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Batal Hajji Belkhoroev (Template:Lang-inh; 1821–1914) was an Ingush sheikh of the Qadiri Sufi order (tariqa) who founded his own independent Sufi suborder (wird).

At early age both of his parents died, after which, he moved to Chechnya. There Batal Hajji met Kunta-Haji, a Chechen Sufi sheikh who became his mentor. He was an outlaw (abrek) and supporter of Imam Shamil during the Caucasian War. Batal Hajji founded his own independent wird upon the arrest of Kunta-Haji, which continues to exists amongst Ingush, and partly, amongst the Chechens and Kumyks. In 1911, after being accused of harbouring the Chechen outlaw Zelimkhan he was exiled to Kozelsk, later dying there in 1914.

Background

Batal Hajji was born in 1824 in Ingushetia, either in Surkhakhi or in a place known as Somyokh. He was an ethnic Ingush of the Belkharoy [ru] clan (teip). The Belkharoy, according to a legend, trace their lineage to a legendary figure called Borga. Batal Hajji's father's name was Anarbek and mother's name was Rayzet (Zabiya).

Early years

At the age of 7, Batal's mother died and soon his father died as well. He was taken under the care of his mother's relatives, who at that time lived in Chechnya. During his 10 years of living there, he met Kunta-Haji, a Chechen Sufi sheikh, with whom he discussed about matters of spirituality that sparked his interest. According to some information, it's unknown if he received any religious education during his lifetime. During the Caucasian War, he was a supporter of Imam Shamil and led units of outlaws (abreks), he himself was an outlaw.

Return to Ingushetia

At the moment of Batal Hajji's return to Ingushetia, there was a process of Islamisation and Christianization of the Ingush people. The issue was that the Ingush had to go lengths to visit Chechnya to meet there Kunta-Haji as they didn't have their own spiritual mentor. Accordingly, one time Ingush again went on to met Kunta-Haji to consult with him. He stated to them that Batal Hajji is their new mentor who they should now approach instead of him:

Truly this is a ustaz, a sheikh from Surkhakhi Batal, from now on you can turn to him for advice and take toba.

The wird

Foundation

Batal Hajji founded the wird approximately, either, after the arrest of Kunta-Haji, or in 1880. The followers of the wird were first the inhabitants of the Surkhakhi, Nazran, Nasyr-Kort, Plievo and Upper-Achaluki, but later followers came from other places too.

Characteristics

The wird of Batal Hajji has some differences in Islamic practices that can be compared with the wirds of Kunta-Haji and Denni-Arsanov [ru]. For example, during the burial, the underside in the grave is done on the left side, as the prophet Muhammad was buried, while the Kunta-Haji wird does the underside in the grave on the right side as they see that as a way to pay respect to prophet Muhammad.

As opposite to the Kunta-Haji wird, loud dhikr is carried out in the wird of Batal-Haji, while standing in a circle and rhythmically whirling in place to place, clapping their hands and repeating with "la ilaha illa-l-lahi" ("There is no God but Allah") or other religious hymns (nazym). As opposite to the wird of Chimmirza, women don't participate in the whirling in the wird of Batal Hajji.

The wird also encourages marriages within the wird, although men are excepted to allow to marry women of other wirds. At the same time, the women are warned that on the Day of Judgment, they will be close only to their personal sheikh, so "spouses belonging to different wirds will certainly disperse".

Size

The exact size of the wird is unknown, however, the size of the wird was estimated by John F. Baddeley in 1901 to be 100 families. In the 1929–1930, the wird numbered around 800 people. In 1968, the wird had 400 murids.

First arrest and pilgrimage to Mecca

In 1892, Batal Hajji was arrested as an abrek and sent to exile for 5 years in Kaluga by the order of Kakhanov. After the exile, he did an Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca, as indicated by the title 'Hajji' in his name. While in Mecca, it is said that he got a vision from Prophet Muhammad, who offered him a choice between this life and afterlife. Batal Hajji chose this life excepting he could gain place in the afterlife thanks to his good behavior.

Final years, second arrest and death

John F. Baddeley, a famous British traveler known for his works on the Caucasus Region, met with Batal Hajji on 8 October 1901. According to him, Batal was the successor of Kunta-Haji and he described him as follows:

He as was an old man, rather stout, with a good face and a very courteous manner.

In 1911, Tsarist authoratives of Russian Empire were fearing of an outbreak of uprising under the influence of calls from clerics. Prominent religious figures, among which was Batal Hajji, were accused of harboring the Chechen outlaw Zelimkhan and exiled. The accused religious figures included: the Chechen sheikhs: Bammat Girey Hajji, Suhayp Mulla, Dokku Sheikh, Mulla Mahoma, Kana Hajji, Chimmirza; as well as the future emir of North Caucasian Emirate, Avar Sheikh Uzun-Hajji. Batal Hajji was exiled to Kozelsk, Kaluga Governorate, where in 1914, he died.

