Gamzat-bek ( Avar: ХIамзат Бек, Chechen: Хьамзат Бек, ''Гамзат-бек'' in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

), Hamza-Bek, Hamza Bek ibn Ali Iskandar Bek al-Hutsali (1789 — October 1(September 19), 1834) was the second imam of the Caucasian Imamate, who succeeded Ghazi Mollah upon his death in 1832. Gamzat-bek was a son of one of the Avar beks. He was educated under the supervision of Muslim preachers and became an avid follower of a sufi order. In August 1834, Gamzat-bek launched an assault on Avar khans, who had been supporting the Russian Empire government and who had been hostile towards the sufism movement. He succeeded in capturing the Avar capital of

Khunzakh Khunzakh ( av, Хунзахъ, , russian: Хунзах) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Khunzakhsky District in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located in the North Caucasus mountains above sea level. Populati ...

and executed its female ruler Pakhubike and her sons. Within the next eighteen months, Gamzat-bek had been actively fighting against the Russian Empire. The supporters of the Avar khans, including

Hadji Murad Hadji Murad (russian: Хаджи-Мурат, av, XӀажи Мурад; 1818 – April 23, N.S. May 5, 1852) was an important North Caucasian Avar leader during the resistance of the peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya in 1811–1864 against t ...

, conspired against Gamzat-bek and killed him (

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

's story '' Hadji Murat'' is based on this event). After the death of Gamzat-bek,

Imam Shamil Imam Shamil ( av, Шейх Шамил, Şeyx Şamil; ar, الشيخ شامل; russian: Имам Шамиль; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in ...

became the third imam of Dagestan. For more information see

Murid War In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, '' pir'' or ''shaykh''. A '' sālik'' or Su ...

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