داغستان بعيون الشيخ محمد بن ناصر العبودي: دراسة تحليلية لرحلة "بلاد الداغستان"

Dagestan through the eyes of Sheikh Muhammad bin Nasser Al-oboudi: An Analytical Study of the Travelogue Bilad al-Daghistan

Abstract

This research paper aims to present the Dagestan Republic to the readers as seen by Sheikh Muhammad bin Nasser Al-oboudi during his visit to that region in 1986 AD, and prescribed in his travelogue “Bilad al-Daghistan”.

Dagestan was under Soviet rule at that time. Sheikh Al-oboudi reached Dagestan, from Azerbaijan. He was heading a delegation of the Muslim World League that visited several Islamic republics in the Soviet Union.

The delegation entered from Derbent to Dagestan. There, he met Islamic personalities and visited the oldest mosque in Darband, then came the visit to Darband Castle. Al-oboudi wrote that Arab Muslims used to call Darband, the “babul abwab” (door of doors).

Then the delegation went to Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, and visited various places there, accompanied by Islamic personalities from the region and the Soviet Union. Especially the Makhachkala Museum, which contains many historic relics and has a special corner of things left by Imam Shamil Daghistani, the third Imam of Naqshbandi Sufis, who fought imperial Russia for thirty five years.

Then the delegation left for the village (Targo) on the border of Chechnya. And that journey ended there; Because Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, was not on the list of cities they were allowed to visit.

This travelogue presents a clear picture of the conditions of the people of Dagestan from various points, in addition to the details of his trip, from how he traveled to mention the members of his delegation and the banquets that were held in honor of the delegation he was leading.

This travelogue is a must read for anyone who studies about Daghistan in the soviet era.