Muhajir

Muhajirism was emigration of Muslim indigenous peoples of the Caucasus into the Ottoman Empire following the Russian-Circassian War and the Caucasian War (during the 19th century). During this mass movement, hundreds of thousands Muslims left Russia. "Muhajir" (Arabic: مهاجر) is an Arabic word meaning refugee, immigrant or emigrant.

Background

After the surrender of Imam Shamil (Chechnya and Dagestan) in 1859, Russia's war campaigns concentrated in the Circassian lands of the North Caucasus and the Black Sea coast, at that time the largest Muslim nation in the region. Following the conquest of the North Caucasus by the Russian Empire, its Muslim populations began emigrating, driven by a combination of various reasons: the imperial policy of Russia in the conquered lands, promises of Turkey, as well as the urges of the local Islamic clergy.