Chechens; it was not perceived simply, but Shamil coped with it.

Shamil's power

One of the main achievements in the biography of Imam Shamil is that he managed to unite almost all societies of western Dagestan and Chechnya under his rule. He relied on the teachings of Islam, which tell of a “holy war” against the infidels, who were called ghazavat. Here he also included demands to fight for independence, uniting the mountaineer communities scattered throughout all regions.

In the biography of Imam Shamil it was noted more than once that in order to achieve his ultimate goal he sought to abolish institutions and customs, many of which were based on age-old customs, called in those places adat.

Another merit of Imam Shamil, in the short biography that is in this article, this is especially emphasized, this is the subordination of both public and privacy Highlanders Sharia. That is, Islamic injunctions based on the sacred texts of the Koran, as well as Islamic injunctions applied in Muslim legal proceedings, came into their everyday life. The name Shamil was directly associated among the mountaineers with the “time of Sharia,” and when he passed away, they began to say that the “fall of Sharia” had occurred.

Highlander control system

When talking about the biography of Imam Shamil, you need to focus on how he organized the management system. Everything was subordinated to him through a military-administrative system, which was based on a country divided into districts. Moreover, each of them was directly controlled by the naib, who had the right to make key decisions.

To administer justice in each district there was a qadi appointed by the mufti. At the same time, the naibs themselves were strictly forbidden to decide any cases according to Sharia; this was an agency exclusively subordinate to the qadi or mufti.

Every four naibsts united into murids. True, in the last decade of his reign, Shamil was forced to abandon such a system. The reason for this was the outbreak of strife between the amirs of the jamaat and the naibs. The assistants of the naibs were often entrusted with the most important and responsible tasks, because they were considered dedicated to the “holy war” and very courageous people.

Their total number was not finally established, but at the same time, 120 of them necessarily obeyed the so-called centurion and were included in the honorable suffering of Shamil himself. They were with him both day and night, accompanying him on all trips and at all meetings.

All officials without exception, they unquestioningly obeyed the imam; any disobedience or misconduct was fraught with severe reprimands. They could even end in arrests, demotions, and corporal punishment with whips. Only naibs and murids got rid of this.

In the administration built by Imam Shamil, as described in the biography of this hero of the Caucasian people, all men capable of bearing arms were required to perform military service. At the same time, they were divided into groups of up to 10 and 100 people. Accordingly, they were under the leadership of tens and centurions, who, in turn, were directly subordinate to the naibs.

At the very end of his reign, Shamil slightly changed the army control system. Regiments numbering a thousand people appeared. They were already divided into smaller units.

Shamil's artillery

Among Shamil's personal guard were Polish cavalrymen who had previously fought on the side of the Russian army. The mountaineers had their own artillery, which was usually led by a Polish officer.

Some villages that suffered more than others from the invasion and shelling of Russian troops were getting rid of conscription. This was an exception. In return, they were obliged to supply saltpeter, sulfur, salt and other necessary ingredients for conducting successful military operations.

At the same time, the maximum number of Shamil’s troops at some times reached 30,000 people. By 1842, the highlanders had permanent artillery, which was made up of abandoned or captured cannons that had previously belonged to Russian troops. Due to this, during the Caucasian War, Imam Shamil began to achieve success and even a certain advantage.

In addition, some of the guns were produced at our own factory located in Vedeno. At least 50 guns were cast there. True, no more than 25% of them turned out to be suitable. Gunpowder for the artillery of the highlanders was also produced in the territories controlled by Shamil. It was the same Vedeno, as well as Gunibe and Uktsukule.

Financial condition of the troops

Imam Shamil's war was fought with varying degrees of success, largely due to interruptions in funding; it was inconsistent. Casual income was formed from trophies, and permanent income from the so-called zakat. This is the collection of one tenth of the income from sheep, bread and money of all residents established by Sharia. There was also a Kharaja. This is a tax that was collected from mountain pastures and from some particularly remote villages. They once paid the same tax to the Mongol khans.

