View source for Imam Shamil

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Imam Shamil
| image        = Shamil by Denier.jpg
| caption      = Shamil in 1859
| religion     = [[Sunni]] [[Islam]]
| succession   = [[Caucasian Imamate|Imam of Chechnya and Dagestan]]
| reign        = 1834–1859
| predecessor  = [[Hamzat Bek]]
| successor    = Overthrown by the [[Russian Empire]]
| father       = Dengau
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = 26 June 1797
| birth_place  = [[Gimry]], [[Dagestan]], [[Avar Khanate|Avar Nutsaldom]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1871|2|4|1797|6|26}}
| death_place  = [[Medina]], [[Habesh Eyalet]], [[Ottoman Empire]]
| place of burial = [[Jannatul Baqi]], Medina
| signature = Imam Shamil signature.svg
}}
 
'''Imam Shamil''' ({{langx|ar|الشيخ شامل|al-Šaykh Šāmil}}; {{langx|av|Шейх Шамил|Sheykh Shamil}}; {{langx|ce|имам Шемал|imam Shemal}};<ref>Гапуров Ш. А. Тяжёлые страницы истории Чечни //Таллам. – 2015. – №. 1. – С. 24-29.</ref> {{langx|kum|Шамил|Şamil}}; {{langx|ru|Имам Шамиль}}; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]] in the 1800s,<ref>{{cite book
 |title=A History of Russia
 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofrussia00rias
 |url-access=registration
 |author=Nicholas V. Riasanovsky
 |edition= 4th
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |year=1984
 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofrussia00rias/page/389 389]
 |chapter=Chapter 29: The Reign of Alexander II, 1855-81
|isbn=978-0-19-503361-8
 }}</ref> the third [[Imam]] of the [[Caucasian Imamate]] (1840–1859), and a [[Sunni Muslim]] [[Sheikh (Sufism)|sheikh]] of the [[Naqshbandi|Naqshbandi Sufis]].<ref>[http://www.islamdag.info/story/551 The Great Shamil, Imam of Daghestan and Chechnya, Shaykh of Naqshbandi tariqah]</ref>

==Family and early life==
Imam Shamil was born in 1797 into an [[Avars (Caucasus)|Avar]] Muslim family.<ref>{{Cite web|last= Budak|first= Mustafa |date=|title=ŞEYH ŞÂMİL|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/seyh-samil|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last= |first= |date= |title=Şeyh Şamil|url=http://www.biyografya.com/biyografi/2415|archive-url=|archive-date= |access-date= 2020-12-28|website= Biyografya|language= en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last= Doğan|first= Şahin|date= |title= Avrasya İncelemeleri Dergisi (AVİD), IV/1 (2015), 121-145|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/217892|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Dergipark Çeviri}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tiryakioğlu|first=Okay|title=Şeyh Şamil - Kafkas Kartalı|date=March 2019|publisher=Timaş Yayınları|isbn= 978-6050829860 |location=|pages=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Başman|first=Sevgi|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=h8tXDwAAQBAJ|title=Şeyh Şamil|publisher=Zafer Basin Yayin Ve Turizm Ve Bilg.ürünleri San.tic. Ltd. şti|isbn= 978-975-261-372-0|language=tr}}</ref> He was born in the small village ([[aul]]) of [[Gimry]] (present-day [[Dagestan]], [[Russia]]). Some sources state that he had a paternal [[Kumyks|Kumyk]] lineage.<ref>''Блиев М. М.'' Россия и горцы Большого Кавказа: на пути к цивилизации. — <abbr>М.</abbr>: Мысль, 2004; {{ISBN|5-244-01004-2}}.</ref><ref>''Халилов А. М., Идрисов М. М.'' Шамиль в истории Северного Кавказа и народной памяти. — Махачкала, 1998. — 119 с.</ref><ref>''Халилов А. М.'' Национально-освободительное движение горцев Северного Кавказа под предводительством Шамиля. — Махачкала: Дагучпедгиз, 1991. — 181 с.</ref><ref>Шамиль на Кавказе и в России, Биографический очерк / сост. М.Н. Чичагова — СПб.: Типография и литография С. Муллер и И. Богельман, 1889</ref><ref>Şeyh Şamil Çarlara Baş Eğmeyen Dağlı, Samih Tansu, 1963, p. 14-15</ref><ref>Дауев, Саламу Ахмедович. Чечня: коварные таинства истории / Саламу Дауев. - М. : Русь, 1999, стр. 133-136</ref><ref>{{Cite web
|url=http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XIX/1840-1860/D_V/text1.htm|access-date=2021-04-16|website=www.vostlit.info|title=НЕКОТОРЫЕ БИОГРАФИЧЕСКИЕ ПОДРОБНОСТИ О ШАМИЛЕ}}</ref> He was originally named Ali, but following local tradition, his name was changed to ''Shamuyil'' ({{langx|ar|شمویل}}, equivalent to ''Samuel'') when he became ill. This name is pronounced ''Shamil'' in the Caucasus, and contemporary sources called him by this name (either {{Lang|ar|شامل}} {{Transliteration|ar|Shāmil}} or {{Lang|ar|شمیل}} {{Transliteration|ar|Shamīl}} in Arabic), although in his writings he always used the form ''Shamuyil''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gammer |first=Moshe |title=Muslim Resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the Conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan |publisher=Frank Cass |year=1994 |location=London |pages=69, 329}}</ref> His father, Dengau, was a landlord, and this position allowed Shamil and his close friend [[Ghazi Muhammad]] to study many subjects, including [[Arabic]] and [[logic]].

