The Mountain and the Wall (33 page)

Shamkhals, nutsals, and utsmis
– Feudal titles used in different regions and among different peoples of Dagestan.

Sharia
(
ARABIC
) Islamic religious law.

Shirk
(
ARABIC
) Polytheism.

Subhanallah
(
ARABIC
) Allah be praised.

Sunna
(
ARABIC
) The path, the way. The words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Sunnat
(
ARABIC
) Circumcision.

Sura
(
ARABIC
) A chapter in the Koran.

T

Tagut
(
ARABIC
) Here, a criminal ruler who betrays the laws of Allah. A general term from the Koran, denoting “mutineer,” “criminal,” or “person who transgresses religious and moral boundaries.” Used in the present day to refer to any anti-Islamic person, group, party or authority that supports secular and material Western values.

Takfir
(
ARABIC
) Excommunication from Islam.

Tariq
(
ARABIC
) A popular Sufi teaching order popular among Dagestani Sufis. Preaches a path of spiritual purification and enrichment, most commonly through asceticism, retreat from the world, and mystical practices.

Tashshakhud
(
ARABIC
) A prayer read in a sitting position during
namaz.

Tawhid
(
ARABIC
) Monotheism.

Tenglik
(
KUMYK
) Equality.

Tiuz
(
KUMYK
) Right; true.

Tokhta
(
TURKIC
) Stop!

Tukhum –
In Dagestan, one’s local community; a clan.

Tsaps
(
LEZGIAN
) Literally, the manure of animals without cloven hooves in Lezgian. Some Lezgian nationalists, however, use the word to refer to Turks and Azeris.

U

Umma
(
ARABIC
) A community of believers.

Uraza
(
ARABIC
)
Uraza Bairam,
the Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Ustaz
(
ARABIC
) A teacher; specifically, in this context, a teacher of
tariq.

Uzden
(
TURKIC
) In Dagestan, a broad class of free people.

V

Vasvas
(
ARABIC
) Possession by evil forces.

Vilayat
(
ARABIC
) The major administrative territorial unit in several countries in North Africa as well as the Near and Middle East.

Vore, vore
(
AVAR
) Come on, come on.

W

Wahhabi
(
ARABIC
) The same as
Salafi.

Y

Yo
(
DAGESTANI
) A word used in Dagestan when addressing women.

Z

Zakat
(
ARABIC
) A tax, or form of obligatory charity, consisting of 1/5 of a Muslim’s personal revenue, paid to the poor, to mosques, etc.

Ziarat
(
ARABIC
) Traveling to sacred places; also a term referring to these sacred places.

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ALISA GANIEVA,
born in 1985, grew up in Makhachkala, Dagestan. Her literary debut, the novella
Salam, Dalgat!
won the prestigious Debut Prize in 2009. Shortlisted for all of Russia’s major literary awards,
The Mountain and the Wall
is her first novel, and has already been translated into seven languages. Ganieva lives in Moscow, where she works as a journalist and literary critic. Her second novel,
Bride and Groom,
was published in Russia in spring 2015.

CAROL APOLLONIO
is Professor of the Practice of Russian at Duke University. Her most recent translation is German Sadulaev’s
The Maya Pill
(Dalkey Archive, 2014). As well as an accomplished translator, Dr. Apollonio is also a scholar specializing in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Chekhov and on problems of translation. She is the author of the monograph
Dostoevsky’s Secrets
(2009).