Najmuddin of Gotzo
Najmuddin of Gotzo was a North Caucasian religious, military, and political leader who led multiple uprisings against the Bolsheviks during and after the Russian Civil War. A poet and teacher of Arabic prior to the Russian Revolution, Najmuddin first served as Mufti of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus.
Najmuddin was born into a family of landowning nobles who had defected from the Caucasian Imamate of Imam Shamil. Prior to the Russian Revolution, he was part of both the ulama and the Russian government, and he was briefly a bureaucrat for the Russian Provisional Government following the February Revolution. Najmuddin led a series of rebellions in both Dagestan and Chechnya against Russian authorities, seeking to establish an independent Islamic theocracy in the North Caucasus under his leadership. Following the failure of a led by Najmuddin, he was captured by the Red Army in September 1925. He was then executed by the Soviet government.
Early life and career
Najmuddin was born in 1859 in the village of Gotsob, in the Russian Empire's Dagestan Oblast to an aristocratic family. His Avar father,, had been a naib under Imam Shamil that defected to the Russian government, becoming a high-ranking military officer and significant landowner as a result of his defection. Najmuddin's mother was an ethnic Kumyk from the village of Nizhny Dzhengutay. Najmuddin's elder brother,, was a teacher of Islamic theology. Najmuddin followed his brother into a religious career, joining the ulama after receiving a religious education.Najmuddin joined the court of Nikolay Chavchavadze as a horse trainer on 19 December 1880, after completing his formal education. The next year, he became an employee of the court of Dagestan Oblast. He worked at the court until 1895, leaving the job with the police rank of Junker. He next was naib of Koisubu Prefecture within the Avar District of Dagestan Oblast, the same office his father had held, from 1895 to 1903., a Bolshevik revolutionary in Dagestan during the Russian Civil War, later claimed that Najmuddin was on one occasion removed from office and imprisoned for seven months after inflicting injury upon a thief as punishment for stealing. This thief was popularly claimed to be, an Avar poet and later Bolshevik revolutionary. Mahmud later criticised Najmuddin in a satirical poem as greedy and an infidel.
Following the deaths of his father and brother, Najmuddin inherited large tracts of land, including 10,000 sheep across both mountainous and lowland pastures. He defended his inheritance, saying that if claims were filed in sharia court against the argument that his father had honourably obtained the land, he would voluntarily surrender it.
Najmuddin travelled to the Ottoman Empire on the permission of the Russian government briefly in 1903. There, he engaged in writing literature, particularly poetry. This was the first time he ever ventured beyond the borders of the Russian Empire, and it would prove to be the only such time. While in the Ottoman Empire, Najmuddin met Muhammad Zapir, a religious educator to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and a meeting was arranged between the two. The meeting primarily concerned the conditions of Muslims living under the Russian Empire, and Najmuddin requested permission to become imam of Dagestan. Abdul Hamid agreed to Najmuddin's request, but noted that it was impossible to fulfil, as Dagestan was then under the control of Russia. He urged Najmuddin to "try, if you succeed, it will be very good."
Upon his return, Najmuddin became a teacher at a kuttab in the Avar District. During the 1906 Russian legislative election he stood in the Temir-Khan-Shura District as a candidate for a deputy, as he owned land in the district. However, due to extremely low turnout in Dagestan Oblast, the provincial executive bureau decided against sending any deputies to the. At this time, Najmuddin, who had begun to partake in protests against the Russian government, came under the suspicion of the state, which suspected him of being an Ottoman spy and receiving weapons from the Ottoman government so that he would organise a rebellion., governor of Dagestan Oblast, accused him of leading the Dagestan movement, and sought to have him sent into internal exile.
On the eve of the Russian Revolution, Najmuddin was publicly known in Dagestan and Chechnya for his devotion to charity. During Islamic holidays, he slaughtered his sheep and distributed the meat to the poor. He also had a reputation as someone who sought to minimise ethnic conflicts between Chechens and Dagestanis., an Avar artist who was acquainted with Najmuddin, noted that despite his wealth, he personally was characterised as a simple, humane, and kind individual.
Revolution and the Mountainous Republic
Najmuddin supported the 1917 February Revolution, and after the revolution's success he became a member of the Dagestan Oblast Provisional Executive Committee, based in Temir-Khan-Shura. Soon after the revolution, two mutually-hostile political groups formed, each vying for power: the Dagestan Socialist Group, which claimed to speak "in the interests of the workers", and the, which was led by Najmuddin. Najmuddin sharply criticised the Bolsheviks, whose ideology he felt was antithetical to Islamic values. At the same time, he distanced himself politically from the nobility, particularly in matters of land, urging adherence to Islamic courts in order to solve land disputes. Najmuddin had confidence that supporters of the now-deposed Empire would come to his side, believing that they would need his support more than he needed theirs. Magomed Dzhafarov, a colonel of the Imperial Russian Army and the military of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, remarked that Najmuddin was intelligent, proud and arrogant, and that he was well-connected to the working class despite his wealth. Dzhafarov noted that none of the many aalimath of the Caucasus had a level of fame equivalent to Najmuddin, particularly in highland regions.Najmuddin attended the, which took place in May 1917 in Vladikavkaz. There, he was appointed as mufti of the North Caucasus and as a member of the Central Committee of the Union of Highlanders of the North Caucasus. Following his appointment as mufti, Najmuddin delivered a message to the population in which he called for unity and announced that any measures against sharia would be prosecuted to the strongest possible extent. Alibek Ṭahaq̇adiqala, a member of the Central Committee from the Socialist Group, assessed Najmuddin's move not as one of a religious fanatic, but as a carefully-calculated step performed to achieve support from the people. Najmuddin secured another victory at the congress's conclusion by successfully lobbying for the next such meeting to be held in the highland village of Andi. He argued that such a location would be fitting for the movement to deliberate, but ulterior motives also played a role: Andi was located in Avar territory, where his influence was stronger than anywhere else in the Caucasus.