Shamil grew up at a time when the [[Russian Empire]] was expanding into the territories of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Qajar Iran]] (see [[Russo-Persian War (1804–1813)]] and [[Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)]]). Many Caucasian peoples united in resistance to Russian imperial aspirations in what became known as the [[Caucasian War]] (1817-1864). Earlier [[leader]]s of [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] resistance included Hadji-Dawud, [[Sheikh Mansur]] and Ghazi Mollah. Shamil, a childhood friend of the Mollah, would become his disciple and counsellor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imam Shamil: The Lion Of Dagestan {{!}} Complete Documentary {{!}} - смотреть видео онлайн от «Звездные истории» в хорошем качестве, опубликованное 2 июля 2024 года в 5:38:03. |url=https://rutube.ru/video/c97a558109c12c8ea905d4a0951b1b8b/ |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=rutube.ru |language=ru}}</ref>

Shamil had multiple wives, including one of [[Armenians|Armenian ethnicity]] born in Russia named Anna Ivanovna Ulukhanova (or Ulykhanova; 1828-1877).<ref name="Barrett">Thomas M. Barrett, ''At the Edge of Empire: The Terek Cossacks and the North Caucasus Frontier, 1700–1860'' (Westview Press, 1999), 193.</ref><ref>Daniel R. Brower and Edward J. Lazzerinini, eds., ''Russia's Orient: Imperial Borderlands and Peoples, 1700–1917'' (Indiana University Press, 1997), p. 92.</ref> Captured in a raid in 1840, she married Shamil six years later. She converted to Islam as a teenager and adopted the name Shuanet. Shuanet remained loyal to Shamil even after his capture and exile to Russia. After the death of Shamil (1871) she moved to the [[Ottoman Empire]], where the sultan assigned her a pension.<ref name="Barrett"/>

