Hadji Murad (, ; 1818 – ) was an important North Caucasian Avar leader during the resistance of the peoples of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

and

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

in 1811–1864 against the incorporation of the region into the Russian Empire.

Life

Youth

Hadji Murad was an Avar commander who lived in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

. He was foster-brother to Omar, son of Pakkou-Bekkhe, the

Khanum Khanum, Hanum, Hanım, Hanem, Khanom, or Khanoum (Uzbek language, Uzbek: Xonim/Хоним, , Mongolian language, Mongolian: Ханым, , , , , , , ) is a female royal family, royal and aristocracy, aristocratic title that was originally derived t ...

of Khunzakh. According to the legend relayed by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, Murad's mother Patimat was originally to have been forced to give up her baby to become wet nurse for Omar. Her refusal nearly led to her murder but though stabbed in the breast she survived and indeed was finally able to wean her own son.

Alliance with Russia

Hadji Murad was involved in the murder of Hamzat Bek during a Friday prayer in 1834, in revenge for Gamzat's murdering of the Khanum of Khunzakh and her sons. Murad's brother, Osman, was slain in the fight with Hamzat Bek's

Murid In Sufism, a (Arabic ) is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title , or . A or Sufi follower only becomes a when he makes a pledge () to a . The equivalent Pers ...

s. Hadji Murad supported the

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

in their imperial ambitions for a while, to counter what he saw as the threat of Muridism in the North Caucasus. His rival, Akhmet Khan, set about undermining Russian confidence in Murad, until they ordered his arrest, which was to be carried out by Akhmet Khan. Hadji Murad contrived to escape, by flinging himself over the ledge of a narrow mountain pass. The Russians gave him up for dead. The snow, however, had broken his fall and he lay in hiding for the winter. Because of the Russians' bad faith, he decided to throw his lot in with

Imam Shamil Imam Shamil (; ; ; ; ; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim ...

, who bestowed upon him the rank of

naib Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kings of Saxony to the Ge ...

. Many tribes followed Hadji Murad, defecting from the Russians.

Exploits and service under Shamil

His exploits and red dress earned him the nickname of 'the red devil' from the Russians. After an ineffectual raid on Russian headquarters at Temirkhan-Shura, a rumour spread that he had slaughtered all the Russians in the hospital and cut them up into

shashlik Shashlik, or shashlyck ( ''shashlyk''), is a Dish (food), dish of skewered and grilled cubes of meat, similar to or synonymous with shish kebab. It is known traditionally by various other names in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, an ...

s, which he left behind for the Russian troops to eat unawares. Though false, this rumour gained much credence among the Russians and vilified Hadji Murad's reputation.

Defection to Russia

In 1851, a feud broke out between him and Imam Shamil, when Shamil proclaimed his son, Khazi Mohammed, as his successor. In a secret meeting, Shamil and his naibs decided that Hadji Murad should be killed. An unknown naib warned him and he managed to escape in time, but his family were held captive. Hadji Murad surrendered to the Russians, who lionised but mistrusted him. He repeatedly asked to be given men and guns to attack Shamil and rescue his family, but received no firm reply. He was allowed to move from

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

to the small

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

town of Noukkha (now Shaki,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

) accompanied by a

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

escort. Hadji Murad planned an escape, which he carried out on April 24 ( Old style calendar), 1852, during one of his morning rides. The Cossack guards were ambushed and killed but the town's garrison, led by Colonel Karganov, tracked Hadji Murad down. The Russians were joined by many tribesmen, including Akhmet Khan's son, and Hadji Murad was killed in the ensuing fight. The young son of Akhmet Khan cut off the head and sent it to Tbilisi, where it was embalmed and then sent to the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

. Tolstoy places Murad's death near Belarjik (probably referring to the latterday town of

Birinci Biləcik Birinci Biləcik (also, Biledzhik Pervoye, Biledzhik Pervyy, Birindzhi-Baledzhik, and Birindzhi-Bilyadzhik) is a village and municipality in the Shaki Rayon of Azerbaijan. It lies in the Alazan-Ayrichay basin and has a population of 1,399. Name D ...

on the Shaki to

Qakh Qakh District (; ; ) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north of the country, in the Shaki-Zagatala Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Zagatala, Shaki, Samukh, Yevlakh, as well as the Kakheti ...

road), but a commemorative grave marker is farther south near km76 on the Shaki- Zaqatala road. Hadji Murad's severed head was finally sent to be kept at the

Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (, derived from German ''Kunstkammer'' lit. "art chamber") formally organized as the Russian Academy of Science's Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (, ''Muzey antropologii i etnografii imeni Petra Velikogo R ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. In 2017, his descendants and activists in

petitioned to retrieve his skull from St. Petersburg and reunite it with the rest of his remains believed to be buried in modern

Qakh District Qakh District (; ; ) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north of the country, in the Shaki-Zagatala Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Zagatala, Shaki, Samukh, Yevlakh, as well as the Kakheti re ...

. The Russian government set up an interagency commission to consider the request.

In fiction

's posthumously published novella ''

Hadji Murad Hadji Murad (, ; 1818 – ) was an important North Caucasian Avar leader during the resistance of the peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya in 1811–1864 against the incorporation of the region into the Russian Empire. Life Youth Hadji Murad wa ...

'' (1912) is a partially fictionalized account of Murad's struggle with the Russian Empire. His image also appears in '' My Dagestan'', a novel of the Avar writer

Rasul Gamzatov Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov (, ; rus, Расу́л Гамза́тович Гамза́тов, p=rɐˈsul ɡɐmˈzatəvʲɪtɕ ɡɐmˈzatəf, a=Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov.ru.vorb.oga; 8 September 19233 November 2003) was a Soviet and Russian po ...

. ''Agi Murad il diavolo bianco'' (1959) – in English, ''

The White Warrior ''The White Warrior'' () is a 1959 adventure film directed by Riccardo Freda. It is loosely based on Lev Tolstoy's posthumously published 1912 novel '' Hadji Murat''. Cast * Steve Reeves: Agi Murad, the "White Warrior" * Giorgia Moll: Sultanet ...

'' – is an Italian movie account of Murad's struggle with the Russian Empire. Murad is played by former 'Mr Universe', bodybuilder

Steve Reeves Stephen Lester Reeves (January 21, 1926 – May 1, 2000) was an American professional bodybuilder and actor. He was famous in the mid-1950s as a movie star in Italian-made sword-and-sandal films, playing the protagonist as muscular characters ...

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References

External links

* Kaziev, Shapi
Imam Shamil. "Molodaya Gvardiya" publishers. Moscow, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murad, Hadji 1852 deaths Avar people Resistance to the Russian Empire People of the Caucasian War 1790s births People from Khunzakhsky District North Caucasian independence activists Naibs of Imam Shamil Muslims from the Russian Empire