He became Imam of a branch of the Sufi Naqshbandi order known as Muridism which recommended strict adherence to Islamic law and preached jihad (holy war) against Russia. After the Crimean War Russia employed some 200,000 troops in the Caucasus to encircle and subdue Shamil and his followers. He was captured (1859), and imprisoned, but allowed to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca (1870), where he died.