== War against Russia ==
{{main|Murid War}}
[[File:Horschelt. Surrender of Shamil. 1863.jpg|300px|thumb|left|''Capture of Shamil'', by [[Theodor Horschelt]]]]
[[File:Karte des Kaukasischen Isthmus - Entworfen und gezeichnet von J-Grassl - 1856.jpg|thumb|200px|''Karte des Kaukasischen Isthmus''. Entworfen und gezeichnet von J. Grassl, 1856.]]
[[File:Shamil1.jpg|thumb|200px|Imam Shamil, Lithography by [[Georg Wilhelm Timm|Vasily Timm]] ]]
[[File:შამილის და შვილების მიერ პეტერბურგს ჩასვლა, 1859 წ.jpg|thumb|right|"Shamil's family". Left to right: [[Ghazi Muhammad]]'s confident, Murid Hajio; Shamil's son Muhammad Shafi; Shamil's sons-in-law: Abdurrahim and [[Sayyid Abdurrahman|Abdurrahman]], Kaluga, 1860]]
{{Campaignbox Caucasian War}}
In 1832, Ghazi Mollah died at the battle of Gimry, and Shamil was one of only two [[murid]]s to escape, but he sustained severe wounds. During this fight he was stabbed with a bayonet. After reportedly jumping from an elevated stoop "clean over the heads of the very line of soldiers about to fire on him ... [he landed] behind them, whirling his sword in his left hand he cut down three of them, but was bayoneted by the fourth, the steel plunging deep in his chest. He seized the bayonet, pulled it out of his own flesh, cut down the man, and with another superhuman leap, cleared the wall and vanished in the darkness".<ref>Invisible armies: Blanch, sabres("bare":70; "wild beast"; al-Qarakhi, shining (pulled out sword: 22);</ref> He went into hiding and both Russia and murids assumed him dead. Once recovered, he emerged from hiding and rejoined the murids, led by the second [[Imam]], [[Hamzat Bek]]. He would wage unremitting warfare on the Russians for the next quarter century and become one of the legendary guerrilla commanders of the century. When Hamzat Bek was killed in 1834, Shamil took his place as the prime leader of the Caucasian resistance and the third Imam of the [[Caucasian Imamate]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In June–August 1839, Shamil and his followers, numbering about 4000 men, women and children, found themselves under siege in their mountain [[fortification|stronghold]] of [[Siege of Akhoulgo|Akhoulgo]], nestled in the bend of the [[Andi Koysu]], about ten miles east of Gimry. Under the command of General [[Pavel Grabbe]], the Russian army trekked through lands devoid of supplies because of Shamil's scorched-earth strategy. The geography of the stronghold protected it from three sides, adding to the difficulty of conducting the siege. Eventually the two sides agreed to negotiate. Complying with Grabbe's demands, Shamil gave his son, Jamaldin, in a sign of good faith, as a hostage. Shamil rejected Grabbe's proposal that Shamil command his forces to surrender and for him to accept exile from the region. The Russian army attacked the stronghold, [[Siege of Akhoulgo|after 2 days of fighting]], the Russian troops had secured it. Shamil escaped the siege during the first night of the attack. Shamil's forces had been broken and many Dagestani and Chechen chieftains proclaimed loyalty to the Tsar. Shamil fled Dagestan for Chechnya. There, he made quick work of extending his influence over the clans.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Ghost of Freedom|last=King|first=Charles|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|location=New York, NY|pages=79–80}}</ref>

Shamil was effective at uniting the many, quarrelsome Caucasian tribes to fight against the Russians, by the force of his charisma, piety and fairness in applying Sharia law. One Russian source commented on him as "a man of great tact and a subtle politician." He believed the Russian introduction of alcohol in the area corrupted traditional values. Against the large regular Russian military, Shamil made effective use of irregular and guerrilla tactics. In 1845, an 8000-10000 strong column under the command of Count Mikhail Vorontsov followed the Imamate's forces into the forests of Chechnya. The Imamate's forces surround the Russian column, [[Battle of Dargo (1845)|destroying]] it.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gammer|first=Moshe|date=September 2013|title=Empire and Mountains: The Case of Russia and the Caucasus|journal=Social Evolution & History|pages=124–125}}</ref> This destroyed Vorontsov's attempt to cut away Chechnya from the Imamate, which was his plan.<ref>Count [[Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov]] detailing the plan to cut away Chechnya from the Imamate:<br>{{Cite web|url=https://aif.ru/society/10300|title = Полтора века назад Чечню удалось победить «системой просек|date = April 2009}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Shamil is showing great activity this year and he is forced to do this, since we ... are taking measures that must sooner or later ... destroy his influence and tear away the Chechens from him, without which he will be nothing.|author=Count Mikhail Vorontsov}}