Thanks to Pavel Gaidukov, permission was granted to transport Batal Hajji's body back to Ingushetia on a special wagon. He was buried on October 25, 1914 in Surkhakhi, where today is located his Ziyarat. The funeral was accompanied by a loud dhikr of the Kunta Hajjis and Batal Hajjis for many hours. The funeral was attended by residents from all over the North Caucasus. After Batal Hajji's death, his eldest son Magomed successed him in becoming the head of the wird.

Family

He had a wife, who is said to been respected more than any Ingush women. She already died at the time John Baddeley had met Batal Hajji in 1901. Batal Hajji also had 7 seven son, most of whom were executed by the Soviets as they bitterly resisted the Bolsheviks. His son Muhammed for example, was supporter of the Anti-Soviet Imam Nazhmudin Gotsinskii [ru] and was executed while trying to flee to Turkey in 1920 or 1921.

Notes

1. ^ According to most sources, he was born in Surkhakhi. According to other sources (notably M. S.-G. Albogachieva), he was born in Somoykh, a place near modern day Nesterovskaya in Ingushetia.
2. It's unknown if he received any religious education during his lifetime.
3. The legend was recorded in 1975 from the words of a resident of the village of Alkhasty [ru], Lors Fargiev (born in 1877).
4. The fact that some sources indicate Batal Hajji as the successor of Kunta-Haji was noted by Julietta Meskhidze.

References

1. ^ Meskhidze 2006, p. 182.
2. Tsaroieva 2011, p. 358.
3. ^ Zelkina 2021.
4. Албогачиева 2013, p. 328 (whilst referring to (Албогачиев 2010, p. 39)
5. Албогачиева 2017, p. 75 (whilst referring to (Албогачиев 2010, p. 39)
6. Месхидзе 1998, p. 107.
7. Месхидзе 1999, p. 15.
8. Лысцева 2015, p. 199.
9. Мальсагов & Дахкильгов 1986, p. 385.
10. Albogachieva 2012, p. 118.
11. Албогачиева 2017, p. 75.
12. Хайретдинов 2009, p. 164: "Так, известный предводитель отрядов абреков, сторонник Шамиля Батал-хаджи Белхороев (...)
13. Албогачиева 2017, pp. 75–76.
14. Албогачиева 2019, p. 235. sfn error: no target: CITEREFАлбогачиева2019 (help)
15. Россия и мусульманский мир 1994, p. 27. sfn error: no target: CITEREFРоссия_и_мусульманский_мир1994 (help)
16. Meskhidze 2006, pp. 182–183.
17. ^ Albogachieva 2012, p. 121.
18. Антонова 2020: "Данных о точной численности последователей нет."
19. ^ Baddeley 1940, p. 264.
20. Месхидзе 1999, p. 16.
21. Лысцева 2015, p. 199: "С конца XVIII до начала XX века Калуга перевидала у себя немало видных политических, общественных и религиозных деятелей: (...) ингушский шейх Белхароев (1892 и 1911)."
22. Борусевич 1893, p. 139.
23. ^ Meskhidze 2006, p. 183.
24. Baddeley 1940, p. 264: "Of Batal Hadji, in whom by now I had come to take a great interest, I learned that he was really successor to Kounta Hadji, who led the rising in Tchetchnia in 1862–4 (...)"
25. Даудов & Месхидзе 2009, p. 28.
26. Meskhidze 2006, p. 184.
27. Албогачиева 2017, p. 77.
28. Albogachieva 2012, p. 120.
29. Meskhidze 2006, p. 186.

Bibliography

English sources

• Baddeley, John F. (1940). The Rugged Flanks of Caucasus. Vol. 1. London: Oxford University Press: Humphrey Milford. pp. 1–318.
• Meskhidze, J. I. (March–June 2006). "Shaykh Batal Hajji from Surkhokhi: towards the history of Islam in Ingushetia" (PDF). Central Asian Survey. 25 (1–2). Routledge: 179–181. doi:10.1080/02634930600903262. eISSN 1465-3354. ISSN 0263-4937.
• Zelkina, Anna (2021-07-19). "Batal Hajji Belkhoroev". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.

French sources

• Tsaroieva, Mariel (2011). Peuples et religions du Caucase du Nord [Peoples and religions of the North Caucasus] (in French). Paris: Karthala. pp. 1–389. ISBN 9782811104894.

