Discussions of Dagestani ‘ulama' on ijtihad and taqlid in the First Quarter of the 20th Century

Abstract

Still poorly studied Arabic polemical treaties and Islamic press of tsarist and early Soviet Dagestan, which are introduced into the research use in this paper, shed light on important theological and legal discussions between North Caucasus ‘ulama' of that period on the modern meaning of Islamic religious tradition (taqlid) and individual reasoning in its interpretation (ijtihad). These controversies witnessed in Dagestan at least from the late seventeenth century in 1913−1928 passed on pages of Arabic speaking periodicals - weekly Jaridat Daghistan (Dagestani newspaper, 1913−19) and monthly magazine Bayan al-haqa'iq (Explanation of [Godly Shari‘a] Truths], 1925−28) edited by local Islamic modernists (jadid) ‘Ali al-Ghumuqi Kayaev (1878−1943) and Abu Sufyan Akayev (1872−1931) with the help of late imperial and early Soviet authorities. Jadid scholars insisted on legitimacy of ijtihad in the modern time approving with its help modernizing reforms the Russian/Soviet state conducted in the North Caucasus after the first Russian revolution and Civil war.