This book presents two extraordinary texts - The Shining of Swords by Al-Qarakhi and a new translation for a contemporary readership of Leo Tolstoy's Hadji Murat - illuminating the mountain war between the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus and the imperial Russian army from 1830 to 1859. The authors offer a complete commentary on the various intellectual and religious contexts that shaped the two texts and explain the historical significance of the Russian-Muslim confrontation. It is shown that the mountain war was a clash of two cultures, two religious outlooks and two different worlds. The book provides an important background for the ongoing contest between Russia and indigenous people for control of the Caucasus.

Thomas Sanders is Associate Professor of Russian History at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Ernest Tucker is Associate Professor of Middle East History at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Gary Hamburg is Professor of Russian History, University of Notre Dame, US, specializing in the cultural and intellectual history of imperial Russia.

Preface Introduction Note on Transliteration 1. Muhammad Tahir al-Qarakhi, The Shining of Daghestani Swords in Certain Campaigns of Shamil 2. Lev Tolstoi, Hadji Murat 3. War of Worlds