Nogais

Early beliefs and materials. The pre-Islamic heritage is studied through myths, folklore, rituals and vocabulary. Materials from different eras and groups reflect changes in tradition, so a single unchanging "ancient Nogai religion" cannot be reconstructed. Tengri, the sky and natural forces. Ideas about Tengri, the sun, the moon and the spirits of natural places survived in tradition. After the spread of Islam, former names and images could receive a new Muslim interpretation. Ancestors and patrons. The memory of ancestors and veneration of the graves of outstanding people occupied an important place in religious culture. Researchers examine how such practices combined with ideas about Muslim saints. How Islam came. The main historical context of the conversion of the Nogais' ancestors is connected with the Golden Horde and the steppe's Muslim ties with the cities of Central Asia and the Volga region. This is a different path from the Arab campaigns into mountainous Dagestan. Berke and early Muslim ties. Muslim rulers and communities existed in the Ulus of Jochi before Uzbeg. The adoption of Islam by Khan Berke in the 13th century does not mean the simultaneous conversion of all nomads or an already formed Nogai people. The era of Uzbeg. The first half of the 14th century, associated with the reign of Khan Uzbeg, became an important stage in the expansion of Islam in Desht-i Kipchak. The spread of the faith continued through preaching, political ties and local communities. Edige and subsequent generations. At the turn of the 14th–15th centuries, Edige supported Muslim religious life. By the time of the Nogai Horde, Islam already formed an important part of its political and cultural world. Sunnism and the Hanafi madhhab. The Hanafi legal school of Sunni Islam is historically characteristic of the Nogais. It differs from the Shafi'i school widespread among a number of neighbouring peoples of Dagestan; both belong to Sunnism. Religion of a nomadic society. Yarlykapov shows that the absence of settled forms familiar to an observer does not indicate an absence of faith. Mosques, mullahs, education, prayer and family rituals existed under various local conditions. Sufi connections. The encyclopedic article examines the Yasawiyya and Naqshbandiyya traditions and subsequent ties with Muslim centres. Their spread varied by time and group; it cannot be reduced to a single brotherhood for the whole people. Mythological figures. Folklore records albasly, azdaa, pari and other characters. Their later descriptions interact with Islamic ideas about jinn and shaytan. A folklore figure is not equal to the creed of every contemporary person. Holidays and calendar. Alongside Oraza-bayram and Kurman-bayram, the spring festival of Navruz is known. Islamic holidays follow the lunar calendar, while the spring festival is connected with the solar annual cycle. These are different calendar traditions. Soviet restrictions. The closure of mosques and persecution of the clergy restricted education and public practice. Some rituals and knowledge were preserved in families. Yarlykapov's monograph treats this life as the history of a single Muslim culture with different levels of practice. Revival and contemporary life. Since the late 1980s, open religious activity and discussion of the Hanafi heritage have resumed. Today the degree of participation in rituals and personal beliefs vary. The researcher's observations from the 1990s are not used as an unchanging description of 2026.