Kazan Tatar Teacher School: The Global Entanglement of A Local Imperial Institution in The Late Russian Empire

2019 ◽  
Vol 245 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-185
Author(s):  
Mustafa Tuna
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Government Service ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Political Problem ◽  
Pedagogical Goals ◽  
Volga Ural Region

Abstract This article examines the ‘global life’ of a teacher school that Russian imperial officials opened in 1876 to Russify the tsarist empire’s Turkic-speaking Muslim subjects in the Volga-Ural region. Interventions and transformations at the local, imperial and transregional scales over the next several decades altered the context in which this imperial institution the Kazan Tatar Teacher School operated. The school’s effectiveness in achieving its pedagogical goals turned into a political problem for the tsarist center as a result. A Berlin-born German Turkologist in Russian government service designed the school’s curriculum to offer European-inspired secular knowledge. He called it ‘Russian knowledge’ and introduced it to his superiors as a gateway to Russification. He also incorporated Islamic studies and some Muslim daily practices into the school programme to avoid a backlash from the local Muslim population. Over time, a small but vocal cohort of progressivist Muslims took advantage of this programme to acquire conversance in the language and culture of the empire’s evolving cosmopolitan public. As Eurocentric transregional movements from socialism to nationalism permeated that culture, however, the Kazan Tatar Teacher School served as an incubator for politicization among Russia’s Muslims to the ire of the tsarist regime’s centrist advocates and agents.

scholarly journals Islamic Scholars: The Glue That Held Volga-Ural Muslims Together in the Russian Empire

Islamology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Mustafa Tuna
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Regional Community ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Kinship Ties ◽  
Politically Active ◽  
Volga Ural Region ◽  
Market Towns

When Russian forces occupied the Volga-Ural region in the sixteenth century, they nearly eliminated the local Muslim nobility. In the absence of a politically active nobility, Islamic scholars kept the region’s Muslim inhabitants connected as a larger community. This population of agricultural peasants and seasonal nomads rarely ventured beyond the vicinity of their villages or market towns, but scholars traveled extensively to pursue knowledge. As they traveled, they forged lasting connections with other students and scholars. When they graduated and dispersed through the region as village imams, they maintained these connections through kinship ties, letters, Sufi associations, and theological debates. Some of them also engaged in a broader network of Islamic scholars that extended primarily from Transoxiana to the Ottoman territories. As such, they served as the glue that held Volga-Ural Muslims together in a shared world, a regional Muslim domain, and they integrated this regional community of believers further into a transregional Muslim domain.

The Bulghar Region as a “Land of Ignorance”: Anti-Colonial Discourse in Khvārazmian Connectivity

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-204
Author(s):  
Alfrid K. Bustanov
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
The State ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Stable Bridge ◽  
Migrant Community ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Volga Ural Region

Hagiographic sources from nineteenth-century Inner Russia and Khvārazm indicate the existence of a cluster of Muslims opposed to the state-supported Islamic institutions of the Russian Empire. Many Muslim scholars of the period did not accord the Volga-Ural region the status of an ‘abode of Islam,’ as they considered it to be a ‘land of ignorance.’ This paper examines the significance attached by Muslims of Inner Russia to the pious rhetoric of resettlement from a ‘land of ignorance’ to the ‘abode of Islam’. I argue that the opposition to the already well-established imperial structures in the Volga-Urals resulted in the formation of a powerful migrant community near Urgench, Khvārazm, that used the Naqshbandiya-Mojaddediya Sufi networks as a stable bridge to home.

scholarly journals Правовой и религиозный авторитет в концепции иджтихада у Марджани

Islamology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Nathan Spannaus
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Legal Methodology ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Volga Ural Region

In the history of Islamic thought in the Russian Empire, Shihabaddin Mardjani’s (1818-1889) call for ijtihad is well-known, but often misunderstood as a form of radical modernization. In fact, Mardjani’s understanding of ijtihad, as evident in his important Arabic works, does not differ significantly from the conception of ijtihad that predominated in the post-classical period of Islamic history (13th-19th cent.). This article addresses in detail Mardjani’s stance on ijtihad and its religious and legal premises, from the perspective of its broader context in the middle of the 19th century, specifically the changes to the structure of Islamic institutions in the Volga-Ural region and the weakening of the religious authority of the ulama. I argue that although Mardjani’s stance was shaped by this context, it is nevertheless based on maintaining the legal methodology of the Hanafi school (madhhab) and scholars’ role as religious interpreters.

scholarly journals THE PROBLEM OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE BORDERLANDS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AT THE TURN OF THE 19-20TH CENTURIES IN THE TEACHING OF HISTORICAL AND LEGAL DISCIPLINES