Russian sources

• Антонова, В. (July 29, 2020). "Секта, которая держала целый регион страны: кто такие баталхаджинцы" [The sect that held the whole region of the country: who are the Batakhajins]. Комсомольская Правда (in Russian). Москва: Изд. дом "Комсомольская Правда".
• Албогачиев, Р.-Х. Ш.-Х. (2010). Шейх Овлия Батал-хаджи Белхороев [Sheikh Ovliya Batal-haji Belkhoroev] (in Russian). Нальчик.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Albogachieva, M. (2012). "О некоторых особенностях братства Батал-Хаджи Белхороева" [On some features of the wird brotherhood established by Batal-Hajji Belkhoroev]. Pax Islamica (in Russian). 5 (1–2): 118–124. ISSN 2541-884X.
• Албогачиева, М. С.-Г. (2013). "Ислам" [Islam]. In Албогачиева, М. С.-Г.; Мартазанов, А. М.; Соловьева, Л. Т. (eds.). Ингуши [The Ingush] (in Russian). Москва: Наука. pp. 319–332.
• Албогачиева, М. С.-Г. (2015). "Влияние социально-философских идей Ханбалийского проповедника Абдула-Кадира аль-Джилани на Исламскую культуру народов Кавказа" [The influence of the socio-philosophical ideas of the Hanbali preacher Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani on the Islamic culture of the Caucasus people] (PDF). Страны и народы востока (in Russian) (36: Религии на Востоке). Москва: Наука–Восточная Литература: 160–189.
• Албогачиева, М. С.-Г. (2017). Ислам в Ингушетии: этнография и историко-культурные аспекты [Islam in Ingushetia: ethnography and historical and cultural aspects] (in Russian). СПб.: РАН МАЭ. pp. 1–264. ISBN 978-5-88431-349-1.
• Борусевич, К. И. (1893). Янчук, Н. А. (ed.). "Сектанство среди ингушей" [Sectarianism among the Ingush]. Этнографическое обозрение (in Russian). Vol. 18, no. 3. Москва: Высоч. утв. Т-во Скорон. А. А. Левенсон. pp. 139–144.
• Даудов, А. Х.; Месхидзе, Д. И (2009). Комиссарова, И. П. (ed.). Национальная государственность горских народов Северного Кавказа (1917—1924) [National statehood of the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus (1917-1924)] (in Russian). СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петербург. ун-та. pp. 1–223.
• Мальсагов, О. А.; Дахкильгов, И. А. (1986). Сказки, сказания и предания чеченцев и ингушей [Fairy tales, legends and legends of Chechens and Ingush] (in Russian). Грозный: Чечено-Ингушское кн. изд-во. pp. 1–528.
• Месхидзе, Дж. И. (1998). "Чечено-Ингушетия" [Checheno-Ingushetia] (PDF). In Прозоров, С. М. (ed.). Ислам на территории бывшей Российской империи: Энциклопедический словарь (in Russian). Москва: Восточная литература РАН. pp. 105–108. ISBN 5-02-018047-5.
• Месхидзе, Дж. И. (1999). "Батал-Хаджжи" [Batal-Hajji] (PDF). In Прозоров, С. М. (ed.). Ислам на территории бывшей Российской империи: Энциклопедический словарь (in Russian). Москва: Издательская фирма «Восточная литература» РАН. pp. 15–16. ISBN 5-02-018137-4.
• Месхидзе, Дж. И. (2006). "Батал-Хаджжи" [Batal-Hajji] (PDF). In Прозоров, С. М. (ed.). Ислам на территории бывшей Российской империи: Энциклопедический словарь (in Russian). Vol. 1. Москва: Восточная литература РАН. pp. 56–57. ISBN 5-02-018420-9.
• Лысцева, И. В. (2015). "Русская православная церковь и ссыльные горцы Северного Кавказа в Центрально-Европейской части России в середине XIX — начала XX вв." [The Russian Orthodox Church and the exiled highlanders of the North Caucasus in the Central European part of Russia in the middle of the 19th - early 20th centuries]. In Казак, М. А.; Катина, Т. Д.; Заикин, С. М.; Воронин, И. В. (eds.). У истоков российской государственности [At the origins of Russian statehood] (PDF). «Калужские страницы» (in Russian). Калуга: Эйдос. pp. 185–209.
• Хайретдинов, Д. З. (2009). Ислам в центрально-европейской части России: энциклопедический словарь [Islam in Central European Russia: Encyclopedic Dictionary] (in Russian). Медина. pp. 1–403. ISBN 9785975600547.

• Ingush people
• European Sufis
• Sunni Sufis
• 1821 births
• 1914 deaths