Said Afandi al-Chirkawi (, , ; 21 October 1937 – 28 August 2012) was a prominent scholar in

Shafii The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionist al ...

mazhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE and by the twelfth century almost all ...

and a spiritual master, or

murshid ''Murshid'' () is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root ''r-sh-d'', with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Spiritual director, spiritual guide. The term is freque ...

. He was killed by a suicide bomber in August 2012.

Biography

Al-Chirkawi was born in 1937 in the village of

Chirkey Chirkey (; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''village#Russia, selo'') in Buynaksky District of the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. Population: See also Chirkey Dam. References

Rural localities in Buyna ...

Buynaksky District Buynaksky District (, ) is an administrativeLaw #16 and municipalLaw #6 district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of the Republic of Dagestan, forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. It is located in the center of the republic ...

Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1921–1991), abbreviated as Dagestan ASSR or DASSR and also unofficially known as Soviet Dagestan or just simply Dagestan, was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Unio ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He was an

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

, a spiritual leader of Dagestani

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 ...

s, and

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Shaykh of

Naqshbandi Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophet ...

and Shazali

tariqah A ''tariqa'' () is a religious order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking , which translates as "ultimate truth". A tariqa has a (guide) who plays the r ...

s. Tens of thousands of Muslims gather annually at Chirkey for brotherhood majlis —

Mawlid The Mawlid () is an annual festival commemorating the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on the traditional date of 12 Rabi' al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar. A day central to the traditions of some Sunnis, Mawlid is al ...

celebrations — which were organised by Afandi. On 28 April 2012 more than 300,000 people from all over Russia and abroad were present at the annual gathering. Said Afandi was considered one of the Russia's top spiritual leaders whose tens of thousands of followers include influential officials, clerics and businessmen. His father died when Afandi was just seven years old. After high school he worked as shepherd to financially support his family. He served in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

and worked as a firefighter at

Chirkey Dam The Chirkey Dam (Chirkeisk GES) is an arch dam on the Sulak River in Dagestan, Russia. The main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production, and it supports a 1,000 MW power station. Construction on the dam began in 1964, the first g ...

before beginning his religious education at the age of 32. He was killed by a female suicide bomber on 28 August 2012.

Publications

Books and articles of Said Afandi are translated into Russian,

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

and English languages.

Books in Russian language

* Сокровищница благодатных знаний (Махачкала, 2010); * История пророков, том 1 (Махачкала, 2009); * Сборник выступлений шейха Саида Афанди аль-Чиркави (Махачкала, 2009) * Современность глазами шейха Саида-Афанди (Махачкала, 2010); * История пророков, том 2 (Махачкала, 2011); * Побуждение внять призыву Корана, в 4 томах (Махачкала, 2007)

Books in Tatar language

* Сокровищница благодатных знаний, перевод М. Ахматжанова (Казань, 2006)

Books in Avar language

* Назмаби * Къураналъул ахӀуде гӀавамал кантӀизари * Къисасул анбияъ * МажмугӀатуль фаваид

References

External links

* Russia
Биография Шейха Саида афанди аль-Чиркави

Islam in Dagestan

Biography of Shaykh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi
* Russia
Site of Shaykh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chirkawi, Shaykh Said Afandi 1937 births 2012 deaths 21st-century Muslim scholars of Islam Russian imams Russian Sufis Russian Sufi religious leaders Avar people 20th-century Islamic religious leaders People from Buynaksky District Assassinated people from Dagestan Writers from Dagestan Naqshbandi order Sunni Sufis