Lezgins

Pre-Islamic beliefs. Field research preserves accounts of natural forces, protective actions and spirits. The reconstruction is built from later records, rituals and language: it does not provide a complete, unchanging "catechism" of the ancient Lezgins. The sun, the moon and atmospheric phenomena. Among the Lezgins of the Samur valley, personifications of the heavenly bodies and images of Ghutsar and Alpan have been recorded. In scholarly reconstruction their functions are connected with the sky, thunder and well-being. In later accounts these images already interact with Islamic ideas. Differences among local traditions. Materials from the Karchag valley collected in 2014 show their own combinations of mythological figures and Muslim concepts. A record from one village cannot be transferred to all communities and all eras. Christianity in the early medieval region. Caucasian Albania and the Eastern Caucasus were a space of Christian missions and of the coexistence of different cults. These regional testimonies do not prove that all ancestors of the modern Lezgins simultaneously professed a single confession. The Arab campaigns and the beginning of Islamization. The military campaigns of the 8th century affected Lakz and the Samur valley. The siege of Bilistan by Marwan's troops in 738 is a concrete event; the capture of the fortress by itself does not establish the date of conversion of every village. Why there is no single date of conversion. Scholars assign Southern Dagestan to the early zone of the spread of Islam, beginning with the Arab period. The strengthening of the faith, the emergence of mosques and the assimilation of religious norms constituted a long process that was not the same for all localities. Abu Muslim in local memory. The chronicle "Ta'rikh Abu Muslim" links Islamization and mosques to the activity of a religious hero. The Miskinja copy was transcribed in 1845–1846. The dating of the copy, the time of the work's creation and the historicity of the events described are different questions. The mosque, the scholar and the pupil. Maktabs and madrasas taught Arabic literacy and religious disciplines. Scholarship opened connections between villages and beyond Dagestan; Arabic and the native language performed different functions. The Sunni tradition. The majority of Lezgin believers are characterized by Sunni Islam, historically linked to the Shafi'i school of law. Ethnic origin does not prescribe a particular degree of religiosity to a person. Miskinja and the Shia community. A Shia tradition is preserved in Miskinja. It is part of the religious diversity of the Lezgins. Its history should be considered in the context of Southern Dagestan's ties with Iran, and local legends about its origin should be verified separately. Sufism and Magomed of Yarag. The theologian from Vini-Yarag, who lived from 1771 to 1838, became a significant mentor of the Naqshbandi tradition and a spiritual authority for the imams of Dagestan and Chechnya. His activity belongs to a new stage of Muslim history, not to the initial conversion of the people. The Soviet period and religious memory. Anti-religious policy restricted institutions and public education, but family transmission of knowledge and local practices continued. The post-Soviet restoration of religious life is studied as a complex process with various trends and internal disputes. Pilgrimage and holy places. Shalbuzdag is an important place of Muslim pilgrimage. Museum materials describe it in the context of local religious life. Religion today. Lezgin is used in religious speech and educational texts. The resumption of publishing Islamic literature from the early 1990s expanded opportunities for learning in the native language. The life of a believer includes not only public ritual but also personal choice.