Basically, the Imamate's treasury was replenished from the Chechen lands, which were very fertile. But there was also a system of raids, which also significantly replenished the budget. Of the trophies obtained, it was necessary to give one fifth to Shamil.

Captivity

The turning point in the history of Imam Shamil was when he was captured by Russian troops. He won several major victories in the 1840s, but his movement began to decline over the next decade.

By that time, Russia had entered the Crimean War. Turkey and the Western anti-Russian coalition called on him to act jointly against Russia, hoping that he would be able to hit the rear of the Russian army. However, Shamil did not want the Imamate to join the Ottoman Empire. As a result, during the Crimean War he took a wait-and-see attitude.

After the conclusion of the peace treaty in Paris, the Russian army concentrated its forces on the Caucasian War. The troops were led by Baryatinsky and Muravyov, who began to actively attack the Imamate. In 1859, Shamil’s residence, located in Vedeno, was taken. And by the summer, the last pockets of resistance were almost completely crushed. Shamil himself was hiding in Gunib, but at the end of August he was overtaken there and the leader of the highlanders was forced to surrender. True, on this Caucasian War did not end, continuing for about five more years.

Shamil was brought to Moscow, where he met with Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander II. After that, he was assigned to live in Kaluga, where his family moved. In 1861, he again meets with the emperor, asks to be released on the Hajj, a Muslim pilgrimage, but receives a categorical refusal, since he lives under supervision.

As a result, in 1866, the leader of the highlanders, together with his sons, swore allegiance to Russia, and soon he was even invited to the wedding of Tsarevich Alexander. At this celebration he saw the emperor for the third time in his life. In 1869, he was even made a hereditary nobleman by a special decree; Shamil’s life in Russia was finally settled.

In 1868, when he was already 71 years old, the emperor, knowing about the poor state of health of the highlander, allowed him to live in Kiev instead of Kaluga, where he immediately moved.

The following year, he finally received the desired permission for a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he went with his family. They first arrived in Istanbul and then traveled by ship through the Suez Canal. In November we reached Mecca. In 1870 he arrived in Medina, where Imam Shamil died a few days later. Years of life of a Caucasian highlander 1797 - 1871.

He was buried in a cemetery called al-Baqi, located in Medina itself.

Personal life

Imam Shamil had five wives in total. The very first one bore the name Patimat. She was the mother of his three sons. These are Gazi-Muhammad, Jamaludin and Muhammad-Shapi. In 1845 she died. Even earlier, Shamil’s second wife, named Dzhavgarat, died. This happened in 1839, when Russian troops tried to take Akhulgo by storm.

The military leader's third wife was born in 1829 and was 32 years younger than her husband. She was the daughter of Sheikh Jamaluddin, who was a close associate of the Imam and his de facto mentor. She gave birth to a son, Muhammad-Kamil, and two daughters named Bahu-Mesed and Najabat from the hero of our article. Despite this age difference, she died within the same year as her husband.

He was survived by his fourth wife, Shuainat, by 5 years, who was an Armenian and from birth bore the name Anna Ivanovna Ulukhanova. She was taken prisoner in Mozdok by one of Shamil’s naibs. Six years after her captivity, she married the leader of the highlanders and bore him 5 daughters and 2 sons. True, almost all of them died in infancy, only the girl Sapiyat lived to be 16 years old.

Finally, the fifth wife was Aminam. Their marriage did not last long and there were no children.

Imam Shamil is a famous leader of the Caucasian highlanders who was active in the second quarter of the 19th century. In 1834, he was officially recognized as the imam of the North Caucasus Imamate, which was considered a theocratic state. It was located on the territory of modern Chechnya and the western part of Dagestan. He is considered a national hero of the peoples of the North Caucasus.

Origin of Shamil

Imam Shamil is an Avarian by origin. His father was a blacksmith, and his mother was the daughter of an Avar bek. He was born in 1797 in the small village of Gimry on the territory of modern western Dagestan. They named him Ali in honor of his grandfather.

At a young age, the future imam Shamil was a very sickly child. Therefore, in order to protect him from misfortunes, his parents decided to give him another name - Shamil, which literally means “Heard by God.” That was the name of his mother's brother.

