Gazi-Magomed

Gazi-Magomed 

(misrepresented as Kazi-Mullah). Born 1795; died 1832. Became first imam of Dagestan and Chechnia in 1828. A descendant of Avar uzdens (free landowners).

In the 1820’s Gazi-Magomed became a supporter of Muridism. After proclaiming himself imam of Dagestan, he called upon the mountaineers to fight against tsarism as a holy war (jihad). After an unsuccessful attempt to seize Khunzakh, the capital of Avaria, in 1830, Gazi-Magomed shifted his military actions in 1831 to northern Dagestan, where he gained a number of victories. The peasants of the feudal state (shamkhalstvo) of Tarki initially supported Gazi-Magomed, but they later began to break away from the revolt, since he was not improving their conditions. Under pressure of the tsarist army, Gazi-Magomed retreated into Highland Dagestan. He was killed in battle near the village of Gimry.

REFERENCES

Dvizhenie gortsev Severo-Vostochnogo Kavkaza v 20-50 gg. XIX v.: Sb. dokumentov. Makhachkala, 1959.
Fadeev, A. V. Rossiia i Kavkaz pervoi treti XIX v. [Moscow] 1960.
Bushuev, S. K. Bor’ba gortsev za nezavisimost’ pod rukovodstvom Shamilia. Moscow-Leningrad, 1939.