Muhammad Emin

(or, more correctly, Mokhammed Amin). Born 1818; died 1863. One of the leaders of the anticolonialist movement in the 1840’s and 1850’s of the mountaineers of the western Caucasus.

From childhood, Muhammad, then known as Mokhammed Asiialov, was raised by Avar mullahs. At the age of 18 he became a Murid. He earned the trust of Shamil, who gave him the name “Emin” (the Arab term for “loyal”) and sent him to the western Caucasus as a naib (vicegerent) in 1848. Supported by the local religious leaders, Muhammad attempted to rally the mountaineers to a struggle against tsarism. By marrying the daughter of the Temirgoi prince Bolotko, Muhammad Emin sought to cement his ties with the local feudal aristocracy. In November 1859, three months after Shamil’s capitulation, Muhammad also surrendered to the Russian authorities. Shortly after he was granted a yearly pension of 3,000 rubles by the tsar, Muhammad Emin left for Turkey, where he died.