Reconstruction of the Last Stage of the Spread of Islam in Dagestan on the Basis of Local Arabic-language Written Sources (16th–18th Centuries)

Abstract

The article examines the process of the spread of Islam in Tsunta, i. e., in the southwestern part of Highland Dagestan, which is now part of the Tsuntinsky district of the Republic of Dagestan. By the end of the XV Century Tsunta was the only micro-region in Dagestan whose inhabitants did not yet adhere to Islam. The study is based on a comprehensive approach to the issue: the authors use information from epigraphic monuments, narratives, already published written sources, as well as oral traditions recorded by them. The latter are used only as an auxiliary source, which helps to bring additional facts to the reconstructed picture. The basic sources are local Arabic-language written sources, epitaphs of memorial monuments and written correspondence of representatives of the spiritual and political elite of Dagestan with the rural societies of mountain Dagestan. The former were identified by the authors in the Kortan locality, located in the Antsukh Gorge, Tlyaratinsky district. During the archaeographic expedition the authors also identified three Arabic-language letters, which contain answers to some key questions related to the topic under study. One of them, as it turned out, had already been previously published, but the authors offer their own version of the translation, as well as publish a copy of the letter for the first time. The other two letters are being researched for the first time. The authors have managed to identify a previously little-known phenomenon of the functioning of the Ghazi center in medieval Dagestan. From Kortan, with the involvement of volunteers from other settlements, military campaigns were organized against “pagan” communities that did not want to convert to Islam. From there, Qadis and other representatives of the Islamic clergy were appointed to Tsunta to carry out missionary work on the spot. We were also able to date the process of the spread of Islam in Tsunta, which took place from the end of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century.