Sheikh Mansur
| Sheikh Mansur (Usharma) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1760 Aldi, Chechnya |
| Died | April, 1794 (aged 33) Shlisselburg, Russian Empire |
Al-Imam al-Mansur al-Mutawakil 'ala Allah, also known as Sheikh al-Mansur ("The-Victorious"), born Ushurma (1760–1794) was a Chechen Islamic religious and military leader who led the resistance against Catherine the Great's imperialist expansion into the Caucasus during the late 18th century. He remains a hero of the Chechen people and its struggle for independence.
Mansur was born in the aul of Aldi, near the Sunja River. He was educated in Dagestan under the Naqshbandi school of Sufism.
In 1784, Sheikh Mansur, now an imam and back in Chechnya, became upset with the Russian encroachment in the North Caucasus. He ordered Chechen people to stop practicing many of their old pagan traditions with the cult of the dead, to stop smoking tobacco, influenced Islamic concepts into social conventions (adat) and to attempt Islamic unity. This was not easy in a land where people had lived under ancient traditions, customs and religions. Islamic tradition in Chechnya, especially in the mountains, was not as strong as it was in Dagestan. But the holy war that he declared was an attempt at unity among the teip clans.
As Mansur's message became popular with the Chechens, the Russian Empire attempted to discredit him and ultimately arrest him. In 1785, the Russians sent a punitive expedition of up to 5,000 soldiers to his house in Aldi-aul, only to find the village deserted. When the Russian troops plundered and burned the village, Mansur proclaimed a holy war (gazavat) against the Russians. Soon, Chechen fighters won the Battle of the Sunja, killing and capturing hundreds of Russian soldiers. After that, Sheikh Mansur rallied resistance fighters from Dagestan through Kabarda. Most of the forces were Dagestani and Chechen, numbering more than 12,000 by December 1785. However, Mansur suffered a defeat when he tried to enter Russian territory and failed to take over the fort of Kizlyar.
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