THE GREAT SHAMIL, IMAM OF DAGESTAN AND CHECHNYA, SHEIKH OF THE NAQSHBANDI TARIQAH
There is a hadith which says that worthy people can be appreciated only by worthy ones. They say, that when we mention pious people Allah grants us His blessings. So, hoping for Allah’s blessings, we are going to say a few words about Imam Shamil.
Unfortunately, dear brothers, there are those among us who condemn and blame Imam Shamil and say untrue things about him. For example, some say that the Imam and his murids fought for worldly wealth. Others say that the Imam fought for both glory and power or say that he was a cruel, merciless man. Some assert that the Imam surrendered and so was taken captive and that this was his mistake because he had to fight until victory.
Today there are people (though they hardly exhibit the principal human virtues) who spread unrest and chaos under the banner of the jihad and shamelessly put their thoughtlessness on the same level as the Imam’s sacred mission. Here there is nothing to be surprised of, my dear brothers; it was a time when there were so- called “Muslims” who fought against the Imam on the side of the Russian tsar. There were several thousand of them. Those who say unproven words about the Imam may suffer a severe fate. Why? Because in the Hadith-Al-Qudsi Allah says, “Against the one who feels rancor towards My favorite, I will truly declare war.” Those who condemn, blame and have no sympathy for Imam Shamil should recognize their mistake.
The sixth righteous caliph
It is true that Imam Shamil was Allah’s favourite (awliya) of a very high level. He was a spiritual master. He possessed an exceptional personality whom Allah gifted with a lucid mind. He was a very wise politician and a great commander and Allah had chosen him to save Dagestan from deprivation of the faith. We may say that after the Prophet (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) and his associates Imam Shamil was one of the fairest imams. For example, Shu`aib-Afandi al-Bagini writes in the book “Tabaqat”, “When Imam Shamil’s jihad was over, the Sharia became deserted.” Great ulama named Imam Shamil as the sixth righteous caliph. Shu`aib-Afandi writes that after `Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz there was not an imamate in history where Sharia rules were followed so perfectly as in Imam Shamil’s imamate. Ulama say that Imam Shamil’s jihad was like that the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). We know that Imam Shamil, as well as the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), was forced to perform hijra (migration).
Shamil was a true ustaz of the Naqshbandi tariqah. In “Tabaqat” al-Bagini writes that besides the sheikhs Muhammad Yaraghi and Jamaluddin Kumukhi, the Imam was also given permission (ijazah) by Sheikh Ismail Kurdumeri.
Some people state that Imam Shamil was not a sheikh of tariqah. In fact at that time the streets of the village of Gimri were full of murids who used to learn from both Sheikh Ghazi Muhammad and Shamil. This is a reliable historical fact. They both were on the right path and it confirms the fact that the Imam had support from all over the world. Muslims in the mosques of Arabia, Asia and Turkey prayed and asked Allah to help the Imam. Great scholars of Mecca sent him letters where they confirmed his rightness and warned that those who went against him might be deluded.
Imam’s karamats
Allah endowed the Imam with many features named as “karamats”. There were examples of how Allah punished those who were against the Imam in this world before akhirah. Today we may witness the same since his was not annulled after the Imam’s death. Why? Because Allah is eternal and even nowadays He punishes those who are against His favorites, including Imam Shamil.
Having seen a person just once he could perceive if he was religious or not. Why? Because Allah gave him that ability. So his attitude to a person depended on whether the person was religious or not.
There is an example of another karamat by both Imam Shamil and Ghazi Muhammad. It took place when a representative of the Tsar’s army demanded that a group of mountaineers be given to them as amanat (security). Ghazi Muhammad suggested agreement while Imam Shamil was against it. So there was a dispute between them. People who disliked Imam Shamil approached Ghazi Muhammad with the words, “How long should we tolerate his arrogance? Let us kill him!” Ghazi Muhammad replied, “Well, we can kill him but who will take his body to Medina? Ghazi Muhammad knew that his body was made of Yathrib clay (Medina). Each of us is made from the clay where he/she will be buried.
Love of science
The Imam paid much attention to knowledge despite waging war for twenty five years. So it would not be right to say that he did not think of anything else but war. He gave much attention to muta`allims (students). He gave a lot of money from the public treasury (bait-ul-mal) which was needed for spreading knowledge (‘ilm). Imam Shamil built a madrasa in each village. He freed gifted people from jihad and sent them to study various sciences. The rate of the mountaineers’ knowledge increased tenfold versus before the time of the jihad. One might say that there were hardly an illiterate man left among the mountaineers. General Uslar, a Russian scholar, wrote, that if we would compare the ratio of population to the number of madrasas in Dagestan at that time, we could say that the level of general knowledge of the population in Dagestan was higher than in Europe.
Was it Imam’s aim to exterminate non-believers?
Imam Shamil, like the Prophet (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam), did not aim to exterminate non-believers. He took into account a Sharia rule which was mentioned by Ramadan Buti in the book, “Al-jihad fi-l-Islam”. The book says that the real goal of weaponry in the jihad is not to eliminate the non-believers population but to fight only the enmity itself. Imam Shamil, like the Prophet (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam), addressed his murids before jihad, “Do not kill old men, women and children, do not fell trees, do not burn crop fields, and if you have made peace, do not break it as there is even peace with kafirs [non-believers].” We may see from these facts that the Imam and his murids had no goal to fight non-believers. Also the Imam treated his captives respectfully. He respected them and did not force them to embrace Islam. According to the historical sources we have, Imam Shamil even allowed prisoners to follow their own religion, such as Christianity. Many non-believers joined his army once they heard about his justice. There were two priests among them. The Russian Tsar’s generals were afraid of it. Their fear was based on Imam Shamil’s justice which had been the reason why most opponents would take the Imam’s side.
To be continued…
