Tashaw-Hadji

Tashaw-Hadji^[a] (1770 – died 1843 or later) was one of the prominent leaders of the North Caucasian resistance during the Caucasian War, a companion of imam Shamil. He was the imam of Chechnya since 1834. Upon the death of Gazi-Muhammad, he was one of the major candidates at the elections of the Imam of Dagestan, losing to Shamil by one vote only. Later, he became one of the mudirs of Imam Shamil. He was also the governor (naib) of Aukh.

Tashaw-Hadji was born in the village of Endirey in the Northern Kumykia.^[2][3][4] According to the majority of sources he was of Kumyk origin.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Some contemporary historians claim that the ethnicity of Tashaw-Hadji remains unknown,^[10] while others suggest that he could have been both a Kumyk or a Chechen.

For example, Moshe Gammer, a researcher of Caucasus, writes that in the local written sources in Arabic languageTashaw calls himself "al-Indiri", which means "from Endirey", thus concluding that Tashaw could have been both a Kumyk or a Chechen, as the Kumyk village of Endirey had a present Chechen minority.^[11] At the same time, Moshe Gammer mentions Tashaw as an "Indiri Kumyk, leader of Chechens".^[12] Tashaw-Hadji himself spoke vaguely about his ethnic belonging,^[13] same as imam Shamil.

There is also a version that he could have been a Chechen, born in the village of Michik. Soviet researcher Anna Zaks writes about Tashaw as a Kumyk, a native of Endirey, criticizing the version about his Chechen origin and about his alleged birth in Michik. To refute the theory she is citing the work of imam Shamil's personal scribe Muhammad Tahir al-Qarahi.^[14] The Chechen version is also contradicted by the fact that Tashaw did not speak Chechen language.^[15]

In the 1820s, Tashaw was a mullah in his native Endirey. He studied under prominent Dagestani religious figures, Said of Arakan and Muhammad of Yarag.^[16][17]

Tashaw-Hadji took part in the resistance to the Russian Empire led by Beibulat Taimiev in 1818-1826, along with his fellow Endireyans.^[16]

In 1831, Tashaw left Endirey, when the exposure of Endirey and its gate-keeping location made it a constant target of all warring parties. According to Anna Zaks, the reason to leave Endirey was in the destruction of a part of the village by the first Imam of Dagestan Gazi-Muhammad, who by doing so hoped to force the wavering part of Endireyans to join his struggle. It was at that time that Tashaw fled Endirey and joined the Imam. At the exact same time when Endirey was under attack from Gazi-Muhammad, its crop fields were being burned by the Russian troops in retaliation for resisting the Russian rule.^[18] That was the reason why Russian documents referred to Tashaw as to a "fugitive of the Endirey village".^[19]

According to another view, proposed by the professor Hasan Orazaev, who refers to local archive materials, the reason for Tashaw leaving Endirey was the treachery from the local "rich men and mullahs", who secretly accepted the submission to the Russian Tsar. Seeing that local population rose against this betrayal of the nobility, even ready to be killed, but not subdued, Tashaw might have decided to join the fight from the mountainous and more protected areas, as Endirey's lowland and easily accessible location had led to it being ravaged multiple times by the Russian troops, during many military campaigns.^[20]

After Tashaw had to leave Endirey, he initially settled in Salatavia in the village of Almak,^[21] then moved to Chechnya, to the village of Sayasan, which became his last home until his death in 1843 or later.