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Chechnya: Lineaments of a Nation
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“Only
one people of those I know refused to yield to the psychology of
submissiveness and humiliation—the Chechens.”- Soljinstein
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“No
one spoke of hatred of the Russians. The feeling experienced by all the
Chechens, from the youngest to the oldest, was stronger than hate. It was not
hatred, for they did not regard those Russian dogs as human beings, but it was
such repulsion, disgust, and perplexity at the senseless cruelty of these
creatures, that the desire to exterminate them — like the desire to
exterminate rats, poisonous spiders, or wolves — was as natural an instinct as
that of self-preservation.” (Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy, 1904.)
Time
and Place
Chechnya’s location is the most significant in the Caucasus region, which
itself is located between the Black Sea, west, and the Caspian Sea, east, a
location long considered across ages a firm link between the cultures of the
North and the South and a meeting point for the Muslim and Christian worlds. The
term “Chechnya” is an ethnonym given by the Russian army, derived from the name of a small
village located at the Argon river, southeast of present-day Grozny, where the first armed encounter between the Chechens and Russians took place.
The Chechens call themselves “Nokhchi” and call their homeland “Ichekeria” or the “inland.” Historical sources indicate that the
Chechens were first known as a people of distinguished civilization at least
since the fourth century AD. They speak the Chechen language which belongs to
the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Chechens belong to
the Vaynakh ethnic group, one of the largest groups in the North Caucasian
family.
Chechnya,
though very famous, is only 17000 km2 (versus 17000 million km2, the area of Russia).
God, nonetheless, has endowed the small country with a wondrous ecological
diversity made up of forests, mountains, valleys, rivers and cold-to-moderate
climates. Its mountains (some of which exceeds 4000 m in height) relate heroic
epics that garnish the history of human struggle against the usurpation of
one’s homeland. Every year, between the beginnings of November and the end of
March, an ice layer, about 1 to 1.5 m thick, covers Chechnya whose population is
a little more than one million persons, the majority of whom are Muslims. The
Chechen ethnicity is the largest in the country (more than 85% of the total
population) where other groups, such as Russians and the Ingush, live. Since the
fourteenth century AD, many subsequent Chechen generations took to the neighing
of horses and the clink of swords as nations competed to lay hold on their
homeland. The movement of national struggle crystallized in 1785 when Imam
Mansour, the first imam to fight Russians in the region, officially proclaimed
jihad in Caucasus against the Russian invasion. The imams, Muhammad Al-Yarghali,
Ghazi Mulla and Shamil, continued the struggle from 1785 until 1865 when a
Qadiriyya Sufi movement, called for by the Kumyk shepherd Conta Hadji Keshiyev,
consumed the power of the murids, or novices, because it upheld peace and
asceticism. His call, however, turned into a resistance movement due to the
persecution of Tsarist Russia against it in 1864. From the end of the nineteenth
century to the beginning of the twentieth century and until the Bolshevik
Revolution in 1917, the revolt of Chechnya and Daghestan continued. During the
Soviet period, Muslims underwent barbaric attempts to eradicate their identity
and religion. Despite the optimism stimulated by Gorbachev’s policy and
afterwards by the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, Russia re-asserted its
compulsive control over Chechnya, refusing any attempt of separation until the
present moment.
One
of the main causes for the continuation of this historic conflict is that the
Russian collective mind is satiated by the reminisces of colonial supremacy,
considered a fundamental necessity for establishing the Russian religious and
national identity. In the meantime, this type of mind has also been loaded by
charisma-making, reminisces of heroism and the duality of supremacy-resistance.
The religious identity, on the other hand, has led some observers to view the
conflict as a Muslim-Christian clash, not only since the fall of the
Soviet Union
but since the rise of resistance by the end of the eighteenth century.