His fortunes as a military leader rose after he was joined by Hadji Murad, who defected from the Russians in 1841 and tripled by his fighting the area under Shamil's control within a short time. Hadji Murad, who was to become the subject of [[Hadji Murat (novel)|a famous novella]] by Leo Tolstoy (1904), turned against Shamil a decade later, apparently disappointed by his failure to be anointed Shamil's successor as imam. Shamil's elder son was given that nomination, and in a secret council, Shamil had his lieutenant accused of treason and sentenced to death, on which Hadji Murad, on learning of the judgement, redefected to the Russians.<ref name=":1">Gary Hamburg, Thomas Sanders, Ernest Tucker (eds,),''Russian-Muslim Confrontation in the Caucasus: Alternative Visions of the conflict between Imam Shamil and the Russians, 1830-1859'', RoutledgeCurzon 2004 pèassim</ref><ref name=":2">[[Malise Ruthven]], ''Terror: The Hidden Source'', [[New York Review of Books]], 24 October 2013, pp. 20-24.</ref>

Although Shamil hoped that Britain, France, or the Ottoman Empire would come to his aid to drive Russia from the Caucasus, this never happened. After the [[Crimean War]], Russia redoubled its efforts against the Imamate. Now successful, Russian forces severely reduced the Imamate's territory, and by September 1859, Shamil surrendered. Though the main theater closed, conflict in the eastern Caucasus would continue for several more years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gammer|first=Moshe|date=September 2013|title=Empire and Mountains: The Case of Russia and the Caucasus|journal=Social Evolution & History|page=126}}</ref>

== Last years ==
[[File:The_illustrated_London_News_December_24_1859._Schamyl_(front_page).png|thumb|Shamil (front page). [[The Illustrated London News|Illustrated London News]] of December 24, 1859.]]

After his capture, Shamil was sent to [[Saint Petersburg]] to meet the [[Alexander II of Russia|Tsar Alexander II]]. Afterwards, he was exiled to [[Kaluga]], then a small town near [[Moscow]]. After several years in Kaluga he complained to the authorities about the climate and in December 1868 Shamil received permission to move to [[Kyiv]] a commercial center of the Empire's southwest. In Kyiv he was afforded a mansion in [[Hrushevsky Street (Kiev)|Aleksandrovskaya Street]]. The Imperial authorities ordered the Kyiv superintendent to keep Shamil under "strict but not overly burdensome surveillance" and allotted the city a significant sum for the needs of the exile. Shamil seemed to have liked his luxurious detainment, as well as the city; this is confirmed by the letters he sent from Kyiv.<ref name=Kiev>Андрей Манчук, [http://pk.kiev.ua/history/2007/09/06/090007.html Шамиль на печерских холмах] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071115004046/http://pk.kiev.ua/history/2007/09/06/090007.html |date=2007-11-15 }}, ''"Газета по-киевски"'', 06.09.2007</ref>

In 1859 Shamil wrote to one of his sons: "By the will of the Almighty, the Absolute Governor, I have fallen into the hands of unbelievers ... the Great Emperor ... has settled me here ... in a tall spacious house with carpets and all the necessities."<ref>Pismo Shamilia Mukhammadanu, November 24, 1859, in Omarov, ed. 100 pisem Shamilia.</ref>

