748 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 and political aspects of Naqshbandi merged, and a pattern of political leadershiplegitimatedby spiritualauthorityemerged, supplantingtraditional secular leadership. The first Naqshbandi leader to effectively combine both aspects was Ghazi Muhammad (?I793-i832), who declared ghazavat('holy war') as key to the establishmentof shari"a. Pursuitof this goal culminated in the creation of the firststateformationamongstthe North Caucasianpeoples, Shamil'simamate. The Naqshbandi movement representsthe firstattemptat modernization in the North Caucasus, introducing recognizably modern formsof political leadership, social contract and collective identity.As such it stands as the neplus ultraof indigenous, as opposed to Russian- or Sovietimposed modernization in the region. The chapters on the imamate provide an overdue focus on Shamil's administrative, fiscal, military and religious reforms. The account presented here provides a fascinating basis for comparison with more recent events. As the word play in the book's title suggests, the Naqshbandi search for responses to external challenges took the form of an introspectiveinquest,ajudicial enquiryinto the currentmoraland socialstate of Muslim communities. Initial targets for Naqshbandi activists were the recognized Muslim authorities advocating a more conciliatory relationship with the Russians. Ghazavat was therefore a bi-focal phenomenon, aimed at both the establishedMuslimauthorities,lambastedascorrupting'trueMuslim values', and the Russian menace. The radical orthodoxy of the Naqshbandi engendered a dual debate, on one frontbetween Muslims as to the formsthat a modern Islam should take, and on the other with the non-Muslim world. The extraordinary success of the Naqshbandiyya reflects the capacity of radical orthodoxy, reliant on other-worldly values, to feed an ideology of resistanceto challengesfirmlyrooted in thisworld. Adapted from a PhD thesis, this lucid, well-written account presents an importantcontributionto the historyof the North Caucasus, as well as to the intellectual history of Sufi Islam. For those who wish to probe the history of the currentsituationin the North Caucasusbeyond the recent wave of books dealing explicitlywith the conflictin Chechnya, thisbook is essentialreading. Department ofPolitical Studies LAURENCEBROERS School ofOriental andAfrican Studies University ofLondon Kelly, Laurence.Diplomacy andMurder in Tehran. Alexander Griboyedov andImperial Russia's MissiontotheShahofPersia.I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2002. xiii + 3I4 pp Maps. Illustrations. Appendices. Notes. Bibliography .Index. 25s.00. GRIBOEDOV'S masterpiece Goreot Umahas ensured him a permanent place alongside the great names of Russian literature.Its undoubted literarymerits apart,itspolitical tendency and the author'sassociationwith the Decembrists have often led to his being identifiedwith the progressivewing of the Russian intelligentsia.But as ProfessorKelly's new biography shows, Griboedov was an extremely complex person and his career as a diplomat and servantof the REVIEWS 749 Tsar's government reveals a man of rich talents and puzzling contradictions. Witty, intelligent, an accomplished musician and gifted linguist as well as a skilful playwright, and with a great talent for friendship, he could also be inflexible, irascible,insensitiveand uncompromising, and had a penchant for duelling. His diplomaticcareerin the Caucasus,likehispersonallife, contains numerous occasions on which his moraljudgement and his diplomatic skills are both open to question. Burdened throughouthis life by a spendthriftand autocraticmother, whose attitude to her serfswas lamentable, he alwayshad financialproblems.Yet, despite these complexities and shortcomings,and the suspicions that descended on him after the Decembrist revolt, he impressed both Ermolov and subsequently Pashkevich, commanders of the Russian forces in the Caucasus, and made a brilliantcareer in the diplomatic service, thanksnot only to his efficiency,but also to his unwaveringpatriotismand his giftforlanguages. Kelly'sbiographyisthefruitof extensivelibraryworkand archivalresearch, both in Britainand abroad,aswell as of an intimateknowledgeof the relevant geographicalregions and addressesa number of vexed questionssurrounding both Griboedov'sown life and the historicalevents in which he was involved, not least, as the book's title implies, those which led to his death in Tehran at the hands of an infuriatedand fanaticalmob inJanuary I829. The degree of his involvement with the Decembrists and the question of whether he had enlisted as a member of the Northern Society before his departure from St Petersburgis examined in detail, as is hisrole in repatriatingRussiandeserters to Tiflis and theirsubsequentfate. The massacrein Tehran, the reasonsfor it, whetherit could have been avoided, and how farGriboedovhimselfmay have provoked it, receive ample treatment, as does the historical and cultural context in which the events took place. Not all the attendant problems are resolved, some areprobablyirresolvable...