Entangled Narratives of the Changing Muslim Hagiography: A Soviet Holy-Fool in Post-Soviet Southern Dagestan
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2023-41-3-4-87-119
Abstract
Based on the authors’ fieldwork carried out in Southern Dagestan in 2021–2023, the article investigates the emergence of a new holyfool saint venerated as miracle (karamat) worker. In the post-Soviet Muslim hagiography, this type is different from those of Arab missionaries who converted Dagestani highlanders into Islam in the early Middle ages, shahid martyrs of jihad warfare, Muslim scholars and Sufi masters, who dominated the cult of the saints in the Eastern Caucasus until the beginning of the twentieth century. This article studies the case of sheikh Waghufbuba Ismailov (1894–1972) in the Lezgin village of Lutkun. For the last 30 years he turned from a littleknown local saint (awliya’) into the third most venerated character in the Muslim hagiography of Southern Dagestan after the 40 legendary Arab shahids in the town of Derbent known as Kyrkhlar, and sheikh Pir Suleyman in the holy mountain of Shalbuzdag and in the abandoned sacred village of Lgar-Pirkent. By its type, Muslim holy-fools are close to the new saints from various religious groups, appeared in the post Soviet space, including the Shiite sheikh Mir-Movsum-agha, better known as the Baku “Boneless Saint,” Et-agha (1883–1950), and Orthodox blessed elders like Matrona of Moscow (1885–1952). To date, the Lutkun holy-fool has not yet been studied. The article proposes a “thick description” of the two holy places related to Waghufbuba. The focus is made on the entangled narratives in his cult — popular Islamic, Sufi, Soviet and national. The cult’s epistemology, formation and dissemination are examined. The research relies on interviews, epigraphy, handwritten primary sources, photo documentation, as well as Internet blogs in Lezgin, Arabic and Russian.
About the Authors
V. Bobrovnikov
Institute of Oriental studies, Russian Academy of Sciences;
Saint Petersburg State University;
HSE University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Vladimir Bobrovnikov — Leading Research Fellow and Central Asia and Caucasus Chair;
Research Fellow of Research Laboratory for Analysis and Modeling of Social Processes;
Professor at the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies
Moscow, Saint-Petersburg
I. Chmilevskaya
Institute of Oriental studies, Russian Academy of Sciences;
HSE University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ilona Chmilevskaya — Assistant Research Fellow, Academic Secretary of the Sheikh Zeyd Center of Islamic Manuscripts;
Student of Master’s Program on Muslim Worlds in Russia (History and Culture)
Moscow
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Review
For citations:
Bobrovnikov V., Chmilevskaya I. Entangled Narratives of the Changing Muslim Hagiography: A Soviet Holy-Fool in Post-Soviet Southern Dagestan. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2023;41(3-4):87-119. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2023-41-3-4-87-119
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