Imamate

Imamate 

(1) One of the forms of Muslim theocracy.

(2) In the history of the peoples of the USSR, a Murid state in Dagestan and Chechia; it arose in the late 1820’s during the struggle of the peoples of the Caucasus against the colonialist policy of tsarism. It was at its height during the years of the rule of Shamil (1824—59), when it concealed its purely secular goals under the religious screen of Muridism. Its goal was to strengthen the class domination of the Dagestan and Chechen feudal lords, who led the struggle against the tsarist forces. The imamate was supported by the militarized Murids, the closest associates of the imam and the machinery of his authority in the outlying districts. By the early 1850’s, the internal crisis of the imamate deepened, and the contradictions sharpened between the naibs (the imam’s deputies) and the peasants, who were beginning to leave Shamil’s movement.