Among Najmuddin's closest political allies was sheikh Uzun-Hajji, who travelled across the North Caucasus spreading propaganda in favour of a theocracy. Uzun-Hajji's vision was the establishment of a sharia state with Najmuddin as leader, similar to Imam Shamil's Caucasian Imamate. Dzhafarov wrote that Najmuddin had initially been slow to act politically, before being forced into doing so by the more enthusiastic Uzun-Hajji. Further impetuses emerged from the victory of the Socialist Group in the local elections, which had alarmed supporters of sharia into forming militias. Uzun-Hajji gathered five thousand Najmuddin loyalists in Andi from the Dagestani highlands and Chechnya prior to the beginning of the. Presented with what seemed to be a fait accompli, the liberal intellectuals among the Union of Highlanders of the North Caucasus agreed to attend, while scheduling another conference for a later date.
On 17 August 1917, Najmuddin was formally appointed as at a ceremony on Lake Kezenoyam during the congress. Upon his accession to the role, Najmuddin stated in a message to the people:
His tenure as imam would be short-lived, however. Three days later, he was instructed to give up his title by the congress's attendees, who were largely religious Muslims that shared Najmuddin's opposition to the intellectuals. Those attending feared that a restoration of Shamil's Imamate would encourage sectarian enmity and bloodshed between the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. At the on 21 August, Najmuddin's status as mufti, rather than imam, was affirmed.
Najmuddin was elected to the Russian Constituent Assembly in the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election, and he continued to express support for strengthened relations between Muslims and non-Muslims as mufti. He publicly urged Highlanders against attacking Russians, Georgians, or Jews. In the face of a wave of abrek attacks that had begun following the February Revolution, Najmuddin declared that those who attacked Christians would be executed, an edict that was not applied to those who attacked Muslims. He justified the decision as one taken to prevent the destruction of the peaceful co-existence between the Highlanders and their neighbours. He also formed a military unit intended to fight abreks, and in a 5 November 1917 khutbah in Gudermes he condemned increasing levels of violence committed by abreks.
In January 1918, Najmuddin and other members of the National Committee with the intention of appointing Najmuddin imam. Following Friday prayer, supporters of Najmuddin declared him as imam. After a few days, however, he again backed down and returned to the office of mufti. Upset with Najmuddin's indecisiveness, Uzun-Hajji abandoned him with his army for the highlands.
Civil war
Resistance against the Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks entered the North Caucasus in 1918, forming a detachment from loyalists in the city of Port-Petrovsk. On 23 March 1918, the Armed Forces of Dagestan Executive Committee urged Najmuddin to stabilise the city after, to which he agreed. Najmuddin subsequently established his headquarters in the city, and he began to enforce sharia. Simultaneously, inter-ethnic clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began in Baku. Najmuddin ordered the Armed Forces of Dagestan Executive Committee to travel south and support the Muslim Azerbaijanis. On the way to Baku, the executive committee was defeated, and the Red Army subsequently launched a, successfully taking it. Najmuddin fled to Temir-Khan-Shura.The next decision taken by the executive committee was to travel to Port-Petrovsk in order to obtain Red Army plans. Upon being told of this, Najmuddin elected to join the army on their way to obtain the plans. In the subsequent battle, the army was again defeated, leading to another retreat. At this point, the majority of the Temir-Khan-Shura District now under the control of the Bolsheviks, and the Dargin District was under the control of sheikh Ali-Hajji of Akusha, who had formed an alliance with the Bolsheviks. Two villages in the Dargin District, as well as the Avar, Andi, and Gunib districts were under the control of forces loyal to Najmuddin and the returned Uzun-Hajji.
In late May 1918, the leading military commanders of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus were gathered in Gunib at Najmuddin's initiative. There, they recognised Najmuddin's authority as Imam of Dagestan and Chechnya, an act which mobilised Highlanders to fight for the republic. A decision was made to launch a three-pronged attack on the Red Army; towards Arakani, in the Kumukh-Tsudakhar direction, and towards.
The offensive began with two defeats inflicted by the Red Army at Arkas on 26 May and 5 June. Red Army forces under also encircled the village of Kostek, where Najmuddin was based, and began shelling. In the resulting battle, both sides sustained heavy losses. On 14 July, Najmuddin's army was attacked outside of Nizhneye Kazanishche, and they were forced to retreat to Arkas. Six days later, they were attacked at Kizlyar, and the Red Army took several prisoners of war, as well as significant amounts of equipment. The tide of the battle began to shift in favour of the Highlanders three days later, when Magomed Dzhafarov forced the Bolsheviks to retreat at the village of Karanay. The next day, Najmuddin's detachment relieved Dzhafarov's forces from Bolshevik pressure at Gimry and Untsukul by forcing the Red Army to retreat.
The Red Army and forces loyal to Najmuddin continued to clash until August 1918, when forces loyal to Lazar Bicherakhov left Baku after the battle for the city and took control of much of the Northern Caucasus. An Ottoman offensive quickly brought an end to Bicherakhov's forces and reestablished the Mountainous Republic. The reestablished republic granted Najmuddin the position of director of sharia affairs in March 1919.