Ghazi ( warrior ) Ghazi ( , ' ) is an Arabic term originally referring to an individual who participates in Ghazw , ' ) , meaning military expeditions or raiding ; after the emergence of Islam , it took on new connotations of religious warfare . The related word Ghazwa ( " " ) is a singulative form meaning a battle or military expedition , often one led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad . In English language literature the word often appears as " razzia " , deriving from French , although it probably comes from archaic Portuguese . In the context of the wars between Russia and the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus , starting as early as the late 18th century ' s Sheikh Mansur ' s resistance to Russian expansion , the word usually appears in the form " gazavat " ( газават ) . Ghazw as raid — razzia . In medieval Bedouin culture , ghazw [ a ] was a form of limited warfare verging on brigandage that avoided head - on confrontations and instead emphasized raiding and looting , usually of livestock . The Umayyad - period Bedouin poet al - Kutami wrote the oft - quoted verses : " Our business is to make raids on the enemy , on our neighbor and our own brother , in the event we find none to raid but a brother . " ( Semi - institutionalized raiding of livestock herds was not unique to the Bedouins ; the Soviet anthropologists adopted the Kazakh word " barymta " to describe similar practices of nomads in the Eurasian steppes . ) William Montgomery Watt hypothesized that Muhammad found it useful to divert this continuous internecine warfare toward his enemies , making it the basis of his war strategy ; according to Watt , the celebrated battle of Badr started as one such razzia . As a form of warfare , the " razzia " was then mimicked by the Christian states of Iberia in their relations with the taifa states ; rough synonyms and similar tactics are the Iberian " cavalgada " and the Anlgo - French " chevauchée " . The word " razzia " is used in French colonial context particularly for raids to plunder and capture slaves from among the people of Western and Central Africa , also known as " rezzou " when practiced by the Tuareg . The word was adopted from " ġaziya " of Algerian Arabic vernacular and later became a figurative name for any act of pillage , with its verb form " razzier " . Ghazi warrior . " Ghazi " ( , " " ) is an Arabic word , the active participle of the verb " ġazā " , meaning ' to carry out a military expedition or raid ' ; the same verb can also mean ' to strive for ' and " Ghazi " can thus share a similar meaning to Mujahid or " one who struggles " . The verbal noun of " ġazā " is " ġazw " or " ġazawān " , with the meaning ' raiding ' . A derived singulative in " ġazwah " refers to a single battle or raid . The term " ghāzī " dates to at least the Samanid period , where he appears as a mercenary and frontier fighter in Khorasan and Transoxiana . Later , up to 20 , 000 of them took part in the Indian campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni . " Ghāzī " warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood , and were prone to brigandage and sedition in times of peace . The corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers , zealot s and religious and political dissidents of all ethnicities . In time , though , soldiers of Turkic ethnicity predominated , mirroring the acquisition of Mamluks , Turkic slaves in the Mamluk retinues and guard corps of the caliphs and emirs and in the ranks of the " ghazi " corporation , some of whom would ultimately rise to military and later political dominance in various Muslim states . In the west , Turkic " ghāzīs " made continual incursions along the Byzantine frontier zone , finding in the akritai ( akritoi ) their Greek and Armenian counterparts . After the Battle of Manzikert these incursions intensified , and the region ' s people would see the " ghāzī " corporations coalesce into semi - chivalric fraternities , with the white cap and the club as their emblems . The height of the organizations would come during the Mongol conquest when many of them fled from Persia and Turkistan into Anatolia . As organizations , the " ghazi " corporations were fluid , reflecting their popular character , and individual " ghāzī " warriors would jump between them depending upon the prestige and success of a particular emir , rather like the mercenary bands around western condottiere . It was from these Anatolian territories conquered during the " ghazw " that the Ottoman Empire emerged , and in its legendary traditions it is said that its founder , Osman I , came forward as a " ghāzī " thanks to the inspiration of Shaikh Ede Bali . In later periods of Islamic history the honorific title of " ghāzī " was assumed by those Muslim rulers who showed conspicuous success in extending the domains of Islam , and eventually the honorific became exclusive to them , much as the Roman title imperator became the exclusive property of the supreme ruler of the Roman state and his family . The Ottomans were probably the first to adopt this practice , and in any case the institution of " ghazw " reaches back to the beginnings of their state : The first nine Ottoman chiefs all used Ghazi as part of their full throne name ( as with many other titles , the nomination was added even though it did not fit the office ) , and often afterwards . However , it never became a formal title within the ruler ' s formal style , unlike " Sultan ul - Mujahidin " , used by Sultan Murad Khan II Khoja - Ghazi , 6th Sovereign of the House of Osman ( 1421 – 1451 ) , styled ' Abu ' l Hayrat , Sultan ul - Mujahidin , Khan of Khans , Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia , and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis . Because of the political legitimacy that would accrue to those bearing this title , Muslim rulers vied amongst themselves for preeminence in the " ghāziya " , with the Ottoman Sultans generally acknowledged as excelling all others in this feat : " Ghazi " was also used as a title of honor in the Ottoman empire , generally translated as the Victorious , for military officers of high rank , who distinguished themselves in the field against non - Moslem enemies ; thus it was conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence of Plevna in Bulgaria . Some Muslim rulers ( in Afghanistan ) personally used the subsidiary style Padshah - i - Ghazi . The title was also assigned to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk . " Maghāzī " literature . " Maghāzī " , which literally means " campaigns " , is typically used within Islamic literature to signify the military campaigns conducted by Muhammed during the post - Hijra phase of his career . The record of these campaigns , constitutes its own genre of prophetic biography within Islamic literature distinct from the sira . A famous example of the genre is the " Maghāzī " of al - Waqidi . Operationally . When performed within the context of Islamic warfare , the " ghazw " ' s function was to weaken the enemy ' s defenses in preparation for his eventual conquest and subjugation . Because the typical " ghazw " raiding party often did not have the size or strength to seize military or territorial objectives , this usually meant sudden attacks on weakly defended targets ( e . g . villages ) with the intent of demoralizing the enemy and destroying material which could support their military forces . Though Islam ' s rules of warfare offered protection to non - combatants such as women , monastics and peasants ( in that they could not be slain ) , their property could still be looted or destroyed , and they themselves could be abducted and enslaved ( " Cambridge History of Islam " , p . 269 ) : A good source on the conduct of the traditional " ghazw " raid are the medieval Islamic jurists , whose discussions as to which conduct is allowed and which is forbidden in the course of warfare reveal some of the practices of this institution . One such source is Averroes ' " Bidāyat al - Mujtahid wa - Nihāyat al - Muqtasid " ( translated in Peters , " Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam : A Reader " , Chapter 4 ) . Gazawat as holy war . In the 19th century , Muslim fighters in North Caucasus who were resisting the Russian military operations declared a " gazawat " ( understood as holy war ) against the Russian Orthodox invasion . Although uncertain , it is believed that Dagestani Islamic scholar Muhammad Yaragskii was the ideologist of this holy war . In 1825 , a congress of ulema in the village of Yarag declared " gazawat " against the Russians . Its first leader was Ghazi Muhammad ; after his death , Imam Shamil would eventually continue it . During the Second Chechen War , Chechnya announced " gazawat " against Russia .