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51 
 
taxes were, the land tax, Shar’i kharaj, and income tax, zakat. Second, he set up a 
system of fines for various offences. All the fines paid by the people went to the 
treasury. Through these fines he both attained revenues and established a system of 
control in the society. In addition, the property of people who died without heirs 
also went to the treasury. Third, in his system, all the income of land belonging to 
mosques (awqaf), which had been used for the upkeep of the mosques and their 
clergy now went to the treasury. His last and a special source of income was the 
payment of three silver rubles per household per annum to avoid raids by the 
mountaineers.
117
 
“In his expenses the imam tried to follow the shari’a. Although deviations 
were unavoidable, as Shamil himself admitted, an attempt was made to keep 
the expenditure from each source of income generally within the area 
destined for it by the shari’a. For this purpose it seems that each source of 
income was handled as a separate account.”
118
 
 
The other important area in which he made important reforms was the 
military.
119
 The Imamate’s army, in essence was a volunteer one. In fact, with the 
exception of a few categories of people, who had crucial economic duties, almost 
all male population was considered as trained warriors ready to fight. This pool of 
warriors constituted the bulk of Shamil’s forces. Nevertheless within the time 
period, because of the state’s growing size, Shamil felt the importance of 
establishing a standing army and therefore he established an army of naibi murids. 
                                                 
117
 For he military reforms of Imam Shamil see Gammer, Muslim Resistance, 230-232; and Zelkina, 
God and Freedom, 207-209. 
118
 Gammer, 231. 
119
 Magomedov, 95-99. 

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Its nucleus consisted of armed horsemen called murtaziqa who were set up and run 
along the Sufi lines.
120
 
“In the early 1840s every ten houses were obliged to contribute one armed 
horseman. These horsemen … were freed from any other work –their own 
and their families’ upkeep, their fields, herds, etc. were the responsibility of 
the other nine families- and had to dedicate themselves to military 
service.”
121
 
 
In addition to this cavalry Shamil established a regular infantry unit, 
inspired by the nizam-ı cedid of Ottoman Empire duly named as nizam.
122
 Using 
the Russian captives, he also established artillery units. At last, in order to win 
people’s trust and respect, and to enlarge his domain among the Mountaineers, he 
also carried out an ideological or spiritual warfare. In this area of contention he 
utilised his murids who called tariqa murids. 
Then, in order to sustain large-scale campaigns and extend his sovereignty 
he introduced a corresponding system of command structure and military ranks. He 
correlated the administrative structures with military terms. 
“In military terms the vilayat corresponded to the largest military unit –the 
regiment or 1,000 (alf), divided into two battalions or 500 (khamsa mi’a), 
companies of 100 (mi’a) platoons of fifty (khamsin), and squads of ten 
(‘ashara). The corps were divided into cavalry (fawaris) and infantry 
(mushat). Russian deserters who found refuge in the imamate and accepted 
Islam formed the imam’s artillery brigades.”
123
 
 
Moreover, for the sake of uniformity and discipline, he introduced a 
semblance of a uniform with distinct colours corresponding to each of the services 
in his armed forces and gave the shape of a modern army. Thus, for the first time in 
                                                 
120
 Zelkina, God and Freedom, 211-212. 
121
 Gammer, Muslim Resistance, 228-9. 
122
 See footnote no. 98. 
123
 Zelkina, God and Freedom, 210. 

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53 
 
the North Caucasus, to carry out the struggle of independence, he established a 
modern standing army: 
“By establishing this strictly defined system of government in the imamate, 
Shamil profoundly changed the existing order under which the North 
Caucasus had lived for centuries. He not only dismantled the traditional 
power structure and deprived the old elite of their power base, but, far more 
importantly, he introduced what amounted to a concept of citizenship, 
whereby for the first time the ruler and the ruled were accountable to one 
system of law and in theory were at least equal in their obligations and 
rights as far as the system of law was concerned.”
124
 
 
By 1845 Shamil’s domain was at its largest and his power at its peak. Then, 
in compliance with his policy of establishing broader unified state and expelling 
the Russians outside the North Caucasian territory, Shamil decided to extend his 
authority over the lands of Kabardians and the northwestern parts of the Caucasus. 
This was the first concrete initiative to following the footsteps of Mansur, to unify 
the resistance movements of the all North Caucasus. 
Shamil’s main agents in the central and western parts of the North Caucasus 
were the Kabardians. In fact due to their central location, the Kabardians had 
always maintained close links with both their western and eastern neighbours. 
Although, compared to Dagestan and Chechnya the tariqats’ were in a weak 
position in the western parts of the region. Through the Kabardians the ideas of 
Naqshbandi brotherhood started to penetrate into the areas to the west of 
Chechnya. The Imam had established his first contacts with the Circassian tribes 
already in early 1840s and had suggested to the Ubykhs and Shapsugs a plan to 
unify forces against the Russians in 1842. His first naib, Haji Muhammed was sent 
to the region in 1843. After his death a member of the Dagestani ulema, Suleyman 

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