Chechen Islamic revivalism
Today many make a point, that today's resistance in Chechnya is led by the sufis
groups, moreover "powerful, clandestine Islamic mystical brotherhoods in
particular - survived there, despite two centuries of brutal Czarist, Soviet
and now Russian persecution" and led all the time mountaineer war against them.
The reason of the long-term survival of the murid groups is seen by us, first
of all, in the clannish organization of the mountaneers of Cuacasis in
general, their hierarchy (even until now it's observed in the complete
obeyance of the young people to the elder).
According to Guriya Murklinskaya, a reporter of the analytical Kavkaz agency,
there are two Sufi tarikats in North Caucasis: nakshbandiya and kadiriya.
Their activity has increased when Dudaev came to power in 1991, mainly due to
the fact, that Dudaev drawn into the political scene kadiriya virdu (with whom
he was affiliated through his elder brother Bekmirza). At the same time,
nakshbandi sect, headed by Deni Arsanov stood in the opposition to the Dudaev
clique.
Traditional tarikats of Chechnya couldn't help forming the ideology of the
young hegemonist state, something which Dudaev hoped to find help with in
order to justify his independence of Russia and annexation of Ingushetia.
Neither they can be announced as active opponents during all the
Czarist-Soviet regime. Zikrist were known as active supporters of bolsheviks
and revolution, as for terrorism during Soviets, it was nonexistant from their
part. Moreover, analyst Guriya Murklinskaya charactarizes Chechen muridism as
pro-russian.
Because there were little scope for the ideological approvement of the
militarist claims from sufi's groups, Chechen leaders patronized
simultaneously vahhabits, who have been evolving in the beginning of the 1990-s. D.Dudaev, Z.Yandarbiev, M.Udugov, S.Usef and other high rank Chechen leaders supported development of vahhabit moods by inviting Arab mojaheds and sending young chechens to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan.
Vahhabism as Saudi Arabia sect, has little to do with the Chechnya rooted
religious and political fundamentalists movement. They are rather formally
can be named vahhabists. Home-made vahhabists stepped for the purification
of Islam from late "pagan" influences. Both in Tadjikistan and Chechnya, they
were acting against pre-islamic beliefs and cults, that sufi's tarikats
imbibed.
There are also twp other versions of the vahaabism development in Chechnya.
According to the first one, Adam Deniev from the Avtury village became the first
preacher of the vahhabism. When he was joined by zikrists, he soon made it
clear, that he was against muridism and zikr.
As for the "nohchi" name, that chechens are said to designate themselves, it's
disputable, because their ethnic name is "vainakhi"; as for the "nohchi" it
became known due to the anti-Semitic fascist movement "NOHCHI", headed by
Udugov. This movement professes sort of ethnic socialism.