Caucasian Imamate

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Caucasian Imamate in 1854

The Caucasian Imamate also known as the Caucasus Imamate was the state established by the imams of Dagestan during the early and middle of the nineteenth century in the Eastern Caucasus, especially in Chechnya and Dagestan, to fight against the Russian Empire during the Caucasian War.

[edit] XIXth Century

The Imamate was founded in 1828 by Ghazi Mohammed, who was succeeded by Gamzat-bek four years later. When he was murdered in 1834, by a band which included Hadji Murad, Shamil became the third imam. The Imamate reached it's peak under him and included Dagestan, Chechnya and some regions of Ingushetia. The adygs of the Western Caucasus were considered to be under the supreme rule of the Imam and ruled by Shamil's naib (lieutenant). Shamil led the Imamate until his surrender to the Russians in 1859.

The supreme government organ of the Imamate was the State Council (divan) which consisted of muftis, naibs and murids.

[edit] Fourth Imamate

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, an attempt to reestablish the Imamate was made by the son of one of Shamil's naibs, Najm ad-Din (Russified name: Najmuddin Gotsinsky. This name stems from the Dagestani settlement of Gotso, when he was awarded nobility by Tsar), with the help of Turkey, during March-April 1918. He was pronounced the fourth Imam of the North Caucasus and deposed the Soviet power, but was soon defeated by the Soviets. He carried out a guerilla war in the mountains of Dagestan and Chechnya.^{[citation needed]}