He was one of Imam Shamil's closest associates and was nicknamed the "Marshal of the Forests" for his skill in guerrilla warfare by Count Pavel Grabbe.

The tsarist command did not forgive him for active participation in the military campaigns of Imam Gazi-Muhammad and began taking measures to kill him or win him over by promising all kinds of benefits and positions.

Many Russian generals sought to “capture the enemy's fortification of Shuaib-fortress, which the Chechens considered impregnable and which for many years, despite the proximity of many strong detachments, remained untouched”.

[2] A. Zisserman described the fortress in detail:[2] The fortification was really arranged in such a way that even a hundred people could stubbornly defend themselves and the assault, with the depth of a wide ditch, with a breastwork crowned with loopholes, with an internal construction of thick logs, which served as a second defense like a citadel, would undoubtedly cost a lot of people In addition, there were side obstructions and notches outside the fortification, designed for the resistance of a large party, and in the rear there were also various artificial structures to cover retreating peopleN.

[3] The Chechens, in the opinion of many researchers, were the first to employ the tactic of creeping troops, brought up exemplary mountain cavalry with such truly immortal examples as Kazbich, Beibulat, Talkhig, laid the foundation for horse-mountain artillery and invented "nomadic batteries."

Europe marveled at the Cossacks and studied, forgetting or not knowing that it was not the primary source of the methods of partisan warfare, the researcher writes.