Kubachis

Contemporary religion. Believing Kubachi people traditionally profess Sunni Islam. Personal convictions and degrees of religiosity vary. Early beliefs. Historical descriptions record weather rituals, veneration of trees, amulets and protection against the evil eye. These accounts relate to particular eras and do not define the views of all contemporary residents. Zoroastrian influence. Mammaev links medieval authors' reports of the funeral customs of Zirihgeran with the Zoroastrian tradition and contacts with Iran. This is a historical interpretation of the materials, not a surviving local creed. Evidence on Christianity. An academic survey mentions its some spread according to old reports and traditions. The scale and the balance of religions cannot be presented as an exact census of medieval beliefs. The role of Derbent. Trade, political and cultural ties connected Kubachi with one of the centres of Muslim learning. The transmission of religion did not occur only through military campaigns. The campaign of 1126. In al-Garnati's retelling, the Derbent emir tried to force the inhabitants of Zirihgeran to accept Islam and pay tribute. The account of the unsuccessful campaign also contains miraculous motifs. Study in the 12th century. Mammaev draws attention to the participation of Zirihgeran people in the study of Shafi'i law in Derbent described by al-Garnati. This points to early Muslim ties of part of the population. The turn of the 13th–14th centuries. In Mammaev's studies, the establishment of Islam in Kubachi is associated with this time. Early contacts and subsequent rooting should not be reduced to a single day of conversion. Difference between quarters. A tradition says that the upper quarter adopted Islam seven years later than the lower one. The symbolic number and oral transmission do not allow the story to be used as an exact calendar record. Inscriptionsand the 14th century. A stele in the Bidaq khuppe cemetery is dated 783 AH, or 1381/82. Kufic inscriptions and decoration are material evidence of Muslim culture. Religious education. The mekteb and madrasa taught Arabic literacy, the Quran and the fundamentals of sharia. Scholarship and local written practices supported the continuity of religious life. Numbers, memory and rituals. Seven and forty occur in folklore, wedding and memorial customs. Their study shows a combination of historical cultural layers rather than the existence of a single unchanging system of beliefs. Soviet restrictions. Policy toward religious institutions changed public education and practice. Family transmission of religion continued under different conditions; this is a Dagestan-wide context. The late 20th century and the present. The revival of communities and education was accompanied by debates about traditions. Bobrovnikov's study describes regional processes, not the identical biography of every Kubachi family.