Emir Sayfullah's eulogy for Abu Murat Sultan Sosnaliyev was posted on IslamDin on March 25, 2009. Translated here in full by The Caucasus Blog.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. May peace and blessings of Allah be upon the leader of Mujahideen, our Prophet Muhammad, his family and all companions.
On November 23, 2008, our elder brother, an honest and noble Mujahid, Abu Murat Sultan son of Aslan-Bek Sultan-Ali (Sosnaliyev) passed away.
He always wanted to die in combat, but by the will of the Most High, his death was caused by an illness.
Only Allah knows what is inside hearts, but i knew Sultan as a noble and honest person. The Messenger of Allah Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"[Different] people are similar to such metals like gold and silver, the best of them in Jahiliyyah are also the best in Islam, after they learn about their Religion" (Hadith was quoted by Imam Muslim).
I witness to the fact that Abu Murat went away as a Muslim, not involved in kufr, renouncing shirk, democracy, nationalism and communism. Few people knew about that. And just several people knew that he was in the same rank with Mujahideen of Caucasus till his last days.
Now, when there is no sense in concealing this information, we consider it our duty to tell Muslims the truth about their elder brother. Lest the believers would think that Sultan was far from Islam and passed away serving Rusnya (Russia).
I knew him for many years, and I swear by Allah, he always loved Allah and Muslims, and especially Mujahideen. I knew his mother, who was a righteous Muslimah. Her noble face radiated Nur (light). Probably it was Barakah of her righteous ancestor Muhammad-Mirza Anzorov, Naib of Imam Shamil and Wali of Little Chechnya, who was martyred in a war against giaours.
During the Russo-Caucasian war, the majority of free people of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachai performed Hijra to Imam Shamil.
Muhammad-Mirza, just as his great-grandson Sultan, was an officer in the Russian army. Just as Sultan, Muhammad-Mirza always thought about a rebellion against the invaders, maintained secret contacts with Mujahideen, and was in correspondence with the Imam of Caucasus.
Abu Murat's childhood passed in the village of Sagopshi (currently Wilayah of Ghalghaycho) and in Nalchik, [his] youth [passed] in Rusnya, therefore he did not know Kabardian language and details of customs very well, but his parents brought out in him love for Islam and spirit of freedom.
Abu Idris Shamil Ibn Salman Basayev admired the courage and military talent of Sultan Sosnali, and regretted that Abu Murat's age did not allow him to actively participate in Jihad. Abu Idris said: "He is an amazing person. I saw how he led the fight from trenches, under bullets and bombs. I saw him in the headquarters, when he planned unique operations, that are studied today in all military academies of the world. Sultan offered me his help more than once, and today I am in big need of his experience, but I fear for his health".
We were not very close relatives with Sultan, besides, there was a significant age difference between us, but we always grasped each other's meaning at once. We talked about religion, about history, about war.
For the first time we touched upon the subject of concrete efforts in the field of Jihad in 1998. Sultan's proposal was very unusual. He said that he needed a trusted person, who speaks Arabic, and who will accompany him in his trip across Middle Eastern countries. The trip's goal was arranging contacts with the leadership of Palestinian resistance, in order to help them in their fight against giaours. I asked him what roused him to such step. He replied that he felt sympathy for the Palestinian people and wanted to help them. "They can and they must win. Look how many of them sacrifice their lives. It means that this people has a strong spirit and will to victory. They only lack a right organization. If they have an honest political leadership, then I am ready to take responsibility for the military aspect", Sultan said. He also said that he already talked on this topic with representatives of Circassian diaspora, including generals of armies of Middle Eastern states.
I thanked Abu Murat for trust, and said that I would be very glad to participate in such effort, but unfortunately, the real state of affairs in the lands of Sham is so that such effort is destined to fail. I explained that the entire problem is with the political leadership of the Palestinian resistance, which, as all Middle Eastern tyrants, fights against Islam, trying to please the giaours. Palestinian politics, instead of the Islamic banner, raise the banner of Arab nationalism, and in it lies is the main reason of humiliation and sufferings which has befallen that people. With regard to Circassian and Chechen generals holding key posts in the Jordanian army and security services, one of their main tasks is protection of the Zionist enclave in the occupied territories. And with regard to Syrian generals, who loyally serve the Allawite regime, trusting them is tantamount to suicide.