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (15) ◽  
pp. 1434-1438
Author(s):  
Alexander Petukhov ◽  
Tatyana Kozhina
Keyword(s):  
Local Population ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
The Other ◽  
Homogeneous State ◽  
Imperial Politics ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Universities ◽  
Volga Ural Region

The article analyzes the approaches to the consideration of the imperial policy of Russia at the turn of the 19-20th centuries in the teaching of historical and legal disciplines in Russian universities. The authors state the discrepancy between the results of modern research on the Russian empire and the idea of the Russian empire as an ethnically homogeneous state that remains in the practice of teaching. Adjusting such an outdated view requires greater attention to the issues of heterogeneity of the Russian empire, its place among other empires at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the nature and typology of the Russian imperial borderlands and their relationship with the imperial center. Using the example of the Volga-Ural region, the authors consider the processes that took place at that imperial borderland of Russia at the turn of the 19-20th centuries, and its place in imperial politics. The Volga-Ural is characterized as the first imperial borderland of the Russian Empire, where a model of Russian imperial politics was formed. The central place in Russian imperial politics was played by the Christianization of the local population, which could be either violent or voluntary. The results of the imperial confessional policy were contradictory. The success of Christianization led to the beginning of the 20th century to the formation in the region of new identities among residents, who perceived themselves as Orthodox, but distinguished themselves from the ethnically Russian population. On the other hand, the opposition to Christianization by local Muslims contributed to the identity of the Volga-Ural Tatars, which was based on adherence to Islam. The article offers a number of specific recommendations for updating the teaching of historical and legal disciplines by introducing into their content issues of imperial control at the borderlands of Russia at the turn of the 19-20th centuries. Keywords: Borderlands of the Russian Empire, teaching of historical and legal disciplines.

scholarly journals Recitation of sacred text in rites of passage among the Muslims of Volga-Ural Region (XIX – XXI centuries)

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
Oleg Sokolov
Keyword(s):  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Sacred Text ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Continuous Contact ◽  
Prayer Books ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
Volga Ural Region

The subject of this research is the rites of passage among the Muslims of Volga-Ural Region in historical perspective. Ritual practices of the Muslim population of Volga Region are of particular interest since they developed in the conditions of continuous contact with non-Muslim population, and religious was often a key factor of national self-identification. Examination of the patterns of inclusion of the sacred text fragments into Muslim rituals in Volga-Ural Region has not previously been a topic of separate research within the Russian and Western anthropology. Analysis of functionality of the sacred text in rites of passage among the Muslims of Volga Region was conducted within the framework of methodology of diachronic analysis through comparing the records from Arabographic manuscripts and modern editions of prayer books. It is underlined that the prayers presented in manuscript of the XIX century are formulaic and repetitive, consisting usually of brief repeating fragments – epithets of Allah, names of prophets and chapters Ayats. Modern prayer books contain the whole Ayats and Surahs, or citations from Hadith. Such difference can be explained by widely accessible printed literature and expansive increase in the literacy level among population of the region comparing to the XIX century. The author notes that the great majority of prayers in both types of sources are in Arab language, which emphasizes a sacred significance of Arab language in the Muslim culture.

scholarly journals LEADERS OF THE MUSLIM MOVEMENT RUSSIAN EMPIRE ABOUT KEY POLITICAL ISSUES THE BEGINNING OF THE XX CENTURY

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 969-981
Author(s):  
Aydar Yu. Habutdinov ◽  
Marina M. Imasheva
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
The State ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Volga Ural Region

In the article, based on a wide range of documents, an attempt is made to analyze the interaction of the leaders of the Russian Muslim social movement on the main political issues of two key regions: the Volga-Ural and the Caucasus, at the beginning of the 20th century. We are talking about the cooperation of the leaders of the Muslim movement in considering the issues of the models of statehood and autonomy and land. The interaction of Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus in the framework of the activities of the Ittifak al-Muslimin party, the Muslim faction of the imperial State Duma of four convocations, during the revolutionary events of 1917 and the Civil War is considered.The source base of the study is bills, legislative sources, programs of parties and factions, clerical materials, verbatim records of meetings of the State Duma of all four convocations and Muslim congresses. Methodologically, the article is based on systematization, classification and analysis of these documents. To compare the facts and events related to the activities of the leaders of the Muslim movement of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century and to determine their role in the history of interaction between the Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus, the comparative-historical method adopted in domestic science was applied. The conclusions are made that, firstly, the economic and intellectual elite of the Tatar and Azerbaijani peoples stood at the head of the social movement of Muslims of the Russian Empire. Secondly, the main issues facing the Muslim politicians of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century were questions about the form of government and the autonomy of Muslims and land. Thirdly, the political cooperation between the leaders of the Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus at the beginning of the twentieth century led to the creation of the All-Russian Muslim party "Ittifak al-Muslimin", the Muslim faction of the State Duma, and the convocation of All-Russian Muslim congresses.

