Introduction: where mountains rise -- Murids and tsars: Islamic ideology as an antidote to Russian colonialism -- Soviet rule in the north caucasus: betrayal of Islam and construction of ethnicity -- Democratic Dagestan: ethnic accommodation in the constitutional Djamaat -- The Islamic factor: revival and radicalism -- Conflict and catharsis: why Dagestanis fought to remain in Russia -- Russian recentralization and Islamic resistance: stepping on the same rake -- Conclusion: a gathering darkness