The
Chechen People
In his book, Small Peoples and Great Powers, Svant Cornell notes that
despite the many positive characteristics unique to Caucasians in general and to
Chechens in particular, such as generosity, nobility, sanctification of family,
religiousness, knighthood and magnanimity —qualities that are more innate than
learned— the Chechen people are known to the world since the mid-eighteenth
century by only one chief characteristic: bravery and love of adventure. Not
only does bravery refer to a tiny nation’s resistance against the military
dominance of a great power but to the fact that the tiny nation cannot,
according to the philosophy of profit and loss, gain a final civilizational or military victory over its bitter enemy. Cornell
quotes the Nobel-award winning novel Detainee Camps by the Russian novelist,
Soljinstein, “Only one people of those I know refused to yield to the
psychology of submissiveness and humiliation—the Chechens.” At the beginning
of the nineteenth century, Lermontov, the Russian poet, described them by his
line: "Their god is freedom, their law is war." Despite the
haughtiness by which the Chechen confronts his enemies, he dismounts his horse
and walks whenever he steps into the village where his mother’s or wife’s
folks dwell so as to show respect for them. The greeting “Come at liberty”
is one of the oldest greetings in Chechnya. The Chechen gains his position among
his peers by his personal traits, not by his social descent or wealth. The
Chechen social organization is governed by an amalgam of customs, traditions and
the teachings of the Islamic Shari’a (law). Every clan lives on an area of
land, recognized by the other clans, where crop cultivation and pasturage take
place. Arrangements, conflict resolution and issuing judgements are the jobs of
clan heads and the elderly.
Chechens
show great respect for strangers. This respect stems from the belief that if one
ill-treats a Muslim, one will certainly meet that Muslim one day or even on
Judgement Day and may forgive one, but if one ill-treats a non-Muslim, one’s
situation will be more critical because one may not meet that person again
during this earthly life, will definitely not meet such a person on Judgement
Day and will forever be burdened by one’s guilt.
The
peoples of the few countries, such as Turkey, Syria,
Jordan
and
Palestine, to which thousands of Chechens emigrated on account of the forcible Russian
expulsion since the mid-nineteenth century, have had the opportunity to mingle
with Chechens and be acquainted with their personal qualities. In these
countries, they have proved that not only are they an intimate, social, honest,
peace-loving and freedom-loving people, but that their affiliation to the Muslim
nation is deeper and more comprehensive than believed. Many Chechens,
participating in constructing the societies to which they moved, have held the
highest of ranks in the army, education and administration. They, nonetheless,
strictly maintain their unique identity by their distinctive costumes, language
and housing aggregations. They as well do not intermarry with members of the
hosting society even if it were a generous host. Chechens have never forgotten
their homeland and always wage informational campaigns, collect donations and
travel back to Chechnya in organized waves to take part in liberating it and in
a never-ending war!
During
peaceful intervals, which are very rare, Chechens do not lose their interest in
life because freedom itself is life. In wedding ceremonies, religious and
national festivals and summer fun parties, the youth play an integrated melody
that calls for a bloodless tomorrow as all guests dance. One of the popular
Chechen dances is the dance of farewell performed by a Chechen just before he
rides out for jihad: the dancer swirls around a circle which, before Islam, was
a ring of fire symbolizing oblation to the gods.
Wedding
celebrations have their own special rituals. A wedding ceremony has the sense of
a “play” in the Chechen language because it includes a combination of
dancing, singing, acting and pantomime. The bride participates in celebratory
games that test her capacity to run a new house. When the banquet is set up, she
hovers around to provide the guests with water and calls upon God to bless them.
In
such a cold mountainous environment as that of the
Caucasus
, fire represents one of the most essential necessities of life and a precious
cultural symbol in villages and towns. Nothing saddens a Chechen like the wish
of an envious person that fire goes out.