In addition to me, Sultan consulted with some trusted people who knew situation in the Middle East, and decided to abandon this idea.
After that event I realized that I had dealings with a really free man with an independent thinking. He did not lock his mind and his aspirations within the limits of local nationalist interests, but thought on a large scale and globally. At the same time, Sultan was a realist, far from empty dreams.
His desire to help Palestine meant that for him, the justice was above all. In difference to local national patriots, he did not have a national inferiority complex, he sincerely desired good not only for his people, but for other oppressed Muslims peoples.
Last summer Sultan showed me copies of archive documents, which were an evidence that after the plague epidemic and mass migration to Chechenia (Nokhchicho), 42 thousand Adygs were left in Kabarda, of whom only 25 thousand people were free (princes, uzdens and peasants), and the rest were serfs. Among the free people, the majority was comprised by women, children and old people. The majority of the free men went to Shamil. (There were also those who stayed on request of Muhammad-Mirza and secretly were in correspondence with Mujahideen, informing them about plans and movements of the enemy).
"No wonder that our people has a subservient behavior and psychology, because they were brought up so", Abu Murat said. "What was a shame before, today is passed off as an ancient custom. Without any shame they keep repeating the same thing: "The most important thing is health." And when you tell them that a man must be ready to sacrifice his health and life for honor and justice, they consider it a foolishness!"
Sultan knew good about politics, but due to his honesty, he could not get used to treachery. Recently I told him about one of the leaders of national intelligentsia, revered as a "patriarch of Kabardin people", who said in one of his interviews that it was necessary to revive an ancient Adyg custom of evicting families of murderers from villages. When I said that under murderers and criminals that "elder" meant Mujahideen, and he called to evict families of Muslims who were killed while fighting against Putin's army and police in October 2005, Sultan was shocked: "How?! Zaur said so?! It is impossible!"
Sultan would not be so astonished and upset, if some NKVD veteran, aspiring to role of elder, would call for eviction of believers. But he remembered how in 1999, when Rusnya's army invaded Chechenia, same Zaur was one of organizers of the demonstration near the invaders' Ministry of Interior building in Nalchik. The people were shouting: "Hands off Chechnya", "Stop killing Chechen people". That time police did not take into account old age of the "patriarch", and forced him into their vehicle. The "patriarch" appealed to their conscience and national feelings, shouted: "Long live the freedom!", but they did not care about customs of their people, respect for the elders, or freedom.
Sultan frequently said: "If we will not break this people of the habit to serve Russian tsar, then it has no future. This fashion for the blue uniform (occupation police) is just the same as a fashion for a dog collar. In addition they were soiled by blood in Chechnya. Unfortunately, they can be forced to abandon this "fashion" only through blood."
Abu Murat was not just an active fighter for the freedom of Caucasus. As a true Muslim, he thought that the Sharia of Allah is the only law that should regulate human interactions, "Freedom is when there is nobody over a person except God", Sultan said. He also said: "Many people feel sorry for Mujahideen, thinking that they experience hardships and dream about returning to their homes and live under the authority of Russian invaders, as before. But I envy the Mujahideen, because I know what is freedom. One who felt this feeling at least once, will understand what I am talking about."
We will miss the experience and wisdom of our elder brother very much. We will miss live brotherly communication with him, because he had a beautiful disposition, where firmness of character harmonized with unusual kindness.
Addressing our brothers and sisters all over the world, I ask you: make Dua for your deceased brother, because he needs it now.
May the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful Allah forgive and have mercy on him. May Allah save him from torments of the grave, and grant him Paradise. Amin.
Emir Sayfullah.
Nalchik, 28 Dhu al-Qi'dah, 1429 H
Kavkaz Center