In 1869 he was given permission to perform the [[Hajj]] to the holy city of [[Mecca]]. He traveled first from Kyiv to [[Odesa]] and then sailed to [[Istanbul]], where he was greeted by [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Abdulaziz|Sultan Abdulaziz]]. He became a guest at the Imperial [[Topkapı Palace]] for a short while and left Istanbul on a ship reserved for him by the Sultan. In Mecca, during the pilgrimage, he met and conversed with [[Emir Abdelkader]]. After completing his pilgrimage to Mecca, he died in [[Medina]] in 1871 while visiting the city, and was buried in the [[Al-Baqi Cemetery|Jannatul Baqi]], a historical graveyard in Medina where many prominent personalities from Islamic history are interred. Two elder sons, ({{ill|Cemaleddin (1829-1858)|lt=Cemaleddin|ru|Джамалуддин (сын Шамиля)}} and Muhammed Şefi), whom he had to leave in Russia in order to get permission to visit Mecca, became officers in the Russian army, while two younger sons, ({{ill|Muhammed Gazi|ru|Гази-Мухаммад (сын Шамиля)}} and Muhammed Kamil), served in the [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] army whilst their daughter Peet'mat Shamil went on to marry Sheikh Mansur Fedorov, an Imam who later absconded from the Russian Empire out of fear for himself and his children's lives. He fathered 11 children, one being John Fedorov who changed his name to John Federoff after migrating to Childers in Queensland, Australia<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.genealogy.com/forum/regional/countries/topics/russia/1461/|title=Re: John Federoff born Russia - Genealogy.com|website=www.genealogy.com|accessdate=4 May 2023}}</ref> where he established a sugar cane farming empire.

[[Said Shamil]], a grandson of Imam Shamil, became one of the founders of the [[Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus]], which was founded in 1917 and survived until 1920, when it was conquered by [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]]. Forced to leave the region, in 1924 he established the "Committee of Independence of the Caucasus" in [[Weimar Republic|Germany]].

== Legacy ==
=== Russian historiography ===
While Russia had managed to conquer Chechnya and Dagestan in a series of bloody conquests, Russians had developed a great respect for Shamil.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theoryandpractice.ru/posts/17061-teper-kavkaz-v-kaluge-kak-zhil-imam-shamil-v-russkom-plenu|title=Теперь Кавказ в Калуге»: как жил имам Шамиль в русском плену|date=14 November 2018}}</ref> Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]] had openly admired his resistance, thus in the later part of his life, Shamil was permitted for Hajj by the Russian authorities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2015/08/28/imam-shamil-a-pioneer-of-the-caucusess-struggle-for-freedom|title=Imam Shamil: A pioneer of the Caucuses's [sic] struggle for freedom|website=[[Daily Sabah]]|date=28 August 2015|access-date=6 October 2020|archive-date=23 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223115149/https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2015/08/28/imam-shamil-a-pioneer-of-the-caucusess-struggle-for-freedom|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Shamil's career and legacy continue to be studied by Russian authorities and academics despite his defiance to Russian power.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/russkie-v-gosudarstve-shamilya|title = Русские в государстве Шамиля|journal = История, Археология И Этнография Кавказа|year = 2011|issue = 28|pages = 7–15}}</ref> An entomologist with reformist ideas named a large [[swift moth]] after him.<ref>H. Christoph: Diagnosen zu einigen neuen Lepidoptera des palaearctischen Faunengebietes. Hor. Soc. 
Ent Ross. (Sankt Peterburg), vol 22. pp308 - 314 (1888). See [[Zenophassus]].</ref>

=== Musical composition ===
At a gathering in 1958,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/81890/jewish/A-Song.htm|title=A Song - A story of bondage and freedom portrays the mystery of life|website=www.chabad.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-01}}</ref> the [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson|Lubavitcher Rebbe]] told a story about a great tribal leader named Shamil, who was rebelling against the persecuting Russian forces. Lured by a false peace treaty, he was captured and exiled. During his exile, he composed a heartfelt, wordless song emoting his rise, downfall and yearning for freedom. The song was seemingly heard by a passing Hasid, the melody remained obscure until the Rebbe taught it at the above-mentioned gathering. The song uncharacteristically was adopted by the [[Chabad]] movement (who usually compose their own melodies), as they take the deeper meaning of its stanzas as an analogy for the soul, which descends to a world of mortality and physicality, trapped in a body, knowing that it will one day return to its maker.<ref name=":0" /> (Another song uncharacteristically adapted by the [[Chabad]] movement is the tune of the [[La Marseillaise]], which was put to the tune of the prayer Ho'aderes V'hoemunah.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/2465274/jewish/The-Spiritual-French-Revolution-A-Miracle-in-Our-Times-5752-1992.htm#footnote20a2465274|title=The Spiritual French Revolution: A Miracle in Our Times, 5752(1992)|website=chabad.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-01}}</ref>)