Women
between Life and Death
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Women
have a remarkable standing in the Chechen society throughout the
different stages of their lives. |
Women
have a remarkable standing in the Chechen society and receives great care and
sympathy throughout the different stages of their lives. An unmarried girl would
stipulate that her suitor be a strong and independent knight who has
participated in liberation battles. In wartime, a girl would stipulate that her
suitor should have killed three or four enemy soldiers. When she becomes a
mother, she suckles one of the her neighbors’ babies so that he becomes her
suckling son and a brother to her children, a tradition maintained to fortify social
relations in the villages and small towns, especially in southern Chechnya. If a
fight started among men, she is the only one able to stop it by just throwing
her little headscarf among them. Women walk behind men, not considered a sign of
inferiority, because the dangerous environment requires that men reconnoiter the
way ahead so that women and children follow safely. Whenever an old woman passes
by a group of men in a street, they stand up out of respect to her whatever
their ages may be. Chechens believe that a husband who loves and respects his
wife’s folks has secured a place for himself in Paradise! Women also stand by
men in wartime. During the time of Imam Shamil, (the first half of the
nineteenth century) women stood at fort cannons, supplying men with gunpowder
and firing when they fall. For the last five years, Chechen women have adopted a
unique military practice by carrying out the bloodiest of resistance operations
against the Russians, a consecutive series of martyr operations in
Moscow
and
Chechnya
. What the Chechen women have experienced in the loss of their husbands, sons
and fathers (1800 men killed by Russian troops during the last 6 months only!)
and in the displacement and rape crimes committed against them represent the
main motives behind carrying out such highly accurate and courageous operations.
Despite the world’s astonishment, this practice, which is not typical of
Chechen women, asserts that they no longer care for anything in life.
National
Attire: Beshmet, Cherkeska….
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Chechens
wear clothes made of local material |
In
their ceremonies and festivals, Chechens wear clothes made of local material
such as animal leather and wool. Popular manly clothes include:
The Beshmet: The beshmet is a waist cut like a semi-caftan, tightly
fastened to the bosom, which hangs down to the knee (older men wear shorter
ones) and is buttoned from the chest to the neck. The sides are embossed with
tubular pockets, originally made for bullets when the beshmet was a military
uniform in former times. Depending on a man’s economic status, the beshmet can
be made of cotton, wool or silk. Of its popular colors are gray, red and blue.
Men often wear leather boots with beshmets.
The
Cherkeska: The cherkeska is a complementary piece to the beshmet, worn in
ceremonies and special occasions, is more or less another beshmet made of thin
wool and has one button at the flank and long hanging sleeves.
The
Burka: The Burka is a leather overall, worn for warmth, and originally a
knightly apparel.
The
Papakha: The Papakha is a large leather round headgear.
Women’s
costumes vary according to their social status. The long loose tunic, however,
is the most popular, made of material ranging from cotton to silk, whose long
sleeves cover both hands and hang down during festivals and celebrations to
almost reach the ground. Its colors range from white to embroidered red. In some
occasions, the long tunic may be covered by a short light gown buttoned to the
flank.
The
Chechen National Anthem
In
his first speech to the Chechen people, the late General Joher Dudayev,
Chechnya’s first president, expressed his people’s belief that “the
slave who
accepts the yokes of slavery deserves double the pain of slavery!”
These few
words represent just some of the meanings in the Death or Freedom anthem which
highlights the extent to which the Chechen people embrace the notions of
freedom, bravery, love of life, religiousness and self-esteem:
Death
or Freedom
We
were born at night when the she-wolf whelped.
In
the morning, to lion's deafening roar were named.
In
eagles' nests our mothers nursed us,
To
tame wild bulls our fathers taught us.
There
are no gods save Allah.
Our
mothers raised us to dedicate ourselves to our sacred land,
And
if they need us we're ready to fight the oppressive hand.
We
were born and grew up free as the mountain eagles,
With
dignity, and honour we always overcome hardship and obstacles.
There
are no gods save Allah.
Granite
rocks will sooner fuse like lead,|
Than
we will lose our honour in life's struggles.
Earth
will sooner be swallowed up by the broiling sun,
Than
we emerge from a trial in life without our honour!
There
are no gods save Allah.
Never
will we submit and become slaves,
Death
or freedom, for us there's only one way.
Our
sister's songs will cure our wounds,
Our
beloved's' eyes will supply the strength of arms.
There
are no gods save Allah.
If
hunger weaken us, we'll gnaw on roots,
And
if thirst debilitates us, we'll drink dew,
For
we were born at night when the she-wolf whelped.
God,
Nation and Vainakh homeland.
Atef
Moatamid is
Egyptian researcher. He is specialized in the Russian Affairs .You can reach him
at Bridge@islamonline.net
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