Circassian Ethics: Werk Khabze

Konakhalla is the highest level of Chechen ethics. Likewise, Werk Khabze is the highest level of Circassian ethics. Unlike Chechens, Circassians had a feudal society. So, Werk Khabze was originally noblemen's and warriors' code of ethics. The word "werk" means "nobleman," the word "khabze" means "law, tradition, custom." The general part of Circassian ethics is called "Adyghe Khabze" where "Agyghe means "Circassian." Werk Khabze is closer to Bushido than Konakhalla because both Circassians and Japanese had a feudal society while Chechens had a democratic society.


Translated from Russian

Werk Khabze may be divided into several key points, including the following things:

1. Faithfulness. First of all, it implied faithfulness to the suzerain and their estate. Noblemen served princes from generation to generation. If a nobleman changed his suzerain, it was a great shame. Noblemen kept faithfulness to their prince even if he was defeated in a war and emigrated to other nations. In this case, they followed the prince and left their motherland. At the battle, noblemen fought near their princes and if the prince was killed, they had to take his body away from the battle filed or to be killed themselves.

Faithfulness also included devotion to relatives and respect to parents. All the family members had to submit to the father, and a younger brother had to submit to an elder brother. A nobleman had to keep family dignity and revenge everyone who attempted to murder or violated dignity of members of his family.

2. Politeness. It included several points:

- Respect toward people who had a higher position in the social hierarchy. According to Circassian customs, respect had to be mutual regardless of different positions in the social hierarchy.

- Respect toward older people. Each older person had to be respected according to Circassian etiquette: younger people had to stand up when he came in and not sit down without his permission; they should not talk, but only respectfully answer his questions; they had to serve him at the table, and so on. All this respect had to be done regardless of social position.

- Respect toward a woman. First of all, it meant respect toward mother, but also respect to all the females. Each noblemen considered that it was an honor for him to carry out a woman's or girl's request. It was a shame to unsheathe an armor at a woman's presence or not to sheathe it immediately when she came. If a nobleman occasionally said a bad word at woman's presence, he had to give her a valuable gift in order to redeem his guilt. A Circassian woman could not be an object or a subject of vendetta. It was a great shame for a man, including a husband, to beat a woman. A violation of dignity of mother, wife or sister were the highest offense to a man. Such violations usually caused the offender's death.

- Politeness included respect to any person, including a stranger.

A peculiarity of Circassian mentality was respect of a personal dignity and personal freedom and consequently a very expressed individualism. Probably, it was one of the reasons why their political system was democratic and there was no opportunity for tyranny or dictatorship. This democracy was expressed even in military area. In spite of the social hierarchy, servility was against the free spirit of Circassians.

Politeness included prohibition of bad language, manhandling, and other expressions of enmity. For noblemen, it was not permitted even to shout at one another.

Talkativeness also was considered to be improper, especially, for a prince.

Modesty was also a part of politeness. Brave Circassians never talked about their feats of arms, considering that it would be improper. According to Circassian opinion, only other people could speak about a person's bravery.

3. Courage. It included the following points:

- Bravery. It was mandatory for a nobleman. If a warrior acted cowardly, he could redeem his guilt to society only if he did a feat of armor or died.

- Resolution and coolness. It implied that in any situation a nobleman had to keep self-control, be calm, never be in panic or fear.

- Patience and tolerance. A genuine nobleman had to be stronger than his human weaknesses. It was considered to be shameful and condemned if he complained at being tired, sick, cold, hot, hungry or even mentioned tasty food.