Rutuls

How earlier beliefs are studied. They are reconstructed from folklore, calendar customs, local stories and names. A significant part of the records was made already in a Muslim environment, so a late record cannot be considered an unchanging description of antiquity. The sun, the moon and natural forces. Seferbekov records various personifications of the luminaries in Rutul, Myukhrek, Shinaz and other villages. The variants differ even in defining the sun and the moon as brother and sister. The home and its patrons. Mythological stories mention the house snake, spirits of the dwelling and characters connected with crafts. The reinterpretation of these images under the influence of Islam is a separate subject of ethnographic research. The Christian context. The history of Caucasian Albania includes Christian centers and missions. It requires comparison of texts, archaeology and datings. The apostolic tradition by itself does not establish the age of a surviving building or the faith of all the ancestors of a modern people. The first stages of the spread of Islam. Researchers link them to Muslim contacts in southern Dagestan in the 7th–10th centuries. The adoption of the new faith was not a single act: political influence, the activity of preachers and the rooting of practices occurred gradually. Why the Luchek date requires a caveat. The Luchek inscription is dated to 128 AH (745–746). A. R. Shikhsaidov considered it doubtful; it does not confirm the year of the people's conversion. The khanaqah in Rutul. The inscription of 545 AH, cited by Dagnasledie with the dating 1150, reports the construction of a hostel for Sufis. This is concrete evidence of developed Muslim life in the 12th century, not the exact date of its beginning. The mosque and building inscriptions. Documents of the 13th century report work on the mosque of Rutul. The inscription of 683 AH corresponds to 1284–1285. Such records help separate the history of repairs from legends about the founding. Local Sufi memory. S. M. Makhmudova describes Rutul ideas about spiritual mentors and memorable places of Myukhrek. This is a local study; its interpretations cannot be extended to all communities and eras without verification. The Sunni tradition. Sunni Islam has historically been characteristic of believing Rutuls. The religious tradition of a society does not predetermine the personal convictions of each individual. Shrines and local customs. In the Rutul communities of Azerbaijan, revered places and a combination of Muslim prayers with earlier protective beliefs have been described. This is information about specific communities, not a list of obligatory rules of Islam. Soviet restrictions and revival. Anti-religious policy restricted institutions and education, and from the late Soviet period open religious activity resumed. The all-Dagestan process also included differing views on permissible local customs. Holidays. A study of migrants in Tula Oblast records Uraza Bayram, Kurban Bayram and the spring Er, or Navruz. Muslim holidays follow the lunar calendar, while the spring holiday is connected with the solar cycle. Religious life today. Modern communities preserve prayer, charity, family rites and attendance at the mosque with varying degrees of participation. Field observations of one diaspora do not replace a description of the entire people.