CAUCASION LEGEND IMAM SHAMIL

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CAUCASION LEGENDIMAM SHAMIL

• Mikhail Nokhov
• Gymnasium 1
• Khasavyurt

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• Imam Shamil was born in 1797 in the small village
  of Gimry which is in current-day Dagestan,
  Russia. He was Avar like Nurmagomedov Family. His
  father was a free landlord, and this position
  allowed Shamil and close friends Ghazi Mullah to
  study many subjects including Arabic and logic.
  Shamil also joined the Naqshbandi Mujaddidy
  Khalidiya Sufi order, and established himself as
  a well-respected and educated man among other
  Muslims of the Caucasus.

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Shamils Street and Houses
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The Village of Gimry
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• Shamil was born at a time when the Russian Empire
  was expanding into the territories of the Ottoman
  Empire and Persia (see Russo-Persian War
  (1804-1813) and Russo-Turkish War). Following the
  Russian invasion, many Caucasian nations united
  in resistance to harsh Tsarist rule in what
  became known as the Caucasian War. Some of the
  earlier leaders of Caucasian resistance were
  Sheikh Mansur, and Ghazi Mollah. Shamil was
  actually childhood friends with Mollah, and would
  become his disciple.

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• In 1834, Ghazi Mollah died at the battle of
  Ghimry, and Shamil took his place as the premier
  leader of the Caucasian resistance and the Imam
  of the Naqshbandi Mujadidyi Khalidiya Tariqat. In
  1839 (June-August), Shamil and his followers,
  numbering about 4000 men, women and children
  found themselves under siege in their mountain
  stronghold of Akhoulgo, nestled in the bend of
  the Andee Koisou River, about ten miles east of
  Gimry. This epic siege of the war lasted eighty
  days, resulting finally in a Russian victory. The
  Russians suffered about 3000 casualties in taking
  the stronghold, while the rebels were almost
  entirely slaughtered after extremely bitter
  fighting where typical of the war, no quarter was
  either asked or given

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Ruins of Shamils Tower
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• Shamil and a small party of his closest
  followers, including some family miraculously
  managed to escape down the cliffs and through the
  Russian siege lines during the final days at
  Akhoulgo. Following his escape he once again set
  about regaining his following and resisting the
  Russian occupation. Shamil was effective at
  uniting the many, frequently quarreling,
  Caucasian tribes to fight against the Russians.
  He made effective use of guerrilla warfare
  tactics and the resistance continued under his
  leadership until 1859. On August 25, 1859 Shamil
  and his family surrendered to Russian forces and
  were jailed in the Dagestan aoul of Gunib.

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• After his capture, Shamil was sent to Saint
  Petersburg to meet the Emperor Alexander II.
  Afterwards he was exiled to Kaluga, then a small
  town near Moscow. After several years in Kaluga
  he complained to the authorities about the
  climate and in December, 1868 Shamil received the
  permission to move to Kiev, a commercial center
  of the Empire's southwest

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• In Kiev he was afforded a mansion at the
  Aleksandrovskaya Street. The Imperial authorities
  ordered the Kievan superintendent to keep Shamil
  under "strict but not overly burdensome
  surveillance" and allotted the city a significant
  sum for the needs of the exile. Shamil seemed to
  have liked his luxurious detainment as well as
  the city as confirmed the letters he sent from
  Kiev.

A Memorial Boar on a House in Kiev.
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• In 1869 he was given a permission to take Hajj
  to the holy city of Mecca. He traveled there by
  ship from Kiev through Odessa and Istanbul. He
  died in Medina in 1871 while visiting the city,
  and was buried in the Jannatul Baqi which is also
  the site where many important personalities from
  Islamic history are buried. His two sons
  (Cemaleddin and Muhammed Sefi) became officers in
  the Russian army, while two other sons (Muhammed
  Gazi and Muhammed Kamil) served in the Turkish
  army.

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Monument to Imam Shamil in Makhachkala