Ali-Hajji of Akusha

Ali-Hajji of Akusha (1847 – 8 April 1930) was a North Caucasian religious, military and political leader during the Russian Civil War. He was a shaykh al-Islām and chairman of the Security Council of the Northern Caucasus and Dagestan, a resistance group against the Armed Forces of South Russia during the White Russian invasion of Dagestan. Amidst the 1921–1928 Soviet anti-religious campaign he organised a group of religious leaders, forming a de facto parallel government in the Dargin District during the mid-1920s.

Born into the family of a muezzin, Ali-Hajji studied under several leading theologians in mid-19th century Dagestan, becoming a member of the ulama in his native village. Following the Russian Revolution he became a supporter of the Bolsheviks, believing that they would allow sharia in the North Caucasus. After the Soviet government adopted a policy of state atheism following the Civil War, Ali-Hajji went from a supporter to an opponent of Soviet rule, leading protests and organising a non-government system of Islamic education in the Dargin District. His family was arrested in 1928 on charges of organising an anti-government group, and he died in 1930. He was rehabilitated in 1989.