The article refers to the problem of the ruling aristocratic groups in Dagestan in the first half of the XIX century. The attention is paid to the issues related to the relations of representatives of the mountain nobility with the Russian military administration and with the structures of Muslim statehood (Imamate) in the specified period. The opus presents the results of an analysis of military-political events during which the region became part of the Russian Empire. Particular (Special) attention is paid to the issue of the struggle for power and the subsequent change of traditional power groups in Dagestan. It is concluded that this process took place not only under the pressure of Russian military officials who doubted the loyalty of the mountain aristocracy, but also due to the fact that only a few of the representatives of nobility were able to integrate into the new system of power relations within the framework of the Imamate. The question also arises of the degree of influence of individual owners and their relatives on the genesis of the Imamate and its further functioning, including the extent to which their actions contributed to the spread of the ideas of muridism in Dagestan and Chechnya. The novelty of the study is seen in an attempt to present these events using the terminological apparatus adequate to describe the Islamic society. The work is relevance due to the acute controversy taking place in the scientific community on the role of individual historical figures in these events and ambiguous interpretations of their heritage. All this is analyzed on the basis of a system-historical approach, using the achievements of social science and attracting a wide range of material, including unpublished archival sources.