Rasul Makasharipov (; 1972 – July 6, 2005), nicknamed Muslim and also known as

Emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

Rasul, was a

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 ...

i Islamist leader in southern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He was the founder of the militant group Dzhennet and later created the rebel group

Shariat Jamaat Vilayat Dagestan (; ), formerly known as Shariat Jamaat (), was an Islamist Jihadist group based in the Russian republic of Dagestan and is part of the Caucasus Emirate. The group is closely associated with the separatist conflicts in the nearb ...

, which sought to unite

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

Muslims under

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic rule and later became part of the Caucasian Front.

Biography

Rasul Makasharipov was a native of Dagestan's south-western Tsumadinsky District, bordering

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 ...

and inhabited by

Caucasian Avars The Avars (), also known as Maharuls' (), are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group. The Avars are the largest of several ethnic groups living in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The Avars reside in the North Caucasu ...

. In 1997 his father expelled him from the house and he moved to Chechnya, where he became an Avar interpreter of

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

warlord Khattab and the rogue Chechen field commander

Shamil Basayev Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (; ; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006), also known by his '' kunya'' Abu Idris, was a Chechen guerrilla leader who served as a senior military commander in the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He held the rank ...

during their abortive

Invasion of Dagestan The 1999 war in Dagestan, also known as the Dagestan incursions (), was an armed conflict that began when the Chechen-based Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB), an Islamist group led by Shamil Basayev, Ibn al-Khattab, Ramzan Ak ...

in 1999. Makasharipov surrendered to Dagestani authorities in 2000, but was released under an

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

a year later. Within a year he began assembling his own organization, finding willing recruits from young Dagestanis who had suffered at the hands of the police. According to one of his followers, "Makasharipov spoke about the necessity to stop

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

and

humiliation Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being Humility, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It is an emotion felt by a person whose social status, either by force or willingly, has ...

of Muslims in Dagestan. He said this could be done by killing policemen." (''The Moscow Times'', March 15, 2005) The organization became known as the Dzhennet (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: ''Paradise'') group and soon started assassinating high-ranking police officials, investigators and prosecutors; the group was destroyed by the Russian crackdown in 2002, with Makasharipov being reportedly the sole survivor who remained free.Military Jama’ats in the North Caucasus: A Continuing Threat
,

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which i ...

, September 2006 The same year, Makasharipov found his new group, the

, which in May 2005 became part of the Caucasian Front established by the new

President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria The president of Ichkeria, formally the president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was the head of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from 1991 to 2007, the Islamic Republic that existed until the victory of the Russian Federation in the Secon ...

Abdul-Halim Sadulayev Abdul-Halim Abusalamovich Sadulayev ( ; 2 June 1966 – 17 June 2006) was the fourth President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Sadulayev served little more than a full year as President before being killed in a gun battle with FSB and ...

after the death of

Aslan Maskhadov Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (; ; 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was a Soviet and Chechen politician and military commander who was the third president of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was credited by many with ...

. On January 15, 2005, the FSB reported his death in an attack on a Jamaat safehouse, but Makasharipov surfaced four days later to refute these claims. Makasharipov was eventually killed in a shootout with Russian troops on July 6, 2005;SHARIA JAMAAT CONFIRMS DEATH OF ITS "EMIR"
,

, July 14, 2005 his deputy Rappani Khalilov became his successor as the leader of the Shariat Jamaat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makasharipov, Rasul 1972 births 2005 deaths Chechen Islamists People from Tsumadinsky District Avar people Russian Sunni Muslims Russian Islamists Caucasian Front (militant group) People of the Chechen wars Deaths by firearm in Russia Leaders of jihadist groups