Beliefs of the Ingushes

Ingushes belong to sunnit Islam of Shafiit kind. Orthodox religion came to Ingushetia from neighboring Georgia before Islam (since the 12th century). In the mountain Ingushetia there survived the remains of the temples where objects of Christian cult are being found. The baptism of Ingushes was superficial, ancient beliefs remained widely spread. The pagan pantheon included the common Vainakh gods (Dyala, Sela, Tusholi etc.), the gods of separate societies, villages and tribes. The cult of Myatsil, the god of harvest, was especially popular; every year in summer sacrifices were brought to it on the top of Stolovaya mountain till 1920-ies. The vitality of ancient beliefs is explained by a late penetration of Islam (from the neighboring Chechnya in the 16-18th century). Islam finally gained foothold only by the middle of the 19th century. As Islam wasn?t strong, most of the Ingushes didn?t follow Shamil at that time; sufizm spread among them in 1860-ies in the form of ?zikrizm? - both in the mountains and on the plateau. After Ingushetia joined Russia Islam continued to establish itself due to the liberal religious policy of the authorities and gradually forced out the pre-Moslem traditions.

During the years of the Soviet power the Ingushes turned away from the religion only superficially: their majority remained the believers. During the deportation the religious beliefs of the Ingushes retained mainly due to the fact that they united around ecclesiastical authorities. By the beginning of 1980-ies there were nearly no Mosques left in Ingushetia, but there were dozens of underground prayer houses. Since the end of 1980-ies there started the revival of Islam traditions. In 1993 in Nazran there was formed the Ecclesiastical management if the Moslems of Ingushetia. The societies of Kadiria brotherhood are openly active. They celebrate the main Moslem holidays, by tradition they celebrate the birthday of the Prophet - Mavlid. There remain some elements of pre-Islam beliefs. In the demonology there prevail the Moslem spirits - genies (zhin). They are believed to cause human diseases; sorcerers and wizards struggled against them, now it?s done by the mullahs with the help of prayers and amulets. Holy places are worshipped, usually these are the tombs of the sufi sheikhs.