Hadiths and utterances of Islamic figures in Arabic inscriptions in Akhtynski district of Dagestan

Among the sources on the history of Islam in Dagestan, an important place is occupied by numerous epigraphic monuments of the region, the vast majority thereof being compiled in Arabic. During field studies of Arabic-language epigraphy in the villages of Akhtynski district of Dagestan, we identified inscriptions of various genres, whose texts included hadiths and utterances by prominent Islamic fig-ures and scholars of theology. Inscriptions consisting entirely of utterances by authoritative Muslim figures of the early era of Islam have been recorded. Such epigraphic monuments had not previously been the subject of a separate study. It has been established that the inclusion of texts of some hadiths is typical only of certain genres of epigraphy. For example, the texts of construction inscriptions re-garding the construction or repair of Islamic religious buildings, as a rule, contained the same hadith, its content being directly related to construction activities. The study demonstrated that educated people who had acquired knowledge in Islamic sciences and were familiar with authoritative collections of hadiths were among the compilers and calligraphers of inscriptions. The epigraphic materials presented are novel for the scholarly discourse.