by: Syed Z. Abedin
Excerpted from
Bosnia Newsletter and Islam Today
Few names stand as high as those of Muhammad Mullah [Shaykh Muhammad Effendi al-Yaraghi] and his Mureed (disciple), Kazi Mullah, in the glorious Muslim struggle in the Caucasus against the barbaric Russian invaders. Muhammad Mullah was a revolutionary Alim and a Sheikh of the Naqshbandi Tariqat. He was made a Murshid on the authority of Haji Ismail in the mosque of Yarghal in Daghestan in 1823. Haji Ismail, a learned Naqshbandi Sheikh told Muhammad Mullah "our prayers, ablutions, and our adherence to the Shariah would be of no avail to us while we keep disputing and fighting amongst ourselves. Let all true believers no longer contend against each other, but against the infidel invaders."
Inspired by his teacher, Muhammad Mullah started his revolutionary message of freedom and dignity. "The Muslim," he declared, "shall be a soldier of Allah and His Prophet. The Muslim shall adhere to the Shariah; but all his giving of alms to the poor, his prayers, ablutions, and his pilgrimage to Mecca."