Tashaw-Hadji[a] (1770 – died 1843 or later) was one of the prominent leaders of the North Caucasian resistance during the Caucasian War, a companion of imam Shamil. He was the imam of Chechnya since 1834. Upon the death of Gazi-Muhammad, he was one of the major candidates at the elections of the Imam of Dagestan, losing to Shamil by one vote only. Later, he became one of the mudirs of Imam Shamil. He was also the governor (naib) of Aukh.

Tashaw-Hadji
Native name
Воккха Хьаж/Taşaw-haci Endireyli
Birth nameTashaw
Other name(s)Tashev-Hadji
Born1770
Endirey, Kumykia
Died1845
Sayasan, Chechnya
AllegianceCaucasian Imamate
Service/branchArmy
RankImam, Naib
Battles/warsCaucasian War

Early biography edit

Origin edit

Tashaw-Hadji was born in the village of Endirey in the Northern Kumykia.[2][3][4] According to the majority of sources he was of Kumyk origin.[5][6][7][8][9]

Some contemporary historians claim that the ethnicity of Tashaw-Hadji remains unknown,[10] while others suggest that he could have been both a Kumyk or a Chechen.

For example, Moshe Gammer, a researcher of Caucasus, writes that in the local written sources in Arabic languageTashaw calls himself "al-Indiri", which means "from Endirey", thus concluding that Tashaw could have been both a Kumyk or a Chechen, as the Kumyk village of Endirey had a present Chechen minority.[11] At the same time, Moshe Gammer mentions Tashaw as an "Indiri Kumyk, leader of Chechens".[12] Tashaw-Hadji himself spoke vaguely about his ethnic belonging,[13] same as imam Shamil.

There is also a version that he could have been a Chechen, born in the village of Michik. Soviet researcher Anna Zaks writes about Tashaw as a Kumyk, a native of Endirey, criticizing the version about his Chechen origin and about his alleged birth in Michik. To refute the theory she is citing the work of imam Shamil's personal scribe Muhammad Tahir al-Qarahi.[14] The Chechen version is also contradicted by the fact that Tashaw did not speak Chechen language.[15]

Before the Caucasian war edit

In the 1820s, Tashaw was a mullah in his native Endirey. He studied under prominent Dagestani religious figures, Said of Arakan and Muhammad of Yarag.[16][17]

Tashaw-Hadji took part in the resistance to the Russian Empire led by Beibulat Taimiev in 1818-1826, along with his fellow Endireyans.[16]

In 1831, Tashaw left Endirey, when the exposure of Endirey and its gate-keeping location made it a constant target of all warring parties. According to Anna Zaks, the reason to leave Endirey was in the destruction of a part of the village by the first Imam of Dagestan Gazi-Muhammad, who by doing so hoped to force the wavering part of Endireyans to join his struggle. It was at that time that Tashaw fled Endirey and joined the Imam. At the exact same time when Endirey was under attack from Gazi-Muhammad, its crop fields were being burned by the Russian troops in retaliation for resisting the Russian rule.[18] That was the reason why Russian documents referred to Tashaw as to a "fugitive of the Endirey village".[19]

According to another view, proposed by the professor Hasan Orazaev, who refers to local archive materials, the reason for Tashaw leaving Endirey was the treachery from the local "rich men and mullahs", who secretly accepted the submission to the Russian Tsar. Seeing that local population rose against this betrayal of the nobility, even ready to be killed, but not subdued, Tashaw might have decided to join the fight from the mountainous and more protected areas, as Endirey's lowland and easily accessible location had led to it being ravaged multiple times by the Russian troops, during many military campaigns.[20]

After Tashaw had to leave Endirey, he initially settled in Salatavia in the village of Almak,[21] then moved to Chechnya, to the village of Sayasan, which became his last home until his death in 1843 or later.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Chechen: Воккха Хьаж; Kumyk: Taşaw-haci Endireyli
     • Also known as Tashev-Hadji and Tashav-Hadji from Endirey[1]

References edit

  1. ^ Назир ад-Дургели 2012, p. 142.
  2. ^ Мухаммад Тахир аль-Карахи. Хроника: о Дагестанских войнах в период Шамиля / Труды НИИ востоковедения АН СССР, т. XXXV. — 1941. — С. 82.
  3. ^ Вестник СПбГУ. Сер. 2. 2012. Вып. 4 Д. В. Овсянников ТАШУ-ХАДЖИ: СУФИЙ И ПОЛИТИК
  4. ^ "Neue Seite 74". www.vostlit.info. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  5. ^ Н.И. Покровский. Кавказские войны и имамат Шамиля. — Москва: «Российская политическая энциклопедия» (РОССПЭН), 2000.
  6. ^ Гаммер М. Шамиль. Мусульманское сопротивление царизму. Завоевание Чечни и Дагестана. — КРОН-ПРЕСС, 1998. — С. 101. — 512 с.
  7. ^ Арслан Магомедсолтанович Халилов, Мурад Магомедович Идрисов. Шамиль в истории Северного Кавказа и народной памяти. — 1998. — С. 80.
  8. ^ Фурман Д. Е. Чечня и Россия: общества и государств. — 1999. — С. 101.
  9. ^ Дауев, Саламу Ахмедович. Чечня: коварные таинства истории. — Русь, 1999. — С. 100—105.
  10. ^ Я. З. Ахмадов, Э. Х. Хасмагомадов. История Чечни в XIX—XX веках. — Москва, 2005. — С. 134.
  11. ^ Gammer M. The Lone Wolf and the Bear: Three Centuries of Russian Defiance of Russian Rule. — 2006.
  12. ^ Гаммер М. Шамиль. Мусульманское сопротивление царизму. Завоевание Чечни и Дагестана. — КРОН-ПРЕСС, 1998. — С. 101. — 512 с
  13. ^ Я. З. Ахмадов, Э. Х. Хасмагомадов. История Чечни в XIX—XX веках. — Москва, 2005. — С. 134.
  14. ^ Г. М.-Р Оразаев, И. И. Ханмурзаев. «Ташав-Хаджи из Эндирея — Герой Кавказской войны». Российская академия наук. Махачкала. 2023. С.29, 54 , 83, 124, 135
  15. ^ О поэтическом произведении Ташава-Хаджи Ал-Индири «О спрашивающий меня о господах», Ханмурзаев И. И., Институт истории, археологии и этнографии ДНЦ РАН, г. Махачкала, 2017
  16. ^ a b Оразаев & Ханмурзаев 2023, p. 174.
  17. ^ Khanmurzaev, Ismail I.; Ибрагимович, Ханмурзаев Исмаил; Navruzov, Amir R.; Рамазанович, Наврузов Амир (2023-10-29). "TOMBSTONES OF FAMILY MEMBERS AND CLOSE MURIDS OF TASHAV-HAJI AL-INDIRI AS VALUABLE HISTORICAL SOURCES". History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus. 19 (3): 635–675. doi:10.32653/CH193%p. ISSN 2618-849X.
  18. ^ Волконский 1889.
  19. ^ Оразаев & Ханмурзаев 2023, pp. 63–64.
  20. ^ Оразаев & Ханмурзаев 2023, p. 270.
  21. ^ Каяев Замир-Али 1990, p. 84.

Bibliography edit

English sources edit

Russian sources edit