Alans and Islam

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of manifestation of the influence of Islam in the Alanian monuments on the territory of the modern Republic of North Ossetia-Alania from the position of the possible acceptance of this religion by the Alans themselves. In general, in the North Caucasus, according to archaeological data, Muslim communities were represented in the pre-Mongol period. But for the region of interest to us, such evidence is not recorded. Individual artifacts presented in Alanian burials cannot serve as a basis for this. In the context of the funeral rites and other accompanying inventory recorded in them, one should assume the adherence of the buried and their community to their own traditional religion of the Alans. Therefore, one should reject the attempts of individual researchers to attribute the burials to Islamic ones. The spread of Islam among the multiethnic population of the North Caucasus during the period of its entry into the territory of the Golden Horde was repeatedly noted by specialists based on an analysis of archaeological material. This process was especially evident in urban centers. It was interrupted as a result of the end of foreign rule in the region. According to the researchers, some Alanian burials of the Zmeyskaya burial ground are associated with these processes. The direct influence of Islam in this area is also confirmed by other archaeological sites. As for the specific Alanian burials, the interpretation of the features of their funeral rite as purely Islamic raises certain doubts. Information from some written sources about the spread of Islam among the Alans of the North Caucasus also cannot be perceived unambiguously. It is possible that they were influenced by information about the conversion to Islam of a part of the Alans who left the region and settled in the capital’s center of the Golden Horde. Probably the transfer to the local population of ideas about its Islamization due to the fact of the adoption of Islam as a state religion.