Hero's childhood

Whether it happened by chance or not, having received a new name, Shamil soon recovered and began to amaze everyone around him with his health, strength and energy.

As a child, he was a very lively and playful child, often caught in pranks, but rarely any of them were aimed at harming anyone. It was often said about Shamil that outwardly he was distinguished by a very gloomy appearance, a strong will, unprecedented curiosity, lust for power and a very proud disposition.

He was a very athletic child, he was fond of gymnastics, for example, few could catch up with him while running. Many noted his strength and courage. Therefore, his passion for fencing and his passion for edged weapons, especially checkers and daggers, popular in the Caucasus, are understandable. As a teenager, he hardened his body so much that in any weather, even in winter, he appeared with his chest open and barefoot. This quote from Imam Shamil characterizes him well:

If you're afraid, don't speak; he said, don't be afraid.

His first mentor is considered to be his childhood friend Adil-Muhammad, who was born in the town of Gimry. For many years they were inseparable. By the age of 20, Shamil had completed courses in logic, grammar, Arabic, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and even higher philosophy. His education was the envy of many of his contemporaries.

Passion for "holy war"

The sermons that Ghazi-Muhammad read eventually captivated the future Imam Shamil. He broke away from the books from which he drew knowledge and became interested in muridism, which at that time began to spread rapidly. The name of this teaching comes from the word “murid”, which literally means “seeking the path to salvation.” In its rituals and teachings, Muridism differed little from classical Islam.

In 1832, Shamil took part in the Caucasian War, which was quite expected due to his hobbies. Together with Ghazi-Muhammad, he found himself in the village of Gimry, besieged by Russian troops. The operation was led by General Velyaminov. The hero of our article was seriously wounded, but still managed to break through the besiegers. At the same time, Ghazi-Muhammad, who was the first to rush into the attack, leading the troops, was killed. Quotes from Imam Shamil are still reproduced by many of his fans and followers. For example, he described this, one of the first battles in his career, as follows:

Kazi-Magomed said to Shamil: “Here we will all be killed, and we will die without causing harm to the infidels; it’s better to go out and die fighting our way.” With these words, he pulled his hat over his eyes and rushed out of the door. He had just run out of the tower when a soldier hit him in the back of the head with a stone. Kazi-Magomed fell and was immediately stabbed to death with bayonets. Shamil, seeing that two soldiers stood opposite the doors with guns aimed, in an instant jumped out of the doors and found himself behind both. The soldiers immediately turned to him, but Shamil cut them down. The third soldier ran from him, but he caught up and killed him. At this time, the fourth soldier stuck a bayonet into his chest, so that the end entered his back. Shamil, grabbing the barrel of a gun with his right hand, chopped up a soldier with his left (he was left-handed), pulled out the bayonet and, holding the wound, began to chop in both directions, but did not kill anyone, because the soldiers ran away from him, amazed by his courage, and were afraid to shoot so that do not injure your own people surrounding Shamil.

The body of the murdered imam was transported to Tarki to avoid new disturbances (these are places in the area of ​​modern Makhachkala). The territory was controlled by Russian troops. Shamil managed to meet his sister, presumably because of this he became so excited that a fresh wound opened. Some of those around him considered him close to death, so they did not choose him as the new imam. His associate named Gamzat-bek Gotsatlinsky was appointed to this place.

Two years later, during the Caucasian War, the highlanders managed to win several significant victories. For example, Khunzakh was taken. But already in 1839 they suffered a severe and devastating defeat at Akhulgo. Shamil then left Dagestan; he was forced to urgently move to Chechnya, where he lived for some time in the village of Gush-Kort.

Congress of the Chechen People

In 1840, Shamil took part in the congress of the Chechen people. To do this, he arrives in Urus-Marta, where Isa Gendargenoevsky invites him. There is a preliminary congress of Chechen military leaders taking place there.

