“Tie a turban round your heart
Before you tie it on your head.”
“Do you desire to love Allah the Almighty?
Then you must love righteousness.”
Kunta Khadji.

Kunta Khadji

In the Chechen language the word “Evlia” means “a saint”.

The most distinguished of Chechen saints was the Sheikh Kunta Khadji, the son of Kishi. He was born round about the year 1830 in the village of Isti Su. As a Sufi, and the founder of the Murid brotherhood, he is widely recognised and revered throughout the entire Islamic world.

When still a child, Kunta Khadji migrated - with his parents - to the village of Isklan Urt. - in the heart of the Chechen territory of Nokhch Mokha in Ichkeria. While still a young man he began work as a preacher and teacher.

In those days the Chechen people were being worn down, driven to desperation by the war with Tsarist Russia. Then they heard the message of the great Kunta Khadji, speaking of peace, tranquiliity, concord and unity through faith and goodwill.

Since then the sunlit mountains of Etran - rising high above Nokhch Mocha - have been holy places indeed.

There is no doubt that Kunta Khadji appeared at the most dramatic moment in the history of his people. His preaching and teaching saved the soul of the Chechens from unimaginable miseries - not only in his own day, but also in time to come.

The Murid Brotherhood, which bears his name, has collected many of his sermons and pronouncements. These provide the best witness to the spirit and content of his teaching.

Even as a child Kunta Khadji would put questions to the older generation. Why do people go to war? Why do they kill each other? Why is there evil in the world? Why doesn’t God simply wipe out all vices from human society?

Kunta Khadj sought answers to these questions - and to many others - in the religious books of the Zhains. And when he grew up, he set off for the Arab East/ Arabia where wise and enlightened Sheikhs were teaching in the highest schools of Islam.

Unfortunately we do not know exactly where he studied, but he spent many years in the Arabia/ the Arab East (arabskiy vostok) world and returned to Chechnya as an adherent of Sufism - a peace-loving form of Islam.

This was in the middle of the nineteenth century. The so called “War of the Caucasus” was raging in Chechnya and Daghestan. The Imam Shamil was leading the mountain peoples, attemping to resist the Russian empire by force of arms. But Kunta Khadji sought for a peaceful solution of differences with Russia.

He knew very well that all-out resistance to Tsarist authority could lead the Chechens to complete annihilation. This was why he was forced to turn to other ideas, seeking to turn highlanders away from bloodshed, towards the path of peace. The principles of Sufism contradicted those of the Gazavat, which demanded that war be waged until final victory was gained.

The outcome of the historic controversy between the “Imam” (Shamil) and the “Evlia” (Kunta Khadji) is all too clear. The conqueror came armed with overwhelming strength and cruelty. The long- drawn-out resistance of the highlands of the Northern Caucasus was broken. Shamil - by birth a “Gazavat”, became an honoured guest of the Russian Tsar, and ended his days in the holy city of Mecca. Kunta Khadji, on the other hand, had spent his whole life preaching reconciliaton, peace, generosity, and justice. But he was arrested by order of Alexander II in the winter of 1864. Imprisoned in Novocherkassk and Ustyuzhino, he suffered the fate of a common criminal.

Thus Kunta Khadji - a saint indeed - suffered loneliness, cold and hunger. A few of the Sheikh’s letters got through to his family and kinsfolk, and these bear witness to his trials, which he underwent with dignity and patience.

People of many faiths have summoned the human race to strive for goodness, fellow feeling and generosity. They include the Russian - Leo Tolstoy, and the Hindu - Mahatma Ghandi and the Chechen - Kunta Khadji.

To this day the Checehn people remember his words:

Overcome evil with kindness and love.
Overcome greed through generosity.
Overcome falsehood by truth-telling.
Overcome unbelief through faith.

Traditional Chechen proverbs:

1. Good and evil return to their creators
2. Everything passes away, but goodness is eternal
3. A kind word is a priceless treasure.
4. Take time before you do harm. Waste no time to do good.
5. Do good in silence. Don’t shout about it.
6. A good neighbour is more use than a faraway brother.
7. A kind word can move a mountain.

1. What was Kunta-Hadji interested in as a child?
2. What does Evlya mean? gazvot? myurid?
3. How did Kunta-Hadji feel about injustice, war, and gazovat which was called for by Imam Shamil?
4. What was the most important part of Kunta-Hadji’s teaching for you?
5. What weapon did Kunta-Hadji consider to be the most important for a Muslim person?
6. Where did Kunta-Hadji and Imam Shamil spend the last years of their lives? Why did they end up in such different conditions?
7. How can Kunta-Hadji’s advice, his compassion, his mercy apply in today’s world?

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