Muslim Charity under Russian Rule: Waqf, Sadaqa, and Zakat in Imperial Russia

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 77-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Volga Ural Region

This article examines the development of Muslim charitable practices in the Russian Empire (Volga-Ural region, Siberia and the northern Kazakh Steppe) from the Russian conquest of Kazan in 1552 to the 1917 Russian Revolution. Building upon existing research on charity in those regions, it argues that Russian rule from the 1550s to the mid-1800s created the basis for a range of locally-organized charity-based economies for meeting the religious, cultural, and social needs of Muslim communities in a non-Muslim state. Though these economies differed somewhat in organization, all were structured around Muslim modes of charity and all generated and re-enforced hierarchies within their respective communities. The struggles over charitable practices that occurred from the 1860s to 1917 emerged from these well-established but evolving economies as their participants responded to changing circumstances within and around their confessional communities.


Russians into Iakuts? “Going Native” and Problems of Russian National Identity in the Siberian North, 1870s-1914

Slavic Review ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 806-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willard Sunderland
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Northern Caucasus ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Volga Ural Region

As far as the Russian state and most educated Russians were concerned, assimilation in the eastern borderlands of the Russian empire in the late imperial period was supposed to be a one-way street. “Backward” eastern peoples were generally supposed to become more like Russians, while Russians, for their part, were expected to change others while themselves maintaining their language, customs, religion, and overall Russianness. In reality, of course, things were rarely so straightforward. In the mixed settlement worlds of the borderlands, both Russians and non-Russians influenced one another in multiple ways, and Russian influences were not always strongest. In fact, in certain cases, contrary to official and elite expectations, it was not so much the Russians who “Russianized” the “natives” as the “natives” who “nativized” the Russians. By the late imperial period, “nativized” Russians of one kind or another could be found throughout the imperial east. In the northern Caucasus, for example, whole Russian villages looked and lived like gortsy; in the Volga-Ural region, other Russian peasants performed “pagan” sacrifices like Voguls and Maris; on the Kazakh steppe, still others had converted to Islam; and on just about every frontier one came across supposedly “Russian” cossacks who lived according to native ways and preferred to speak native languages.

scholarly journals PEOPLES OF THE VOLGA-URAL REGION IN FEDOR SOLNTSEV’s CREATIVE HERITAGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-732
Author(s):  
Elena Evgenievna Nechvaloda
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Volga Ural Region ◽  
Made In

This paper is devoted to studying the images of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region in the graphics created by Fedor G. Solntsev, famous Russian aquarelle artist of the 19th century, the author of many historical reconstructions and ethnographic drawings of folk costumes made in different provinces of the Russian Empire and among different social classes. His gallery of images also includes the peoples of the Volga-Ural region. These are the Udmurts, Mountain Maris, Erzya Mordvins, Middle Lower Chuvashs and Mishar Tatars. Many Solntsev’s watercolours that embody ethnographic characteristic types were drawn from nature. However, his images of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region are just the copies from other visual sources (pictures, gravures, photographs). As primary sources Solntsev used Emelyan Korneev’s gravures (to create the image of a "Votyak woman"), William Carrick’s photographs (as the basis for some images of "Kazan Tatars") and the picture of an unknown amateur artist dated back to the late 18th or early 19th centuries (to create the "Cheremis" compositions). It is not improbable that the use of other’s ready-made examples and not his own ethnographic drawings resulted in some inaccuracies both in the images of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region and their annotations. There are still no prototypes found for Solntsev’s images of Maris and Mordvins, but the absence of ethnic attribution in the annotations, inaccuracies in their geographical references, errors in depicting the details of the Mordvins’ garments and a disconnect between their poses and the angles characteristic of Solntsev’s ethnic types make it possible to suggest that the images of Maris and Mordvins in the sheets of the Penza and Tambov Provinces were also copied from ready-made pictures.

scholarly journals Полемика вокруг ‘ибадат между Шигабутдином Марджани и его оппонентами

Islamology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinara Mardanova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Volga Ural Region ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Dinara Mardanova's article is focused on the problem of Ijtihād and Taqlīd through the debates of Tatar 'ulama' concerning the reform of Muslim law in the section of worship (ibādah). In connection with the problem of Ijtihād and Taqlīd the following issues are discussed: the question of the night prayer 'isha in the Volga-Ural region, the problem of the authority of legal sources, the question of the use of rational methods of cognition in religion as Shariah evidence. All these issues began to be widely discussed after the publication of the work of the famous writer and scholar Sh. Mardjani Nazura al-hakk in 1870. His work provoked the appearance of a number of critical essays, the most famous of which was Jaruda (1874). The analysis of the unfolding debates between Marjani and his opponents allows to see how Muslim scholars adapted the Islamic legal tradition to the social realities of life in the Russian Empire under the conditions of modernizing traditional society.

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