== See also ==
* [[Caucasian War]]
* [[Russian conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan]]
* [[Russo-Circassian War]]
* [[Murtazeki]]
* [[Sayyid Abdurrahman]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Grigol Robakidze]]. "Imam Shamil". ''Kaukasische Novellen'', Leipzig, 1932; Munich, 1979 (in German)
* [[Lesley Blanch]]. ''The Sabres of Paradise.'' New York: Viking Press. 1960.
* Nicholas Griffin. ''Caucasus: Mountain Men and Holy Wars''
*[https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/languages/gould-rebecca.aspx Rebecca Ruth Gould.] “[https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:21275/ Imam Shamil],” Russia's People of Empire: Life Stories from Eurasia, 1500 to the Present, eds. Steve Norris & Willard Sunderland (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2012), 117-128.
* [[Leo Tolstoy]]. ''[[Hadji Murat (novel)|Hadji Murat]]''
* [[John F. Baddeley]]. The Russian conquest of the Caucasus. 1908.
* [[Shapi Kaziev]]. [http://www.kaziev.ru/index/imam_shamil/0-44 Imam Shamil]. "Molodaya Gvardiya" publishers. Moscow, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2010. {{ISBN|978-5-235-03332-0}}
* [[Shapi Kaziev]]. [[Siege of Akhoulgo|Akhoulgo]]. [[Caucasian War|Caucasian War of 19th century]]. [http://www.kaziev.ru/index/ahulgo/0-42 The historical novel. "Epoch", Publishing house. Makhachkala, 2008.] {{ISBN|978-5-98390-047-9}}
* Tamar Zigman. "[http://blog.nli.org.il/en/mendel_schneerson/ The Sufi Freedom Fighter Who Inspired the Lubavitcher Rebbe]", [[National Library of Israel|The National Library of Israel]] website.
* [[Gammer, Moshe]]. Muslim resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan. Taylor & Francis, 2003.

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Imam Shamil}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Shamyl |short=x}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Schamyl |short=x}}
* [http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/140724/jewish/Shamil.htm Niggun Shamil], a [[Hasidic Judaism|Hassidic]] [[Nigun|niggun]] based on Shamil's experiences
* [http://www.islamdag.info/story/551 The Great Shamil, Imam of Daghestan and Chechnya, Shaykh of Naqshbandi tariqah]
* [http://www.prok.uniyar.ac.ru/img/n/11562.jpg Picture of Shamil's ''Aul''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006060341/http://www.prok.uniyar.ac.ru/img/n/11562.jpg |date=2011-10-06 }} (hideout village) in [[Dagestan]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081011234949/http://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/FYE/Essays/Stempf.asp Colorado College Paper]
* [http://www.kaziev.ru/photo/2-1-0-0-2 Portraits of Imam Shamil]
* [http://www.islamdag.info Islam in Dagestan]
* [http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/shamyl.htm The Jihad of Imam Shamil]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shamil, Imam}}
[[Category:1797 births]]
[[Category:1871 deaths]]
[[Category:Avar people]]
[[Category:People from Untsukulsky District]]
[[Category:Resistance to the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century imams]]
[[Category:People of the Caucasian War]]
[[Category:Muslims from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:North Caucasian independence activists]]
[[Category:Burials at Jannat al-Baqī]]