And the very next day, at the congress of the Chechen people, he was elected imam of Chechnya and Dagestan. In the short biography of Imam Shamil, this fact is necessarily mentioned, being one of the key ones. The future hero of the Caucasian people becomes the third imam. He sets his main task to unite the highlanders, while continuing to fight against Russian troops, who, as a rule, outnumber the Dagestanis and Chechens quantitatively, and their weapons and uniforms are of higher quality.

Shamil differs from the previous imam of Dagestan in his military talent, slowness and prudence; he displays organizational skills, as well as perseverance, endurance, and the ability to choose the moment to strike.

With his charisma, he managed to raise and inspire the highlanders to fight, while at the same time forcing them to obey his authority, which extended to the internal affairs of almost all subject communities. The last moment was especially unusual for the Dagestanis and Chechens; it was not perceived simply, but Shamil coped with it.

Shamil's power

One of the main achievements in the biography of Imam Shamil is that he managed to unite almost all societies of western Dagestan and Chechnya under his rule. He relied on the teachings of Islam, which tell of a “holy war” against the infidels, who were called ghazavat. Here he also included demands to fight for independence, uniting the mountaineer communities scattered throughout all regions.

In the biography of Imam Shamil, it was repeatedly noted that in order to achieve his ultimate goal, he sought to abolish institutions and customs, many of which were based on centuries-old customs, called adat in those places.

Another merit of Imam Shamil, in the short biography that is in this article, this is especially emphasized, this is the subordination of both the public and private life of the mountaineers to Sharia. That is, Islamic injunctions based on the sacred texts of the Koran, as well as Islamic injunctions applied in Muslim legal proceedings, came into their everyday life. The name Shamil was directly associated among the mountaineers with the “time of Sharia,” and when he passed away, they began to say that the “fall of Sharia” had occurred.

Highlander control system

When talking about the biography of Imam Shamil, you need to focus on how he organized the management system. Everything was subordinated to him through a military-administrative system, which was based on a country divided into districts. Moreover, each of them was directly controlled by the naib, who had the right to make key decisions.

To administer justice in each district there was a qadi appointed by the mufti. At the same time, the naibs themselves were strictly forbidden to decide any cases according to Sharia; this was an agency exclusively subordinate to the qadi or mufti.

Every four naibsts united into murids. True, in the last decade of his reign, Shamil was forced to abandon such a system. The reason for this was the outbreak of strife between the amirs of the jamaat and the naibs. The assistants of the naibs were often entrusted with the most important and responsible tasks, because they were considered dedicated to the “holy war” and very courageous people.

Their total number was not finally established, but at the same time, 120 of them necessarily obeyed the so-called centurion and were included in the honorable suffering of Shamil himself. They were with him both day and night, accompanying him on all trips and at all meetings.

All officials, without exception, unquestioningly obeyed the imam; any disobedience or misconduct was fraught with severe reprimands. They could even end in arrests, demotions, and corporal punishment with whips. Only naibs and murids got rid of this.

In the administration built by Imam Shamil, as described in the biography of this hero of the Caucasian people, all men capable of bearing arms were required to perform military service. At the same time, they were divided into groups of up to 10 and 100 people. Accordingly, they were under the leadership of tens and centurions, who, in turn, were directly subordinate to the naibs.

At the very end of his reign, Shamil slightly changed the army control system. Regiments numbering a thousand people appeared. They were already divided into smaller units.

Shamil's artillery

Among Shamil's personal guard were Polish cavalrymen who had previously fought on the side of the Russian army. The mountaineers had their own artillery, which was usually led by a Polish officer.

Some villages that suffered more than others from the invasion and shelling of Russian troops were exempted from military service. This was an exception. In return, they were obliged to supply saltpeter, sulfur, salt and other necessary ingredients for conducting successful military operations.

At the same time, the maximum number of Shamil’s troops at some times reached 30,000 people. By 1842, the highlanders had permanent artillery, which was made up of abandoned or captured cannons that had previously belonged to Russian troops. Due to this, during the Caucasian War, Imam Shamil began to achieve success and even a certain advantage.

