Avar religious leader and mufti of the North Caucasus who led anti-Bolshevik uprisings in Dagestan and Chechnya in 1918–1925
Born in 1859 to an aristocratic Avar landowning family in the village of Gotsob in Dagestan, he was an Islamic scholar. In May 1917 the congress of the Union of Highlanders of the North Caucasus made him mufti of the North Caucasus, and in August he was proclaimed Imam of Dagestan and Chechnya but gave up the title three days later. He fought the Bolsheviks in 1918, and in 1919 he collaborated with Denikin’s Volunteer Army as a lesser evil than the communists. In September 1920 he raised and led the Dagestan uprising, which was put down in May 1921. Moving to Chechnya to prepare another rising, he was arrested in September 1925 and shot that October.
Also known as: Najmuddin of Gotzo · Nazhmudin Gotsinsky · Nazhmudin Donogo
Activities and affiliations
- 1918–1925 Military command
- 1917–1919 Religion
Career Timeline
- 1895–1903Naib of Koisubu, Avar District
- 1917Mufti of the North Caucasus
- 1917Proclaimed Imam of Dagestan and Chechnya; gave up the title three days later
- 1920–1921Led the Dagestan uprising
- 1924–1925Insurgency in Chechnya
- 1925Arrested; executed in Rostov-on-Don