The poet and philosopher was one of the best sons of his people and a staunch supporter of Soviet power. It didn't save him. The old sage was separated from his homeland, hastening his death.
This talented man wrote about how his people lived. In his rhymed lines, borrowing the form of ancient religious works, he expressed new ideas consistent with his time. He lived according to the precepts of his ancestors, but did not deny himself freedom of thought.
Childhood
Kazim was born in 1859. His family lived in the village of Shiki in the Khulamo-Bezengi gorge. The boy's father worked as a blacksmith and earned good money. Our hero from childhood did not differ in good health, when he began to walk, everyone noticed that the baby was limping. There could be no question that he would inherit the profession of a parent.
The unhappy child did not become a kind of curse - he allowed the elder Mechiev to realize his dream. The master did not know literacy and did not have time to master it. When he asked his son if he wanted to master the wisdom of books, he took his father's idea with enthusiasm. It was decided that this boy would receive an education and become a theologian. At an early age, he was sent to study for Effendi, who prepared the boy for admission to the Lesken madrasah. In a theological school, the teenager perfectly mastered the Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages, learned more about Islam.
Youth
Returning home, Kazim Mechiev pleased his father - he got stronger, a slight limp practically did not bother him. The young man began to help his father, took up any job. The villagers admired the skillful blacksmith. He did not pursue a career as a clergyman. The guy passed on his knowledge to his fellow countryman, in his free time he gave lessons to everyone who wanted to learn to read and write. A good deed helped to arrange a personal life - Kyazim fell in love with one of his students and took her as his wife.
The public educator got acquainted with Chepelleu-effendi, who was his associate. This man was also a teacher. Among the books that he offered to his wards, there were not only classics of theological sense, but also works with secular subjects. A new friend pushed Mechiev to the idea that one can describe in verse his romantic feelings for his young wife. Kazim wrote down his lines in his native Balkar language in Arabic letters, making a significant contribution to linguistics.
Together with the people
Having a spiritual education, Kazim Mechiev was a devout man. In 1903 he made a hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca and in 1910 he repeated his journey. At home, he studied sacred texts and collected the folklore of his native land, which formed the basis of his works of authorship. The pundit had enough time to raise children - there were 14 of them in the family.
Life in the poet's native village was not cloudless. The complete indifference of the authorities to the needs of the highlanders, exorbitant taxes and social tension within society due to the huge number of ancient prejudices put pressure on every person. Mechiev found this state of affairs unfair from the point of view of the Koran and ordinary human logic. In his work, he preached humanism and called for the fight against injustice.
During the revolution
Resistance to autocracy in the native region of Kazim Mechiev was led by the nobility. The people unanimously welcomed the overthrow of the tsar, and then the paths of different estates parted. The aristocracy was pleased with the results of the February Revolution, the end of the war for the Balkar nobles, many of whom served in the army and were waiting for high awards and ranks, was not profitable. The common people were on the side of the Bolsheviks, which became the cause of strife.
Kazim Mechiev found a lot in common between his ideas and Marxism. The famous Caucasian philosopher was not afraid to talk about it. His sons fought in the ranks of the Red Army. In 1919 g.father received sad news - one of his descendants, Mohammed, died in battle. In 1922, the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region was created. The proletarian biography of Kyazim Mechiev and his progressive views suited the new government, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the KBASSR. The poetry of the Caucasian philosopher was published in a separate edition in 1939. Mechiev himself was very sorry that in his youth he had not studied the Russian language so that he could independently make translations, which would become available to all citizens of the USSR.
In a foreign land
Even historians do not know exactly what happened in 1944. Some believe that for several years in a row there were mudflows on Shiki, and people tired of natural disasters asked Moscow to find a safer region for them to live in. According to other sources, during the war, people from this aul went over to the side of the Nazis en masse, and the Soviet government wanted to punish the relatives of the traitors by deporting them from their homes.
They came to the house of old man Mechiev to inform him about the resettlement of all residents of the village to Kazakhstan. It is not known whether these were authorized comrades who did not read books, or his fellow tribesmen who forgot about the ancient laws of the Caucasus about respect for elders. For our hero, separation from his native land was unbearable. Even after the second Hajj, he wrote that no heavenly land would be dearer to him than the poor village where he was born and raised. In March 1945, he died in a foreign land, leaving his descendants with bitter lines about his exile. In 1999, the poet's ashes were transported and buried in Nalchik.