In addition, some of the guns were produced at our own factory located in Vedeno. At least 50 guns were cast there. True, no more than 25% of them turned out to be suitable. Gunpowder for the artillery of the highlanders was also produced in the territories controlled by Shamil. It was the same Vedeno, as well as Gunibe and Uktsukule.

Financial condition of the troops

Imam Shamil's war was fought with varying degrees of success, largely due to interruptions in funding; it was inconsistent. Casual income was formed from trophies, and permanent income from the so-called zakat. This is the collection of one tenth of the income from sheep, bread and money of all residents established by Sharia. There was also a Kharaja. This is a tax that was collected from mountain pastures and from some particularly remote villages. They once paid the same tax to the Mongol khans.

Basically, the Imamate's treasury was replenished from the Chechen lands, which were very fertile. But there was also a system of raids, which also significantly replenished the budget. Of the trophies obtained, it was necessary to give one fifth to Shamil.

Captivity

The turning point in the history of Imam Shamil was when he was captured by Russian troops. He won several major victories in the 1840s, but his movement began to decline over the next decade.

By that time, Russia had entered the Crimean War. Turkey and the Western anti-Russian coalition called on him to act jointly against Russia, hoping that he would be able to hit the rear of the Russian army. However, Shamil did not want the Imamate to join the Ottoman Empire. As a result, during the Crimean War he took a wait-and-see attitude.

After the conclusion of the peace treaty in Paris, the Russian army concentrated its forces on the Caucasian War. The troops were led by Baryatinsky and Muravyov, who began to actively attack the Imamate. In 1859, Shamil’s residence, located in Vedeno, was taken. And by the summer, the last pockets of resistance were almost completely crushed. Shamil himself was hiding in Gunib, but at the end of August he was overtaken there and the leader of the highlanders was forced to surrender. True, the Caucasian War did not end there, continuing for about five more years.

Shamil was brought to Moscow, where he met with Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander II. After that, he was assigned to live in Kaluga, where his family moved. In 1861, he again meets with the emperor, asks to be released on the Hajj, a Muslim pilgrimage, but receives a categorical refusal, since he lives under supervision.

As a result, in 1866, the leader of the highlanders, together with his sons, swore allegiance to Russia, and soon he was even invited to the wedding of Tsarevich Alexander. At this celebration he saw the emperor for the third time in his life. In 1869, he was even made a hereditary nobleman by a special decree; Shamil’s life in Russia was finally settled.

In 1868, when he was already 71 years old, the emperor, knowing about the poor state of health of the highlander, allowed him to live in Kiev instead of Kaluga, where he immediately moved.

The following year, he finally received the desired permission for a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he went with his family. They first arrived in Istanbul and then traveled by ship through the Suez Canal. In November we reached Mecca. In 1870 he arrived in Medina, where Imam Shamil died a few days later. Years of life of a Caucasian highlander 1797 - 1871.

He was buried in a cemetery called al-Baqi, located in Medina itself.

Personal life

Imam Shamil had five wives in total. The very first one bore the name Patimat. She was the mother of his three sons. These are Gazi-Muhammad, Jamaludin and Muhammad-Shapi. In 1845 she died. Even earlier, Shamil’s second wife, named Dzhavgarat, died. This happened in 1839, when Russian troops tried to take Akhulgo by storm.

The military leader's third wife was born in 1829 and was 32 years younger than her husband. She was the daughter of Sheikh Jamaluddin, who was a close associate of the Imam and his de facto mentor. She gave birth to a son, Muhammad-Kamil, and two daughters named Bahu-Mesed and Najabat from the hero of our article. Despite this age difference, she died within the same year as her husband.

He was survived by his fourth wife, Shuainat, by 5 years, who was an Armenian and from birth bore the name Anna Ivanovna Ulukhanova. She was taken prisoner in Mozdok by one of Shamil’s naibs. Six years after her captivity, she married the leader of the highlanders and bore him 5 daughters and 2 sons. True, almost all of them died in infancy, only the girl Sapiyat lived to be 16 years old.

Finally, the fifth wife was Aminam. Their marriage did not last long and there were no children.