The Role of the Juma Mosque in Shaping the Settlement Structure of Avars in Mountainous Dagestan

The settlement structure of Mountainous Dagestan prior to the 14th century was characterized by a prevalence of small, often single-clan (tukhum) settlements. During the 14th and 15th centuries, a process of consolidation took place: several closely situated hamlets would merge to form large, neighbor-based communities. Oral tradition suggests that a primary driver of this process was the religious requirement for the Friday prayer, which necessitates the presence of at least 40 adult men knowledgeable in the fundamentals of Islam. Consequently, the Juma mosque became a center of gravity for the micro-region, around which a neighbor-based community would coalesce. However, in the high-altitude regions of Mountainous Dagestan, these consolidation processes were hindered by a lack of land resources – specifically arable land capable of sustaining large populations. Since available plots were scattered across vast territories, centralized living would have required traveling long distances daily, reducing the efficiency of labor and land use. The solution was found by maintaining the existing dispersed settlement structure while designating one small settlement as the site for the Juma mosque. This location was termed rosu (village) or kort (gathering place), even if it was not the largest or the “mother” settlement from which others had branched out. Thus, the Juma mosque became the defining feature distinguishing a primary village from a lower-order settlement. Just as the presence of a church and graveyard distinguished a selo (village) from a derevnya (hamlet) in medieval Russia, the Avar rosu (village) was distinguished from the kuli (farmstead/outlying settlement) by the presence of a Juma mosque and a cemetery. Ultimately, the mosque remained the definitive factor: while burials were occasionally permitted at remote farmsteads during harsh winters, the establishment of a Juma mosque there was strictly prohibited.

Avars · dispersed settlement · Friday prayer · Islamic cemetery · Islamic religious institutions · land scarcity · settlement consolidation · settlement structure · African Studies and Geopolitics · Architecture and Cultural Influences · Islamic Studies and History