Caucasian Imamate - Establishment

Establishment

Parts of the Muslim population started to become radical due to Russian rapacious activities and taxation, calling for a Gazawat (Holy War) and the enforcement of Sharia. Two imams who were extremely radical, Imam Ghazi Muhammad and Imam Shamil, attempted to initiate the Gazawat they called for by trying to seize the capital of Khunzakh from the khan of Pakkou-Bekkhe in 1827. The attack failed and so, disheartened, the imams bided their time, waiting for the various Muslim tribes to agree with one another. In 1828, the two attacked again, this time in Northern Dagestan, and with success.

The Russians, who at the time ruled over Northern Dagestan, were used to fighting on the open battlefields of Europe in lined formation instead of the Thick woods of the Caucasus and so were very unprepared for the guerrilla tactics the two imams, resulting in a victory for Ghazi and Shamil. Though, this action would start the Caucasian War, a war between the Imamate and Russia that would eventually lead to the capture of all the Caucasus by the Russian Empire.

Here the Imamate was formed, with Ghazi self-appointed as its first leader. The supreme government body of the Imamate, the State Council (Dīvān) was formed which consisted of Sufi Muslim scholars and students as well as Shamil's military lieutenants, his Naibs.