Microsoft Word mitatcelikpaladokto doc

 
 
 
16 
 
Dagestan. Two different madhabs, or schools of Sunni Islam; Shafi’i
28
 and Hanafi
29
 
are predominant among these peoples. Despite the repression and persecutions of 
the Soviet period, a great majority of the North Caucasian peoples preserved the 
observance of the precepts of their religion, a fact which was significantly helped 
by the existence of a extensive Sufi network.
30
 
 
Islam was first introduced to the Caucasus by the Arab invaders in the 8
th
 
century. They first conquered the territory present day Azerbaijan and then spread 
northward into Dagestan. Thus Derbent became a stronghold of the Arab-Muslim 
caliphate in the Caucasus. Those Arabic invaders, together with the converted 
Turkic groups, especially the Seljuqs, spread Islam, mainly the Shafi’i  madhab, 
among the ancestors of the Lezgins, Laks, Dargins, and Avars. The conversion of 
the Golden Horde, which was controlling the region at that time, to Sunni Islam by 
Berke Khan strengthened the position of the Islam in the North Caucasus. With the 
victory of Timur over Toktamış in 1385, the Islamization of the area became 
inevitable. 
Nevertheless, the real turning point in the process of Islamization of the 
North Caucasus was the 15
th
 century. From this time onwards mostly local agents, 
especially the Laks (who were converted by the Kumuks) became the most ardent 
                                                 
28
 The Avars, Dargins, Kumuks, Laks, Tabasarans, Rutuls, Tsakhurs, Aguls, Kaytaks, Kubachis and 
some other small peoples of Dagestan 
29
 Nogays, Kabardians, Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, Abazins, Muslim Abkhaz, Adyges, Balkars 
and Cherkess. 
30
 For the preservation and the role of Islam among the peoples of the region during the Soviet 
period see, Michael Rywkin, 1991. “The Communist Party and the Sufi Tariqat in the Checheno-
Ingush Republic,” Central Asian Survey, 10 (1/2): 133-145. Fanny E. B. Bryan, 1992. 
“Internationalism, Nationalism and Islam,” in Marie Bennigsen Broxup and et al. (eds.), The North 
Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance towards the Muslim World, London: Hurst & Company, 
195-218. 

---

 
 
 
17 
 
converting forces of Islam through their active participation in Timur’s military 
campaigns. This was recognised in their newly acquired name: Ghazi-Kumuks, 
warriors for Islam. In the late 15
th
 century, the Laks Islamised the peoples of 
Gidatl, Qarah, Tzunti, Archi and some Avar groups. The process of the 
Islamisation of Dagestan was at least nominally completed by the late 16
th
 century 
when the last Dagestani people, the Dido, were converted to Islam by the 
missionary efforts of the Avar Muslims.
31
 
Moreover, by the spread of power of Islamic-Turkic Nogay Hordes to the 
steppes in the Kuban region and the North Caucasus, the upper classes of the 
Circassian tribes converted to Islam as early as the 16
th
 century. As a result of these 
tribes increasing influence the Digors, or the western Osetians, also converted to 
Islam. Those who accepted Islam were given better land and allowed to resettle 
onto the plains and thus integrated into Circassian society. The Abaza groups fell 
under a similar influence and Karachays were forced to move up into the 
mountains by the Circassians. 
 
Shi’a Islam introduced into the region during the 15
th
 century, initially 
spread among the Azerbaijanis and then among the other Iranian speaking groups 
the Tats and Talysh. The increase in Ottoman influence and the power of Crimean 
Tatars’ in the western North Caucasus, in the 16
th
 century was decisive in the 
systematic spread of the Sunni Islam among the Karachays, Balkars, Abkhaz and 
the other Circassian tribes. 
                                                 
31
 Wixman, 72-73. 

---

 
 
 
18 
 
The Islamization process of the North Caucasus was in general concluded 
with the spread of Islam among the Vaynakh tribes, which began in the 17
th
 
century. First of all the Chechen tribes (or tuqums) of the Sunja, Aktash, Aksaq and 
Sulak valleys adopted Islam as their official religion. Then the spread of Islam to 
the mountain tribes of the Chechens took a century and a half. Only by the second 
half of the 18
th
 century had Islam become the official religion in virtually all the 
Chechen tribes. Concurrently, the Islamization of the Ingush started in the second 
half of the 18
th
 century. Due to their geographical position on the main route 
between Georgia and southern Russia along the Daryal gorge, the Ingush tribes 
were, in particular, drawn into the sphere of influence of Christianity. Therefore, 
the decisive phase of the Ingush conversion to Islam started as late as the early 19
th
 
century and was not completed until the second half of the century. 
The real power, which concluded the spread of Islam among the entire 
population of the Caucasus, was the Sufi tariqats, the Naqshbandi and Qadiri, 
which were introduced to the North Caucasus in the 19
th
 century. Through these 
movements Islam took the shape of a political movement and began to control the 
region. 
 
The second most important religion in the North Caucasus is Christianity. 
In addition to the Russians, among the Mountaineers the Osetians constitute the 
bulk of the Christian population. In addition, among the Abkhazians, the peoples 
who belong to Samurzakan tribe are Orthodox Christians. 

---