ABSTRACT

At a very early stage of his rule Shamil made a comparison between his position in Daghestan and that of the Ottoman sultān in his domain. 1 As mentioned above, this claim to authority and sovereignty did not remain unchallenged. Both in 1834–37 and again in 1840 there were other claimants to the leadership and challenges to the imām’s authority. 2 However, eventually Shamil succeeded in pushing his rivals aside. The last to leave the scene was Hajj Tasho, whose name disappears from the sources in 1843. 3